An American company is winning its battle against European chocolates, at the expense of store owners and their customers in this region.
In separate lawsuits filed last year, The Hershey Co. and Hershey Chocolate & Confectionery Corp. tried to stop two distributors, Let”™s Buy British Imports LLC and Posh Nosh Imports Inc., from importing and selling candies that the Pennsylvania-based company claims infringe on its trademarks. Store owners that carry the chocolates in Westchester and Fairfield counties are selling the last of their inventory, unable to order more and concerned about the effect on their business.
Mary Slater, owner of Post Road Market in Rye, a deli and Irish goods store, said in the past six weeks she spent $5,000 on a final shipment of chocolate from overseas.
- Mary Slater, owner of Post Road Market in Rye, has two of the store”™s last Cadbury bars on hold for a customer. Photo by Danielle Brody
Her customers, who usually buy a few bars at a time, are stocking up on boxes of their European favorites while they can. Looking at the shelf of imported chocolates in her store, Slater wondered what she”™ll replace the candy with when she runs out. Cadbury alone makes up 60 percent of her candy sales, she said.
“People will still come in, but not having the chocolate is going to be pretty hard,” she said.
The candy bars targeted by Hershey are the European-made Nestle Kit Kat, Toffee Crisp, Yorkie and Rolo bars and Mars Inc.”™s Maltesers, which Hershey claims resemble the names and packaging of their own chocolate products. The lawsuit also cites the Cadbury brand, which includes a variety of chocolate bars. Hershey is licensed to produce its own Cadbury chocolate in the U.S.
In the lawsuits filed in U.S. District Courts in California and Pennsylvania, Hershey argued the product similarities could mislead customers, thereby damaging the brand the company has spent time and advertising money to establish. In the case against Posh Nosh, the judge ruled in favor of Hershey, ordering the distributor to recall its goods infringing on Hershey”™s trademarks from its distribution chains. The case against LBB is still pending.
“It”™s a classic David and Goliath story ”” Hershey versus small specialty retailers,” said Deb Hecht, manager of Goldenberry, a New Canaan, Conn., shop that sells goods from the United Kingdom.
The candies cited in the lawsuit are a popular purchase at retail shops here by expatriates craving a taste of home and Americans who appreciate the creamier European chocolate. Store employees said the lawsuits will hurt business, and they”™re upset and confused by Hershey”™s actions.
“Chocolate companies are supposed to have a warm and fuzzy reputation, and this is really ugly and dark,” Hecht said.
Hecht said she doesn”™t think the similar packaging and names confuse customers, especially because the imported chocolates are more expensive than Hershey”™s counterparts, and they look different. For one, Hershey”™s York patties are round and British Yorkie bars are rectangular.
- Mary Slater holds the European Kit Kat, top, and American version side-by-side. Photo by Danielle Brody
Chocolate sales at Goldenberry have not changed much yet, Hecht said. “I think people haven”™t decided this is reality,” she said.
Eve Raymond, a co-owner of Penny Ha”™Penny, a European goods store in Wilton, Conn., said customers definitely would not switch to Hershey bars even if deprived of their favorite imported chocolate.
“Customers don”™t want American chocolate; the cocoa content is different, the sugar content is way off,” Raymond said. “European chocolate is creamier.”
Lisa Whitmore, co-owner of UK Gourmet in Newtown, Conn., said the quality of European milk that goes into candy is superior, which also makes a difference in taste. European chocolate includes more cocoa than American chocolate and excludes artificial flavors and genetically modified ingredients, she said.
Whitmore said her customers are stocking up, buying up to 40 bars at a time. “People coming in are sad,” she said of her customers”™ reactions to the lawsuits.
Her gourmet store already has sold out of milk chocolate Kit Kats, Rolos, Yorkies and some Cadbury brands. Whitmore said she is working with distributors to replace the candy with other European brands like Galaxy, which has chocolates similar to some Cadbury bars.
“Our customers feel they would rather have any Irish or British chocolate over the American version, no matter what it was,” Whitmore said.
Devotees of European chocolate are signing a petition to protest Hershey”™s lawsuits on MoveOn.org, an online petition site. It had more than 36,000 signatures as of Feb. 25.
“There”™s not, as a business owner, much that we can really do but sign petitions and disagree,” said Raymond. She called Hershey”™s lawsuit a “power play” and said it will hurt her Wilton business.
Raymond and Whitmore said they don”™t think shops like theirs that sell a select amount of candy could affect a company as large as Hershey.
- In front of her store’s candy shelf, Mary Slater compares the European Cadbury bar, left, to its American counterpart. Photo by Danielle Brody
Whitmore said her distributors, one of which is the lawsuit defendant Posh Nosh, have depleted their inventory of imported chocolates targeted by Hershey and won”™t re-stock. “Hershey is such a big company, no one can afford to compete with them in a lawsuit,” Whitmore said. “They just stopped selling it.”
Whitmore said European chocolate constitutes 5 percent of her sales in Newtown. She said her store will still be OK because of its variety, but smaller shops could be devastated by the lawsuit.
An employee at Irish Mini Mart in Yonkers said the store still carries some imported chocolates but that the business will feel the void once those sell out. European chocolate accounts for 40 percent of sales at the store on McLean Avenue. “It”™s going to be a big loss for us,” he said. “It”™s not right.”
In Rye, Slater said she considered ordering from online distributors that ship directly from the U.K., but they have increased their prices. The price of the chocolate and shipping costs would make it unprofitable, she said. While the last of the chocolate sells, she is looking into South African distributors that sell European chocolate.
Slater said she”™s in the dark about what will happen and doesn”™t know if she”™ll get the Cadbury Easter eggs, Crunchie bars and Flake bars she ordered six months ago.
“It”™s just disappointing,” she said. “We have a huge community that counts on us for their chocolate, and they can”™t get it anymore.”
