The Great Chocolate Off at London Food Co. yielded a downright winner – with 47 votes going to UK-made chocolate, 31 to US-made. And one of those 47 votes came from Montclair’s own Bob Russo, the former mayor.
The store on Bloomfield Ave held a taste-test for patrons on Saturday, blindfolding them and getting them to vote on which chocolate tasted better: UK’s Cadbury or Cadbury Hershey’s, UK-made (Nestle) KitKat or US-made (Rowntree’s) KitKat, and US’ Mounds vs UK’s Bounty.
The victory, small as it is, reflects Cadbury’s appeal in a much bigger battle of chocolate companies. Cadbury‘s stock in the UK hit a record high on Tuesday on expectations of a bidding war. Kraft recently made a hostile bid for it, Hershey’s is thought to be considering a counter offer, and Italy’s Ferrero was said to be mulling a bid, with or without a partner.
The local battle was a close one to start with, apparently.
Said LFC Creative Director Yomi Karade, “You may think that it was a no brainer…but at the beginning we were losing. Yes losing.Terribly! However, by the afternoon, we came back in true Brit form, strolling over the finish line with chocolate-ease.”
Will the win set off a new diplomatic row? Will it help or hinder the ongoing takeover battle for Cadbury?
Whatever the outcome, if you’re a chocoholic looking for a fix on Black Friday, head on over to the LFC which will be reveling in their fresh triumph by giving away free British chocolate to the first 30 customers.
Quien Sabia?
(File under: Shameless commerce department alert!)
I think the big news is that finally Bob Russo was on the winning side of an election!
But Conan’s right. What is this? Story #5 about the London Food Company.
I was one of those visitors earlier in the day, when American chocolate was ahead, who preferred the taste of US KitKat to the UK version. It was hard to say why; the best I could respond was that the UK KitKat was far richer, and not having much of a sweet-tooth anymore, was a bit too overwhelming for (apparently bland) taste buds.
I’m suspecting vote fraud. (follow the money…)
Snarky comments not needed–ITS an important time, more than ever, for people to support local business-especially ones owned by nice people. Fun promotions certainly help the effort.
I actually counted the votes myself-and am not a brit (lol) 31 to 47 (brits winning) it in fact is!
Happy Thanksgiving to all!