Aussies are eating over $450 million a year in chocolate

In the past people would pull into a service station or takeaway and pick up a meat pie (with tomato sauce) for a snack at almost any time of the day. Although this still happens to some extent, this Aussie icon is no longer king of the of convenience foods mountain.

That spot is now dominated by chocolate in it’s many snack forms. In fact, according to the latest research from Australian industry research group BIS Shrapnel, chocolate makes up 2/3 of the $ 711 million total value of the confectionery category, or over $ 457million. That means that Aussies are buying a lot of chocolate from service stations and other convenience stores.

The research shows that this category has increased by 18 percent since 2010. This is really interesting, considering the Global Financial Crisis and how money has been much tighter so less impulse buying.

It is however not unexpected, as chocolate and lollies are easy to eat and make a great little treat for ourselves every so often, especially during harder times.

According to the BIS Shrapnel research, this increase in confectionery sales is at the expense of ice creams, snack foods and the bakery items, including biscuits.

Meat pies are still the boss in bakery goods but the contender for the title is now sausage rolls, which are easier to eat when on the run. We are eating around $46million worth of these from convenience locations.