TWO of the country’s biggest supermarket brands have confirmed their first listings for a new chocolate bar from Mackie’s of Scotland.
After two years of taste testing in the making, the Aberdeenshire brand recently revealed its newest flavour of chocolate, Orange, which it can now reveal will be available in Sainsbury’s and Asda stores in Scotland in the coming weeks.
The 120 gram bars will be available on promotion in 34 Sainsbury’s stores and in 52 Asda stores from 18 November until January. In addition, the chocolate is also available in the firm’s flagship Aberdeen parlour, Mackie’s 19.2 where it is also transformed into a Hot Chocolate drink.
Stuart Common, Commercial Director at Mackie’s, said: “In 2014 we turned our tractor shed into a state of the art chocolate factory and began with 4 flavour variants in dark and milk chocolate and which were reminiscent of our ice cream range. Since then we’ve been working on a continual improvement of our chocolate and investing in more machinery to make sure that the range is consistently high quality.
“However, in the background we’ve continued on new product development work, to research potential new flavours, looking for something new to add a little excitement to the range.
“We are delighted to be launching an Orange milk chocolate, just in time for Christmas. Our retail partners, Sainsbury’s and Asda have supported us and this new product will be available in their stores over the festive period across Scotland, it’ll also be available in many independent shops around our local area in Aberdeenshire.
“These are just trial listings, so we hope the product proves popular and it can become a permanent fixture.
“To create this product, we’ve actually infused Honeycomb dust with a natural extract from Jaffa oranges and paired it with our milk chocolate, to create a zingy taste, with a little crunch.
“We hope the public enjoy our Orange creation and continue to help us in our quest to offer the Scottish consumer a product made locally, as opposed to many of the mass produced rival chocolates.”
Mackie’s of Scotland has also introduced another simple yet indulgent treat, the ‘Mini Collection’, a pack of the original four chocolate flavours – Traditional, Honeycomb, Mint and Dark – which will be available in Scottish Sainsbury’s stores until 2nd January.
The fourth-generation family farm where Mackie’s is based, Westertown, is in North East Scotland – and Mackie’s still produce all their ice cream using fresh milk and cream from their own dairy herd on the farm.
The company’s sky to scoop ethos sees it create everything from milk to its packaging on site, powered predominantly by their own renewable energy – via four wind turbines, a 10-acre solar farm and a biomass energy plant. In addition, a £4.5million project is underway to install an innovative new low-carbon refrigeration system, set to be among the greenest in Europe and the first of its kind in Scotland.
To find out more about Mackie’s, please visit: www.mackies.co.uk
