Two new kinds of thin ginger snaps—or ‘ginger thins’— are now being introduced on the North American market: lemon and chocolate mint. Newly designed packaging for the 150-gram series has also been launched, as well as 400-gram cans featuring Swedish floral and folklore decorations. Annas Pepparkakor is the company behind the new marketing campaign. The company annually exports about 700 metric tons of ginger thins, and is reported to be the world’s biggest producer of ginger snap products.

“The new flavors and packaging succeeded in arousing lively interest at the Winter Fancy Food trade fair held in San Francisco in January,” says Björn Mattsson, the president of Annas Pepparkakor. “The new cookies have also been tested in Canada, for instance, with good results. The packaging features designs from yesteryear with handsome lettering to project an image of quality, and each flavor has its own packaging color.”
This “exotic” packaging is intended to create a cross-link to Sweden, a country associated with clean water, thick forests, and fresh air—and it will lend the ultra-thin, delicate ginger snaps a touch of exclusiveness.

Year-round cookies
In Sweden, these ‘ginger thins’ are intimately connected with the Yuletide season. In other countries, there is no such association, which is why the Swedish Christmas cookies have become year-round cookies on the export markets.
The Swedish bakery is moreover the world’s biggest supplier of prefabricated houses, all of them brown.
“We export 300,000 gingerbread houses a year out of a total production of 500,000 ‘construction kits’,” explains Björn Mattsson. “The gingerbread houses are typical Yuletide merchandise in our export countries, and particularly popular in Canada and the U.S.A.”
North America is the biggest individual export market, one that is steadily growing. At present, 40 huge containers are shipped annually, corresponding to 400 metric tons of ginger products. The market is overseen by importers, brokers, and small-scale distributors. The cookies are also sold via department stores in Canada and the U.S.A.
The company exports its ginger thins to approximately 20 countries. The export share is continuously escalating, and, today, it represents about 35 percent of total turnover.
The company has a turnover of eight million dollars. Annual production amounts to 2,100 metric tons of ginger thins. Originally, the company was a home-type bakery dating back to 1929. Since 1978, business has been directed towards large-scale production, but with the quality goal of tasting homemade.

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For further information, please contact:
Annas of North America Calgary Ltd,
BJ Ersson, Sales Manager,
23 Skyline Crescent N.E. Calgary,
Alberta, Canada T2K 5X2
Phone +1 (403) 275-0135 Fax +1 (403) 275-0061

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