New Nestlé chief eyes ‘consolidation’ (From York Press)

New Nestlé chief Ciaran Sullivan eyes ‘consolidation’

8:31am Monday 31st December 2012 in News By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter

THE new boss of Nestlé in York said a “nice challenge” for the future would be to take the confectionery business to number two in the UK.

Nestlé Confectionery is currently in third place with a 16.5 per cent share of the UK market, behind Mars and Wrigley, which enjoy a 25 per cent share, and Kraft Cadbury, which has about 33 per cent.

Ciaran Sullivan, who took over as managing director of Nestlé Confectionery from David Rennie earlier this year, said that one of the biggest achievements of his career came when he was MD of the business in Ireland for six years until 2009, when he took confectionery there from the number three position to number two.

Asked in the company newspaper, Nestlé Talk, what drives him, he said: “Nestlé Confectionery is third in the confectionery market. A nice challenge would be to get to number two!”

But he conceded to The Press that overtaking Mars would be a huge task and said 2013 was “about consolidation” after a period of investment and change that included a major investment in new ovens to make the wafer for the company’s best-selling KitKats.

He said an additional £1 million was to be invested in one more oven than originally planned.

He also revealed Nestlé is to hold another Choose A Chunky Champion competition on Facebook to decide on the taste of its next KitKat Chunky, after more than 600,000 votes were cast on the social networking site in this year’s contest, which elected Chunky Peanut Butter.

Chocoholics will be able to choose between four different limited editions – Chunky Mint, Chunky Coconut, Chunky Hazelnut and Chunky Choc Fudge.

He said the contest would start on January 14 and would be backed by a £5 million media campaign across TV, digital, outdoor, radio and mobile.

Consumers will be encouraged to try each flavour before casting their vote on a dedicated Facebook page across an eight-week voting period.

A UK wide tour will bring the competition direct to shoppers and the flavour with the most votes by March 15 will be crowned the winner and unveiled as the nation’s new Chunky Champion.

It will then become a permanent part of the KitKat range, joining the 2012 winner.