The President's Choice® The Decadent® Chocolate Chip Cookie turns 25!

A third of Ontarians eat a cookie a day*, survey says

BRAMPTON, ON, May 8, 2013 /CNW/ - (TSX:L) One of Canada's most iconic treats, the President's Choice^® The Decadent^® Chocolate Chip Cookie turns 25 this year! To mark the occasion, the team behind the President's Choice^® brand have created a special limited edition The Decadent^® Chocolate Chip Cookie tin and filled it with two 300 gram bags of cookies. They also asked Canadians about their cookie cravings - the survey results are just as fascinating as the history of President's Choice^® The Decadent^® Chocolate Chip Cookie.  Finally, later this year many new tasty treats inspired by our customers love for The Decadent^® Chocolate Chip Cookie will hit store shelves - stay tuned!

Hurry in to grocery stores like Loblaws^®, Zehrs Markets^®, Your Independent Grocer^®, valu-mart^® and Real Canadian Superstore^® locations in Ontario to pick up the limited edition tin.

The History of the President's Choice^® The Decadent^® Chocolate Chip Cookie

In 1987, the team behind the President's Choice^® brand set out on a mission to create the best, homemade tasting chocolate chip cookie. After hundreds of hours of taste testing, they ultimately created the rich and crumbly cookie made with fresh creamy butter and the maximum number of chocolate chips that could be crammed in. Twenty-five years later, the recipe remains the same.

"We knew we had found our cookie when our product experts couldn't get enough and exclaimed "they're beyond good, they're totally DECADENT!!," says Paul Uys, the lead product developer in 1987.  "We all agreed that the cookie absolutely had to be named as such and we had one of our best President's Choice^® products ever created."

The President's Choice^® Cookie Survey*: Read how the cookie crumbles in each province

• Late night delight- Even though half of Ontarians like eating their cookies as a late night snack, even more Quebecers (66 per cent) eat their cookies as a midnight treat, compared to 14 per cent of Manitobans who like eating cookies for breakfast and 15 per cent of Prince Edward Islanders and New Brunswickers who prefer to eat their cookies during happy hour. The survey found that overall, about half of all Canadians like eating their cookies as a late night snack.
• Beverage of choice- Six out of 10 Ontarians prefer to eat their cookies with tea and coffee whereas more than five out of 10 Albertans and Quebecers prefer to eat their cookies with a cold glass of milk and one out of four New Brunswickers enjoy their cookies with pop and juice. Almost six out of 10 Canadians prefer to drink tea or coffee with their cookies.
• Watch out for crumbs- Forty-six per cent of Ontarians prefer to eat their cookies in the kitchen, compared to 48 per cent of Prince Edward Islanders who like to eat their cookies anywhere they can. In Alberta, 18 per cent of Albertans like to eat their cookies in bed and in the east coast, 30 per cent of New Brunswickers prefer to eat their cookies at work. As a whole, 52 per cent of Canadians like to eat their cookies in the kitchen.
• Cookie lovers- While a third of all Ontarians, British Columbians, Albertans, Manitobans, Prince Edward Islanders and Newfoundlanders eat more than one cookie a day, about half of Quebecers eat more than one cookie a day. And, seven per cent of Ontarians eat as many cookies as they can get their hands on! Overall in Canada, almost half of Canadians eat less than one cookie a day.
• Chocolate chip mania- Forty-five per cent of Ontarians say that chocolate chip cookies are their favourite kind of cookie compared to 50 per cent of Prince Edward Islanders, 38 per cent of Newfoundlanders, and 42 per cent of Saskatchewanians. Canadians as a whole like chocolate chip, as 45 per cent of Canadians say that they prefer chocolate chip over any other flavour.
• The more chocolate, the better- Of those who have tried the President's Choice^® Cookies, 39 per cent of Ontarians say that the President's Choice^® The Decadent^® Chocolate Chunk Cookie is their favourite kind of President's Choice^® Cookie. In British Columbia, 34 per cent say that the President's Choice^® The Decadent^® Chocolate Chip Cookie is their favourite and Nova Scotia, 22 per cent prefer the President's Choice^® The Decadent^® Peanut Butter Cookie.
• Keeping it in the family- Of those who have tried the President's Choice^® Cookies, 19 per cent of Ontarians were introduced to the President's Choice^® The Decadent^® Cookie by a parent and four per cent of Albertans were introduced to the President's Choice^® The Decadent^® Cookie by a grandparent. In other provinces, 11 per cent of Nova Scotians, 19 per cent of Quebecers, 21 per cent of Manitobans, 12 per cent of Albertans, and 11 per cent of British Columbians who were introduced to the President's Choice^® The Decadent^® Cookie by a friend.

Survey Method

*Vision Critical conducted an online survey on March 20, 2013 among 1,567 randomly selected Canadians aged 18+ across all provinces who have consumed a cookie in the past 6 months, and who are Angus Reid Forum panelists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 2.5%, 19 times out of 20. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of Canada.  Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.

About Loblaw Companies LimitedTSX:L

Loblaw Companies Limited, a subsidiary of George Weston Limited, is Canada's largest food retailer and a leading provider of drugstore, general merchandise and financial products and services. Loblaw is one of the largest private sector employers in Canada. With more than 1,000 corporate and franchised stores from coast to coast, Loblaw and its franchisees employ more than 134,000 full-time and part-time employees. Through its portfolio of store formats, Loblaw is committed to providing Canadians with a wide, growing and successful range of products and services to meet the everyday household demands of Canadian consumers. Loblaw is known for the quality, innovation and value of its food offering. It offers Canada's strongest control (private) label program, including the unique President's Choice®, no name® and Joe Fresh® brands. In addition, the Company makes available to consumers President's Choice Financial^® services and offers the PC^® points and PC Plus™ loyalty program.

SOURCE: Loblaw Companies Limited

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