Season's eating: Food gifts more popular By M.L. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 23, 2:41 AM ET
Hundreds of tiny blocks of chocolate cake and cream ramble down the conveyor at The Swiss Colony. A waterfall of chocolate splashes over them before a bakery worker drizzles more chocolate on top.
The catalog company's bakery produces nearly 54 million petits fours per year, with most sold during the Christmas season. It claims to be the nation's largest producer of the tiny French pastries, which are one of its best-selling items.
While Americans are spending less overall on presents, sales of food gifts grew almost 50 percent to nearly $16 billion from 2004 to 2006, according to Packaged Facts, a division of Rockville, Md.-based MarketResearch.com. About one-third of consumers shop for food gifts during the winter holidays, it said.
Researchers and shoppers say food has the same one-size-fits-all appeal as gift cards, but with the added allure of giving friends and family something they wouldn't normally buy for themselves.
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