Irish chocolatier Butlers Chocolates is planning a series of product launches to coincide with the Virtual Travel Retail Expo, where it will be a Silver Partner (Virtual Stand CF-S5). The virtual event takes place on 12-16 October.
Featured lines include sharing bags – The Tasty Pieces Collection – offering customers an opportunity to self-treat or informally gift with bitesize pieces in milk, dark and white chocolate in a variety of flavours. The bite-sized pieces in luxury bags build upon Butlers popular solid bar recipes, featuring inclusions such as nuts and salted caramel, with a variety of crispy, crunchy, creamy and soft textures.
Each variety has a high cocoa content and is crafted using sustainably sourced cocoa, with no palm oil and only natural ingredients and flavourings.
The range is presented in resealable, recyclable packaging. The 120g range comprises 40% Milk Honeycomb Crunch pieces, White Salted Almond and Butterscotch Bark, 70% Dark Discs with an orange crunch truffle centre and Salted Almond Caramel Crunch Bark.
Butlers will also show its new assorted and dark chocolate Mini Bar Collections, which are also presented in recyclable pouches. Available as a 50 and 30 mini bar pack, the collection features Butlers most popular mini bar varieties inside including White Coconut & Almond, 70% Salted Caramel and 40% milk alongside high cocoa content varieties in the dark collection.
The company is also introducing The Café Collection, inspired by favourites chosen by customers in Butlers Chocolate Cafés. The three varieties to be launched at the Expo include Milk, Salted Caramel and Caramel & Nut. These gifts are presented in a metallic embossed square box with matching sleeve and each contain a selection of 16 chocolates.
Marketing Director Aisling Walsh said: “We are looking forward to reconnecting with customers through a trade show format, albeit virtual. Although we are continually in contact with our customers, we are hopeful that the Expo will offer the structure usually afforded by a traditional trade show where there is time set aside from day-to-day conversations to review activities, introduce new products and concepts and plan for the year ahead. We have some exciting new product launches that we are looking forward to formally sharing with our customers.”
Butlers is working mainly with its existing partners, said Walsh, with the aim to “maximise opportunities that exist now as much as possible. Those areas primarily include airports in Ireland, the UK, Middle East and Asia among others.”
COVID-19 has presented some big challenges to the category and brand. Commenting on how Butlers is reacting, Walsh said: “As confectionery has a limited shelf life, what and how much we are making is an important consideration at this time. We are trying to plan and forecast as accurately as we can in this ever changing environment. In addition, we are prepared to react quickly to changes that might occur.”