‘Handmade’ pineapple lumps were not made in-house, chocolatiers admit

A family confectionery business which aims to make “nostalgia-and-drool-inducing chocolates” has admitted its “handmade” Pineapple Chews were re-coated bulk pineapple lumps.

Last week The Spinoff reported on claims made on social media that the boutique Potter Brothers Pineapple Chews (also sold as Pineapple Pieces) were standard pineapple lumps dipped in more chocolate.

One of the Levin-based confectionery company’s founders, Joe Potter, released a statement on Tuesday admitting that when the business started five years ago, the pineapple chews were made by “hand-coating a bulk product which is only commercially available to make our pineapple chews”.

At that point, half of the confectionery fillings were made in-house, he said. Today 80% of the fillings were made in-house.

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“When we started, we were young, excitable and naïve, and didn’t consider how the use of some words in our content may not be appropriate.

“We stress that this was not intentional and these are learnings that have been taken to heart in recent times,” Potter said.

As the business grew the brothers had been able to invest more. “We now make core ingredients, like pineapple nougat, ourselves, at our factory in Levin, using a hands-on process.”

A video posted to TikTok by Courtnay Adele shows that beneath the thick chocolate coating on the Potter Brothers’ Pineapple Chews is another layer of chocolate coating which looks similar to Pascall’s Pineapple Lumps.

Since the story was first reported, several references to the chocolate being handmade have been removed from the Potter Brothers’ website.

The packaging of chocolates, which formerly said the chocolates were “Handmade in New Zealand”, now reads “Small Batch Made in New Zealand”.

Potter said this change was made more than a year ago because it was a “better representation of our product and process”.

The Potter Brothers’ website is still titled “Hand Crafted And Delicious NZ Chocolates”, and the website’s homepage says the brothers “set out to make a classic range of handmade chocolates”.

But the About section has been amended to say the company is “proud to bring you an outstanding selection of Kiwi classics covered in our creamy chocolate”.

Since stories came out about the Pineapple Chews, the Commerce Commission has received three complaints which “allege the company has made misleading claims about its products”, said general manager of fair trading Vanessa Horne.

Horne said the commission was not yet investigating claims about Potter Brothers.

“At this stage, we’re assessing the information provided to decide whether to open an investigation. Our assessment looks at the nature of allegations and whether they potentially raise a concern under the Fair Trading Act,” Horne said.