Chelsea, Japan’s Long-selling Candy, to End Sales at End of March

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:40 JST, March 4, 2024

Meiji Co. said Monday that it will end sales of its long-selling “Chelsea” candy series, which has been on sale for 53 years, at the end of March. The company explained that “profitability has deteriorated due to the sluggish sales scale caused by changes in the market environment and customer needs.” Production has already ended at the end of February.

The Chelsea series, based on a traditional Scottish pastry, was first sold in 1971 in butter and yogurt flavors, followed by coffee and royal milk tea flavors. However, sales peaked at about 2.5 billion yen in fiscal 2002 and declined to about 500 million yen in fiscal 2022.