The snacking landscape is changing beyond recognition
Earl's Court and a backlash over the price of sausage rolls.
Hello,
I found myself in Tesco on Monday morning buying natural yoghurt, as one is prone to do in January. What should I spot at the till but a Terry’s Chocolate Orange in the shape of a Creme Egg!
I observed two feelings amidst my new year's commitment to be more mindful. Firstly, I wanted it more than maybe anything ever. It conjured up feelings of Spring excitement in my youth as Creme Eggs came into season, my Lenten commitment to no choccy (back when I was a good little Catholic boy) would soon be over and I’d be stuffing my face with them to celebrate the resurrection.
Secondly, I had a feeling of slight sadness. I’d always envisioned Terry to be a kindly old man, providing me with an annual Christmas-time ritual of gleefully smashing one of his oranges and sharing it around. Now here he was trying to coerce me into shoving Easter-shaped UPF into my face, the last mince pie barely finished.
Joseph Terry was a chemist who became the sole owner of a York-based sweets company in 1830. It was his sons who opened the Art-Deco style Terry’s Chocolate Works in 1926 and began selling their chocolate oranges in 1932. So far so Willy Wonka. It was all good vibes and lovely treats for most of the 20th century apart from a brief stint manufacturing aircraft propellers during WW2 and a misguided foray into making chocolate lemons in 1979. Terry’s changed hands multiple times, before inevitably being bought by Kraft in 1993, who closed the Chocolate Works and sold it on to French private equity house Eurazeo in 2016.
As ever, private equity put their assets to work and there I was confronted with that fateful egg. I didn’t buy it and the legacy of Mr Terry and his sons remains intact, at least in my head.
Don’t tap it,
Hugo
Chief Whacker
The Business of Stuff
P.S. If you missed it this week and would like to read more about what Big Food and their pharmaceutical counterparts are up to check out The Business of Weight-Loss Drugs.
The Stuff
Surge in sales at Boots suggests their turnaround plan is working 💊 - like-for-like sales in the last three months of 2024 were up 8.1% which was helped by a 24% increase in digital sales and a record Black Friday. They’re quite frankly pushing at an open door as lots of the stuff they sell, people need very regularly and can order online. You can only rely on flogging expensive miniature bottles of sun cream at the airport for so long.
Christ Church goes to battle with a hedge fund 🙅 - universities often have the weird connection to high finance as they’ve got massive endowment funds that need managing. The Oxford college has part of its £700m fund invested with Herald Investment Trust which is under pressure from Saba (an American hedge fund) to make changes which they believe to be “nakedly self-serving”.
The business of history is in rude health 📚 - thanks in part to the work of Messrs. Sandbrook and Holland of The Rest is History fame, sales of ancient history books were up 67% between 2013 and 2023. The future feels more uncharted than ever before (rather than just being more of the same) which is quite possibly leading people to look back for clues.
Dana White joins the board of Meta 😑 - the large technology companies have suddenly decided that maybe they really agree with the incoming US administration on their views around censorship and DE&I. As part of this sudden change of heart Meta have recruited White, who is CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, to their board. If you haven’t heard of him just imagine the opposite of Nick Clegg and that’s probably a decent approximation.
Piers Morgan moves to YouTube 📺 - he was shipped off to the US by royal decree after we’d had enough of him, but then they got fed up as well so he’s now moved to cyberspace. His production company is taking ownership of his Uncensored YouTube channel in a deal with the Murdoch-owned News UK worth tens of millions of pounds.
Earl’s Court redevelopment likely to receive planning consent this year 🏗️ - the exhibition venue closed in 2015 with little happening since its demolition, but the Earl’s Court Development Company is hoping to crack on with the construction of 4,000 new homes. There’s still a lot of objection from local groups, particularly over the height of two proposed skyscrapers but there’s a good chance the government will help to push this through as they look to build millions of new homes.
Greggs facing backlash over increased price of a sausage roll 🌭 - the price has been bumped up to £1.30 in the face of staff pay increases and broader inflation. Heather Hife says she’ll stop buying them when the price reaches £1.50 which is of course, cause for concern. I think they’re pretty good value compared to say, the West Cornwall Pasty company ones. They’re twice the price (at least) but are a mere 37g larger.
Marketplaces for referrals are starting to take off 🧐 - the jobs market is pretty shocking at the moment which has led to the rise of platforms like Blind where employees of companies refer randomers for a fee. One tech worker referred more than a thousand applicants, resulting in six successful applications and $30,000 in referral bonuses. Needless to say this does not sit well with most companies.
You can now buy Monopoly in a square box 👮 - Hasbro (the maker) is trying to come up with new and innovative ways to capitalise on its ever-popular game. The company is hoping to appeal to a modern audience by making the box square, which doesn’t really feel like a winning strategy but it has got Monopoly Go and stuff so I reckon it will be alright.
Horrible snacks are increasingly popular as people try to be healthier 🥚 - I really can’t get boiled eggs I’m afraid but have been known to dabble in cottage cheese. Both are experiencing a large increase in sales as people realise that regardless of how much protein they claim to contain, snacks that aren’t fresh aren’t very good for you.
Quote of the week
“At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?” - Marcus Aurelius