Cadbury's disregard for the Portuguese consumers

In March 18, 2009, I wrote an article about my favourite chocolate beverage and a few months later, more precisely on September 7, 2009, Kraft made a £10.2 billion takeover offer for the long-established British confectionery group Cadbury. This bid was rejected, but in January 19, 2010, Cadbury finally approved a revised offer from Kraft, valuing the confectionery business at $19.5 billion (£11.5 billion).
This takeover was partially funded by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

 Many people around the world, including customers and Cadbury's employees were against this takeover.
A proof of this discontempt arrived in March 2011, when Kraft Foods caused a national outrage when they sold the Somerdale site in Keynsham, near Bristol (UK) for £50million, after initially publically promising the continuity of production within the UK in order to win over support for the takeover from shareholders. Instead, production was immediately outsourced to Poland. Kraft’s CEO Irene Rosenfeld refused to explain her actions.

 In October 2012, Kraft Foods Inc changed its name to Mondelēz International. Shortly thereafter it spun-off the Kraft Foods Group to its shareholders.

 With all these moves, Kraft Foods consumer service in Portugal, which does not hold a good quality service according to my personal experience, is not able to inform why the Cadbury Drinking Chocolate is no longer available in Portugal, unless through direct import.

 Mondelēz International, Inc. knows little about this situation and after contacting Cadbury in UK, which seems to be the main responsible for Cadbury Drinking Chocolate, it seems that reason may be poor sales.

 Well, we all know that the global economy is not at it's higher level, but when the product was available on the shelves of Portuguese supermarkets, it would sell.
Maybe their sales team needs to learn something from their major competitor.

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Peanut Butter M&M's

 Let me start by telling you that as far as I can remember, I don't like peanut butter. As far as I can remember because the only time that I bought a jar of peanut butter it was over ten years ago or even more and when I spread it on bread, I didn't like it. It is as when you like sweets but you eat something that is too sweet. Besides I must confess that I'm not a fan of peanuts.
However I do know that peanut butter is healthy.

 On the other hand, I've eaten peanutt butter cake several times and I enjoy it. Therefore I'm willing to try things that include peanute butter, especially sweet things since I have a sweet tooth.

 But lets get into the subject of this article: Peanut butter M&M's.
I'm not a fan of M&M's. Namely because we have another brand with a similar product (I'm referring to the regular chocolate ones) that I like best and because as I already told you, I'm not a peanut lover, therefore I don't buy the peanut M&M's.

 Now, a couple of months ago I was sent a bag of peanut butter M&M's. It seems that this a sort of special edition, but I'm not sure. We don't have them here in Portugal and I don't know if it's available in Europe. I'll have to call Mars to know about it's availability in the future.

 The peanut butter M&M's have the usual coated chocolate shell and a real peanut butter interior. This combination of the chocolate with the sort of creamy and just a bit salty characteristic of the peanut butter, which obviously includes the taste of peanut, turns into an awesome result for people with a sweet tooth.

 I can tell you that once you start eating them, it's difficult to stop. Especially for someone who doesn't get fat like me. My review about the Peanut Butter M&M's sure is a positive one. I know that there's a pretzel version of M&M's and as soon as I can, I'll write a review when I try them.

 The image that I've posted here is a holiday version. The bag is empty because I couldn't resist to eat them all before writing this article.

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Milka & Oreo Chocolate Bar

                            
A couple of weeks ago I bought a new Milka chocolate and had the intention of writing a review about it. But I ate it all before taking the photo, so maybe in another time.

However today - Monday is the shopping day for me since I get 5% discount - I bought the new Milka & Oreo chocolate bar.

The chocolate per se is like the other milk chocolates, so....nothing new on this department.
But lets see how the Milka and Oreo combination works. The outside is Milka chocolate and the filling is composed by Oreo cream and crunchy bits of Oreo cookie. If my memory doesn't fail me, since I seldom buy Oreo cookies, the bits are more crunchy than the cookies.

Now for the veridict.
From the experience that I have, it seems that Milka is careful about its combinations and rare were the occasions where I wasn't positively suprised. This one confirms it, offering a soft combination provided by the chocolate and the cream, together with the crunchy flavour (how do you like this one ?) of the cookie bits.
Although it's not something out of this world, I have no problems in recomending it.

