Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses CEO Steve Plarre has delivered an open letter to both the Managing Director of Coles and the CEO of Woolworths Limited for the second year running. In it, he asks that they join him and other bakers in keeping Easter special by not selling Hot Cross Buns until “Hot Cross Bun Day” 6 weeks out from Easter Sunday.
In 2014 Ferguson Plarre first publicly pledged their commitment to keeping Easter special by rallying bakers to not release Hot Cross Buns until much later in the new year. This year, they have sought agreement from as far away as Britain with the British Craft Bakers Association agreeing (in writing) that Hot Cross Buns should not be on sale after Christmas and that this practice “contributes to the Easter season losing significance and devalues the product”.
Last year’s effort was supported by Ferguson Plarre’s popular ‘Not Cross Buns’ campaign which saw the brand raising funds for charity and awareness for their cause through the sales of fruit buns featuring happy faces instead of a cross.
“It’s a real shame that we need to bring attention to this matter with something like Not Cross Buns. We truly hope that this year we can get some agreement from Coles & Woolworths to a start date for buns that helps us all keep Easter special. If that happens, the Not Cross Buns will have served their purpose and can go back to being Hot Cross Buns at Easter time” says Steve Plarre.
Ferguson Plarre, a family owned and operated business, believes that families should be put first and that Easter needs to be kept special. As a father himself Mr. Plarre wants to see Easter not diluted by such premature promotional activity. Hot Cross Buns on shelves so soon after Christmas are a prime example of this dilution with buns on shelves before the family Christmas tree has even been packed away.
Should the major grocers join Ferguson Plarre and other bakeries in this initiative, Hot Cross Buns would not go on sale until 15th February 2015. If not, then a number of bakeries have agreed to unite in the name of keeping Easter special by rallying in protest of early bun sales and will drive the message publicly through their stores and the Not Cross Buns initiative.