Over €34 million will be spent buying over 11 million Easter eggs in Ireland this year, according to figures from Kantar.
Easter eggs are big business, especially for small businesses.
Two female chocolatiers running their own chocolate factories have cracked the Easter egg market, supplying 3,000 eggs to the country's collective stash.
Patricia Farrell has been making chocolate in the wilds of County Clare for 25 years. She opened a small factory in Tuamgraney, where she produces Wilde Irish Chocolates.
This year, Patricia expects to sell 1,000 Easter eggs.
"We made a plan based on last year, and last year was a really good year considering we were still in the thick of Covid. People were sending Easter Eggs all over the world and all over the country. We were planning on doing the same amount as last year," she said.
"Sometimes you get Valentine's Day, St Patrick's Day, Mother's Day and Easter in quick succession and people's credit cards are a bit sad, but they still end up buying them."
Grá Chocolates is located in neighbouring County Galway. Gráinne Mullins started her business at the kitchen table in her family home at the start of the pandemic.
"Grá Chocolates now employs 14 people. This is such an honour considering this time 2 years ago I was unemployed when I first got the idea," Gráinne said.
The chocolatier and her team will make close to 2,000 Easter eggs this year, "each and every one of them has been hand painted and hand made".
"All of the fillings including the marshmallows and caramels are made by our amazing team of pastry chefs."
According to Patricia, people don't want to buy 3 eggs for €5 any more. She said people are spending a little bit more to get one really nice egg. "They are much more interested in quality and less quantity."
The rising cost of living is not putting off customers of Wilde Irish Chocolates. "We were a bit nervous but then they started coming," Patricia said. "We worked really hard to keep our prices the same this year as they were last year."
The Clare chocolate maker gets a lot of support from small Irish businesses like artisan delis or speciality food shops, "and corporate Ireland really supports food businesses like ours. They really got behind us during the pandemic".
Patricia also supports Irish businesses, using Achill Island sea salt for salted caramel and seaweed from Wild Atlantic Sea Veg in Quilty.
Over €34m will be spent on over 11m Easter eggs in Ireland this year, according to Kantar. @WildeIrishChocs will supply 1,000 to the national stash. #EasterEggs pic.twitter.com/uszy1CPYVq
— Petula Martyn (@petulamartyn) April 15, 2022
Over 58,000 tonnes of packaging waste will be recycled this Easter, according to Repak which launched a campaign this week asking the public to recycle all plastics and in particular, packaging from Easter eggs and gifts.
Repak said cardboard boxes, plastic moulds and clean tin foil are just some of the many items consumed by households over Easter that can all go into the recycling bin - once clean, dry, and loose.
Reducing packaging waste is also a concern of artisan chocolatiers.
"We've spent the past two years taking as much plastic out of our supply chain as we absolutely can," Patricia said. "We produce millions of bars of chocolate, and we package them in a bag so that people can see all of the lovely designs, and that plastic is not plastic anymore, it's a plant-based 'plastic' that costs 20 cent more per bag.
"On the one hand you're doing your best to get rid of plastic from your supply chain and on the other hand you're trying not to pass on the cost."
She said the clear window on their egg boxes is made from recycled plastic, and the boxes are cardboard so fully recyclable. "Packaging is getting more expensive, so there's that worry as well."
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Grá Chocolates is an online business so it is important that its chocolates are well protected in shipping. "We want to make sure the chocolates arrive in perfect condition but also show off the beauty of our chocolates," Gráinne said.
"We are very conscious of our packaging and this is why we have our own custom boxes. These are the exact size for our products so that we do not need to use bubble wrap. This means we do not need to use any excess packaging.
She plans to see how the business can further improve its packaging next year.