P.S. Sorry for the lousy photo, but it was taken with my cell phone.
        I promise to take a better one if you buy me a chocolate :-)

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Rice Krispies Squares Totally Chocolatey by Kellogg's

Last week I was going through the cereals aisle at the supermarket and saw this package that mentioned chocolate and rice. Well, that's one of my favourite combinations - how I miss Toffee Crisp - and since it was aside the cereal bars, I thought: Well, besides the possiblity of tasting good, it must have some healthy ingredients.

It's not cheap, but it has an accessible price, so I decided to take one home to give it a try. The bar, which is not really a square, has a nice aspect with chocolate covering it and bits of chocolate on its surface.
The bar is crispy enough and although I didn't read anything about caramel in the ingredients, it does feel a bit like it when chewed, which is good in my opinion.
As for the chocolate taste, maybe it could be a bit more pronnounced according to my taste, but even so I found it well balanced with the rest of the ingredients.

My opinion about the Kellogg's Rice Krispies Squares Totally Chocolatey is positive and will almost certainly buy it again in the future, especially if the price goes down a bit here in Portugal. Let's see if they import the other versions so I can try them.
According to your country, the product may be supplied in different looking packages and quantities.

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Milka Crispy Snax: Cornflakes and Raisins

I went to the supermarket and while there, I felt like buying something sweet. However, I wanted something different and that was when I saw these small packs of Milka Crispy Snax. There were two kinds available and I decided for the Cornflakes & Raisins one. I can't remember what kind was the other one.

I got home, did some stuff and had dinner.
Still at the table, I opened the package to try one or two.
Well, let me put it this way: I had to close the bag before they were all gone.

Imagine the Toffee Crisp chocolate - I never saw that one again here in Portugal and don't know if it's still available. Now imagine it in chunks plus raisins.
Sounds good ? Well, it tastes even better.

Of course that there are differences because we're talking about different brands of chocolates, but I guess that this gives you an idea about how the Milka Crispy Snax Cornflakes & Raisins tastes and about its texture.

Without a doubt, this one gets my seal of approval.

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Border Coconut Biscuits with Milk Chocolate

I like to eat pretty much anything, but if there's something that I don't quite appreciate is coconut. A few of the only things that I like related to coconut are the coconut scent on the beach or soap. When I was a small kid I really enjoyed these coconut taste cigarrets - you know how kids are with cigarrets.

But when I saw these biscuits at the supermarket, I liked their aspect and thought that if the coconut part was not too influent on the taste, maybe a mix of chocolate and coconut could work well for my personal taste, moreover they had a really good sort of homemade aspect. So I decided to give them a try.

The coconut taste is not too pronnounced and has a good crunchy feeling. As for the chocolate, it has a good flavour and is added in good measure as not to make the biscuit too sweet.

My conclusion is of a well balanced combination between coconut and chocolate with a pleasant crushing sensation that will almost for sure get really positive reviews by coconut appreciators with a sweet tooth.
The Border milk chocolate coconut biscuits are baked in Scotland.

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Quaker Cruesli Chocolate

I know the Quaker Cruesli brand for more than 20 years and has always been one of my favourites.

Some years ago they introduced the chocolate version into this breakfast cereal line, but only now I decided to try it since I may like chocolate, but for breakfast I prefer other flavours.

My outlook was positive, but at the same time I was aprehensive since the chocolate could mean that I could find it too sweet.

So, I opened the package and put some Cruesli on a plate (some chunks may seem to big, but that's ok), to which I added milk (cold or room temperature).

The cereals, which are mainly constituted by oats, revealed themselves crunchy as is usual with this brand and the bits of dark chocolate, supplied in a generous quantity, have a good flavour.

The chocolate doesn't have that pronounced flavour usually found in chocolates, in fact I suppose that most cereal brands are the same, which in my opinion is a good thing because it would make it too sweet for a breakfast cereal.

Other included ingredients are: wheat, cinnamon, dried coconut and molasses.

Cruesli Chocolate from Quaker Cruesli will satisfy kids and grown-ups who like breakfast cereals and chocolate.

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