Declining popularity forces Pink Snack bars off Irish shelves
Business

Declining popularity forces Pink Snack bars off Irish shelves

IRELAND'S teatime favourite, the Pink Snack bar, will be dropped from shelves across the country later this year. 

The popular nostalgic chocolate wafer treat, first launched by Cadbury in Britain 40 years ago, will be pulled from production by Cadbury-owner Mondelez.

The plant will cease producing wafer brands Pink Snack and Time Out in Ireland from the end of 2015, a statement from the chocolate company said.

A spokeswoman for Mondalez confirmed that the snack was being discontinued in Ireland due to the decline in its popularity in recent years.

The announcement follows news that the company intends to cut more than 200 jobs in Ireland.

It also follows the decision two years to reduce the number of chocolate fingers in a Pink Snack pack from three to two.

“In May 2013, as a measure to help halt the declining sales, it went from three fingers to two and the price was dropped to 55 cent but those measures haven’t been enough hence the proposals to now stop production,” said the spokeswoman.

The company began producing the chocolate bar in Ireland in the mid-1980s after it was withdrawn from the British market.

Mondelez, which employs more than 900 people in Ireland, said its Tallaght plant will close in early 2016.