Poor sales take strawberry topping off shelves

Adding flavour to your yoghurt or ice-cream is going to get harder as strawberry topping will no longer be stocked in supermarkets.

Buyers will have to hunt to find the last few bottles of Homebrand strawberry topping before they disappear off supermarket shelves completely.

Charlotte Mee, a Countdown spokesperson, said the topping was being discontinued due to lack of sales.

She said chocolate was the best-selling flavour, but the company was looking at how to bring back a strawberry option.

“Customer preferences are constantly changing, and we regularly review our product range to make sure we have the right products on the shelves for customers.

“Unfortunately, from time to time this does mean that some products have to make way for new products or items that are more popular,” Ms Mee said.

Countdown Mount Wellington has a couple of bottles left on its shelves.

New World and Pak 'n Save have removed stocks of the topping from their shelves.

Mazz Mitchell, Howick New World Fresh Foods manager, said due to low sales and customer demand it did not sell strawberry topping.

Deborah Brookes, a Pak 'n Save spokesperson, said due to insufficient demand the topping was no longer available.

Pak ‘n Save has tried selling numerous brands, but sales were not good enough for it to continue stocking strawberry topping on their shelves.

“We do have a caramel topping and a passionfruit topping that is an alternative to chocolate,” Ms Brookes said.

For strawberry topping lovers, there is some good news.

Shannon Mawer, spokesperson for The Warehouse NZ, said: “The Warehouse love strawberries and strawberry topping too.”

The Warehouse currently sells a strawberry maple topping for $2 in its stores.

Gourmet stores such as Farro also sell strawberry topping.