A few words about the most popular brands of chocolate
Lotte Wedel Sp. z o. o. (formerly E. Wedel) is the oldest chocolate factory in Poland, founded in 1851. by a German, Karol Wedel. Despite the headquarters in Warsaw, it has been owned by a Japanese-Korean concern for 10 years. In the 1930s, the brand was already famous all over the world. Sweets signed by the famous E. Wedel could be found, among others in Lviv, Vilnius, Paris, as well as in many Japanese cities. After World War II, the company expanded its operations to all continents. The company underwent nationalization, several privatizations, and in '97 PepsiCo took it over. Two years later, Cadbury had the rights to the brand, and in 2010. permanently transferred to the Lotte Group. Wedel's offer includes marshmallows, wafers, candies, jelly beans, pralines, ice cream, bars, cocoa, halva, sesame and of course chocolates.
Milka is one of the most recognizable brands of European chocolate products, belonging to the American concern Mondelēz International. The company was founded in 1903. as Kraft Foods. For a short while - in 2010. - was the owner of E. Wedel. Unfortunately, it was forced to sell a well-known food brand due to the decision of the European Commission. Mondelēz has 7 production plants in Poland, of which entities located in Skarbimierz, Jankowice and Bielany Wrocławskie are responsible for the production of chocolate. The very name Milka was created on the basis of a combination of the words Milch and Kakao, i.e. from the German milk and cocoa.
The composition of the most popular chocolates of both brands
Consumer research has shown that the most popular chocolate in Poland when it comes to taste is milk chocolate. Immediately after it is dark chocolate. As for the former, the composition of both brands is similar. Wedel's solution is based on whole milk, while the competitive one on skimmed milk. The second key difference is the form of the nuts - E. Wedel adds hazelnut pulp to its products, and Milka adds paste. In addition, in both cases the following are repeated: sugar, cocoa butter and cocoa mass, powdered whey, lactose and milk proteins, emulsifier and flavor. Wedlowska chocolate has a little more kcal - 540 / 100g.
Tastes of Polish consumers
As you can see, both chocolates are very similar to each other. Hence, the interest in both products is practically the same. E. Wedel dominated over 20 percent. market, Milka not much less. The most popular flavors are: milk chocolate (73%), bitter (20%) and white (3.4%). Although Poles seem to eat a lot of sweets, the average annual consumption of sweets in our country is several times lower than in other Western European countries. For example, a Pole consumes up to 3.5 kg of sweet products per year (of which 1.7 kg is chocolate), while a Briton consumes almost 10 kg. An interesting fact is that a statistical Pole spends about PLN 200 a year on sweets.
When it comes to the entire confectionery market, our native consumers like Milka to a greater extent. Taking into account only chocolate, the country was dominated by E. Wedel. This may be due to a kind of attachment to tradition. After all, the Asian brand now has Polish roots.