Outrage in The Daily Mail today, as M&S have been ‘exposed’ for selling mince pies that have a best-by date of November.
Now on the face of it, this is a perfectly valid story. If you’re buying an obviously Christmas-themed product, you’d expect it to last till the festive season, wouldn’t you?
But then I stopped to think. I know we’re in credit crunch (god, am I fed up with those two words) time and people like to start buying things early, but why would you buy mince pies now – in October – to use on Christmas Day?
I can understand buying crackers or stocking presents. But mince pies?
When I make a batch of mince pies at home, they’re lucky if they last 2 days before starting to be past their best, not 2 months!
What must manufacturers be putting in these pies that allows them to last so long? And more to the point, what are people thinking that makes them decide to buy mince pies in October and expect them to be OK to eat in December.
Let’s face it, it’s the Daily Mail’s fault!
What actually happens ( trust me, I’m in food marketing ) is that some people buy some xmas stuff ‘ early ‘ in order to know what they want / like when it comes to buy properly for xmas in Dec.
So us canny manufacturers / retailers put this stuff on sale in October in order to take advantage of the additional sales opportunity.
Simple !
trust me, I’m in food marketing
Yeah right! I don’t think you can ever trust someone in any sort of marketing, but your point has some validity, I agree.
Still not quite sure anyone would buy something early, ‘just to try it’ though.
I agree it can devalue them and Christmas but they do taste great! We’ve been eating lots in the office already in search of the best ones in time for Christmas!