Chocolate company removes ‘artisan’ claims and promises to address complaints

The small chocolate company accused of misleading customers with its packaging has quietly removed references to its “handmade” products from its website.

The Spinoff reported last week that Potter Brothers, an independent confectionery brand based in Levin, allegedly repurposed commercially produced products and branded them as “handmade” or “handcrafted.” The most widely publicized claim, shared by social media users, was that the company’s line of “pineapple chews” were made from chunks or chunks of pineapple, a product commonly associated with Pascall or Rainbow Confectionery. Customers had reported peeling off an outer layer of chocolate to find the distinctive appearance of a mass-produced piece of pineapple underneath.

Although the story has been widely reported, Potter Brothers has yet to comment. The Spinoff made numerous inquiries with the company which went unanswered, as did subsequent inquiries from RNZ and 1News.

However, in a short post shared on Facebook last week, the company promised to address the concerns in the near future – blaming a busy manufacturing schedule for the delay. The comments were accompanied by a video showing Easter eggs made in their factory.

“Hey internet, we hear you!” the post, their first on Facebook since April 2020, read. “We are a small company that started with a slow cooker and a dream. Right now our #1 priority is our small team putting in mega hours to make all of our Easter Eggs – we’ll post a response as soon as we humanly can, but we’re neck and neck in marshmallow right now. moment.

The post ended with the hashtags #small business #didntknowweweregetcancelled #noPRdepartment And #sendhelp.

JThe same post was also shared on Instagram – the very first post on the company page.

Potter Brothers received several negative reviews from Google in the days following The Spinoff’s report, although some appear to have been taken down over the weekend. The company quickly went from 4.4 stars to less than 3.0 stars, before climbing back up to 3.6 stars at the time of writing.

But while the company hasn’t officially released a response, it has quietly made changes to its website that appear to acknowledge the concerns raised. Until last week, a large message that Potter Brothers products were “handmade” greeted visitors on the company’s homepage. The “about” section, meanwhile, proclaimed that the company believed “in the importance of quality craftsmanship”.

However, in the past few days, Potter Brothers has changed its website to describe the company’s products as “small batch”. It is now stated that the company believes in the importance of ‘quality’ – not to mention that this quality is made by hand. Potter Brothers also appears to have responded to the claim that it uses mass-produced products. The “about” section now reads: “We are proud to bring you an exceptional selection of classic kiwifruit covered in our creamy chocolate.”

The company had previously updated its packaging to replace “handmade” with “small batch” – but “handmade” continued to appear on the website in several places.

Meanwhile, a source with ties to Potter Brothers, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Spinoff that several years ago he called one of the company’s co-founders and had raises concerns about the products. “I said ‘I just want to know if those are pineapple chunks under your chocolates’ and [the co-founder] says “it’s commercially sensitive”.

“We talked for about half an hour and got nowhere.”

The source suggested it wasn’t just Potter Brothers’ pineapple gum that was made with other companies’ products, saying the ‘soft milk chocolate gummies’ used ‘the jellies old-fashioned” made by Rainbow Confectionery. “It’s definitely just the cheapest,” he said.

The spin-off peeled the chocolate off of one of the soft gummies and found a lollipop that looked identical to the boysenberry and cream candy produced by the company Rainbow Confectionery. There is no mention of Rainbow Confectionery on the Potter Brothers packaging.

Spinoff’s source said he had already contacted Rainbow and was told the company was aware of their products being used. “I called the CEO of Rainbow…and asked him about it. He said “Yes, they definitely do, but there are no laws around it”.

Approached by The Spinoff, Rainbow Confectionery general manager Brent Baillie said he couldn’t comment and suggested we find “other sources.”

Since The Spinoff reported last week, the trade commission received three complaints alleging that Potter Brothers made misleading claims about its products. A spokesperson said the commission was evaluating the information provided and decided to investigate the company, adding that any misleading branding could be a violation of the law.

“Our assessment examines the nature of the claims and whether they potentially raise a concern under the Fair Trade Act,” said Vanessa Horne, the commission’s chief fair trade officer.

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