Horace Greeley, the U.S. author credited with urging 19th century Americans to “Go West, young man,” envisioned the spacious lands beyond the Mississippi as key to rescuing thousands upon thousands from poverty and unemployment. The caveat in the directional urging; they must be willing to work hard tilling the soil.
Within the global confectionery marketplace, today’s Greeley paraphrase might sound like this, “Look East, confectioners!” And in this instance, East refers to the Asia-Pacific countries demonstrating exceptional growth in chocolate as well as other confectionery segments — a welcome tonic to the more mature and competitive confectionery markets in Western Europe and North America. As with Greeley’s advice; to succeed, confectionery companies must be willing to work the land.