UAE company selling dates in UK Tesco stores and sales are through the roof

Exports of the UAE's national fruit are expanding globally, with 150,000 boxes of Chocodates sold in the UK alone since last week.

Dates, whether as nature intended or chocolate-covered, are growing in popularity outside the Middle East. Pawel Dwulit / The National

DUBAI // Western sweet tooths have developed a growing taste for the UAE’s chocolate-covered dates, with exports of the confectionery expanding globally.

Notions Group, maker of the increasingly famous Chocodate, sent its first shipment to Britain in June and last week the move bore fruit as Tesco, the UK’s largest retailer, began selling the sweet.

“We have received very positive feedback from Tesco and are confident that this is but the beginning of a fruitful venture,” said Fawaz Masri, chief executive of Notions.

“The UK is a great reference market for ethnicity and diversity, and is often used as a benchmark to develop leads with the European community by building on our success story.”

More than 150,000 boxes of Chocodate – or more than 2 million dates – have been sold by Tesco.

Mr Masri set a target of 10 new markets this year, and is only one away from achieving it.

But no one is happier than Emirati expatriates in London, who say seeing the sweets in UK shops makes them feel closer to home.

“I noticed them last month and was really surprised to find some of our local products here in the UK,” said Mariam Al Mansouri, 23, an Emirati student.

“We’re so used to having food exported to the UAE that we never expect to see our own products abroad but it’s a really good way for foreigners to see what we can produce here and how good it actually is.”

Mr Masri, who is also the founder of the company, said Notions was quick to take advantage of the rise in demand for its product.

“A few years ago, we noticed a rise in demand for Chocodate in western markets,” he said.

“We were quick to respond to this by mobilising an export team that could help to identify the right partners and retailers to partner with in the various markets. Our quest led us to more than 50 markets outside the region – a number that is growing.

“The UK, like many other markets we export to, has a large expatriate community that likes dates with chocolates, and so the drive to export [there] was purely based on demand.”

The company moved its production plant to Dubai Investment Park a few months ago. Its factory there is four times larger than the previous one.

“We doubled our overall production this year at our factories in La Ronda in Dubai and Star Foods in Saudi Arabia,” Mr Masri said. “Our overall output is up to 15,000 tonnes of produce a year, 5,000 of which are from Dubai alone.”

Yousra Hamdan, 27, an expatriate to London from Saudi Arabia, said the Arabian Gulf should start exporting more of its fruit abroad.

“We have so many date palm trees in the region, so countries should start taking advantage of that,” Ms Hamdan said. “I think it’s a good way to make use of them.”

The Chocodate brand is 20 years old and has slowly spread across the GCC and wider Middle East. Four years ago, it moved into international markets and last year the company reached its sales target of 15 per cent growth. Exports represent half of Notions’ business and, by the end of this year, it will have products in 60 markets around the world.