Bakers taking the sweetness out of confectionaries

CYPRUS’ traditional sweets are under threat from bigger bakeries, with the number of confectionary shops having dropped to 70 from 110 since 1999.

President of the Confectionary Association of Cyprus, Costas Hadjichristodoulou, yesterday told the Cyprus Mail that there the sheer volume of big bakeries around made it more convenient for people to shop there than at speciality confectioners, even though they offer fresher produce and superior quality.

Politis newspaper this week reported that a confectionary in Limassol closed only a few days ago, while in there are only two confectioners left in Larnaca.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail yesterday, manager of Ariston Confectionary, Demetris Tsangarides said it was an unfortunate side-effect of living in a free market economy.

“It’s a fact that the bigger companies like the bakeries have more outlets in different areas. In this day and age when people are so busy trying to juggle their work, family and social lives, they don’t want to drive a long way to their traditional confectionary when they can just pop down the road to a bakery. They might do it for a special occasion like a birthday or anniversary, but this is only once or twice a year.

“However, I would like to tell the people that the quality of sweets found in a confectionary is far superior to anything you might find at a baker. Experts hand-make all our sweets while bakeries just cater to the mass market.”

Tsangarides went on to explain that confectioners’ problems began six years ago when bakeries began trading on the Stock Exchange.

“This means that they had more money to invest and they then entered the confectionary market, which they were not involved in before. I believe they have no place in the confectionary market.”

The SEK workers union is calling on government to help out the confectioners, with Hadjichristodoulou saying that the Labour Ministry is proposing a change in the laws on what big bakeries have the right to sell which will hopefully be brought before Parliament.

“We are waiting.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.