On March 11th 2016 it was time up for the Time Out as we knew it. Originally produced by the Irish division of Cadbury and part of the portfolio in the UK since 1992, it was first marketed as a “wafer break with a layer of flake”, it was originally released in twin finger packaging, with multi-packs containing single finger bars.
Cadbury’s official reasoning for discontinuing the Time Out was that it just wasn’t very popular and sales had been in decline for a few years. This I can understand, it had some stiff competition on the chocolate shelves and had very little going for it save the lower calorie content compared to other Cadbury brands, just who WAS buying the Time Out bar? I always associated it with the older crowd and the dieters, a very similar market to the Blue Riband.
The new Time Out Wafer bar is marketed towards the calorie counters, at only 111 kcal it’s very lightweight in terms of the bad stuff, unfortunately I don’t have one with me to review, but I have something much better, the version you won’t be able to buy soon!
Although it’s never something I’d choose from the supermarket aisles, the combination of the Dairy Milk chocolate and the good quality wafer make the Time Out a really well-rounded product, it hasn’t got the same cheap tacky hints as the Blue Riband (and is twice as good with a cup of English tea), yet isn’t as fulfilling as say, a Kit Kat Chunky. It was perhaps this “middle of the road” image that made the Time Out perform so poorly in its latter years, but until I taste the replacement bar, I can’t tell whether or not Cadbury have made the right decision, although I have seen some early comments and they don’t look too positive.
Seeing a well known confectionery brand disappear is quite a rarity nowadays, my feeling is that if this new product does even worse, we will either see the return of the classic, or see the Time Out name disappear, this time altogether.
What does everyone else think? Were you an avid Time Out fan? or couldn’t you care less about the poxy wafer? Let me know in the comments, as always!
I’d never buy it as a grab and go confectionery as it’s too bland, but as you allude it really belongs in the have at home with a cup of tea category, similar to a Blue Riband or maybe a Tunnock’s Caramel.
In fact, I’m gonna say it was killed by the Tunnock’s Caramel, which is cheaper and tastier.
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I agree wholeheartedly, do Tunnocks still do the dark chocolate caramel in the blue instead if the red? Or am I thinking of the blue packaged jammy teacakes?
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