Snacks: Mine's a Mars bar

Selling chocolate in pubs continues to be an interesting challenge for many pubs and brand owners alike. To help assess the potential, Masterfoods has been working with Eldridge Pope (EP).

To put the market in context, the sweet snacks trade in the UK is worth £6.4bn.

• the confectionery market is worth £4.5bn
• the chocolate category is worth £3.1bn, 69 per cent of the total confectionery market
• the sugar category is worth £1.4bn, 31 per cent of the confectionery market.

In comparison, the crisps and snacks market is worth £2bn, so in theory confectionery offers a great opportunity for pubs to secure additional sales.

"Well-established, branded confectionery singles continue to be the popular choice for consumers, and two-thirds of confectionery sales are generated by the top 50 chocolate lines," says Andrea Taylor, trade relations manager at Masterfoods.

The company behind brands such as Mars, Snickers, Twix and Maltesers believes the addition of a confectionery display behind the bar will not steal sales from existing products, particularly as 70 per cent of all confectionery is bought on impulse.

Masterfoods has recently launched a drive to stock confectionery in pubs by partnering with EP, Pub Company of the Year in The Publican Pub Food Awards 2006. The results show that pub managers who stock confectionery alongside savoury snacks can reap the rewards.

Sales of confectionery, which is now available in more than 50 EP pubs, revealed that pubs can generate significant additional annual turnover by displaying a core range of confectionery behind the bar. This highlights a missed opportunity, as although most pubs stock crisps and savoury snacks, many stock little or no confectionery.

Masterfoods supplied each pub with bespoke display equipment designed to hold a limited range of products, such as Mars, Twix, Snickers, Bounty and Maltesers, all of which are in the Top 10 best-sellers list.

In addition, EP requested that Peanut M&Ms be included in the range. It was felt that their consumers would value having another bitesize product that they could easily share with friends, in the same way that they enjoy crisps and savoury snacks. This proved to be a huge success.

All of the managers who participated in the initiative were extremely impressed with the additional sales generated, and are all continuing to stock confectionery. Keep chocolate on display and your customers will buy on impulse

One licensee's experience​

The Plough on the Green, a country-style pub a mile from Newbury town centre, was one of the first Eldridge Pope pubs to stock confectionery. Joint-managers Jeremy Taylor and Pauleen Wilson were so impressed with the results that they plan to keep offering confectionery as an additional snack to the usual crisps and nuts.

Jeremy says: "We stocked five single confectionery products - Mars, Snickers, Twix, Maltesers and M&Ms - in the small Bambino display unit, which took about 10 minutes to set up. It was very easy. The back-bar is only about 12ft long, so the unit size was ideal, as it didn't take up much space but made the confectionery easy for our customers to spot.

"At first some of our customers asked why we were stocking chocolate, but once we explained that we just wanted to give them an extra option, they warmed to the idea.

"The chocolate sold well after that, with customers picking up a packet of Maltesers or M&M's with their round. We have a good mix of regulars, both real ale and lager drinkers, and over the seven weeks I'd say the chocolate appealed to both sets fairly equally.

"The proof really was in the pudding - all the products stocked sold really well. Customers who bought chocolate mostly did so as a spur-of-the-moment decision.

"They would order their pint then see the chocolate on display and ask for a Mars bar as well. It became clear that if they can see it, they buy it, so you shouldn't keep it tucked away - keep it in a prominent position and it sells.

"I'd tell any other pub manager to go for it - I was quite amazed by the sales we made and you have nothing to lose, it's just an extra revenue earner.

"The only consideration is where to site the chocolate. You don't want to keep it under bright lights, and in the summer I'd go so far as to keep a space in the fridge for it."