The head of Mars in the UK has said deep-frying the chocolate bar should be ”celebrated” two weeks after the company’s legal team distanced itself from its sale in Stonehaven.
A fortnight ago Mars sent a letter to the Carron Fish Bar, which claimed to be the first in the world to start deep-frying Mars bars, asking it to make its menu clear that the product was not ”authorised or endorsed” by the company.
However, during an interview with BBC Radio 5, Mars Chocolate UK president Fiona Dawson said the company had no objections to the product.
She said: ”It’s not at all that we weren’t happy with it. We are very proud of our association in Scotland, although I haven’t had one myself.
”Many people claim to have eaten it but I have yet to meet someone who actually has. I am dying to hear from people who have eaten it.
”This was simply an issue around a patent of origin it’s a complicated area of intellectual property rights to be honest but anything that supports local businesses, local industry and frankly ingenuity has got to be celebrated as well.”
The endorsement is further good news for the chip shop owner Lorraine Watson, whose sales of the culinary novelty have doubled since the controversy with Mars and resulting publicity.
She has been interviewed for radio stations in Dublin, Dubai and Australia, and even quoted in the Financial Times.
Lorraine, who took over the shop in March, said: ”We normally sell around 150 deep-fried Mars bars a week but since all the media interest we’ve been selling more than 300.
”I’m very proud of the fame it brings the chip shop and town. It’s the second biggest tourist attraction after Dunnottar Castle.
”Last week I had a sign put up telling the history of the product and just this morning I had seven Chinese tourists come in to all buy one. When people see the sign saying we were the first to sell the product 20 years ago, they are intrigued to try one.”
Lorraine said the dispute with Mars was based on a misunderstanding with the firm thinking she and her husband Charlie had applied for an EU geographical indicator.
”My intention was to look into patenting it but when my husband looked into all the paperwork it was quite obvious to both of us that this wouldn’t be possible because the product belonged to Mars, not us.
”However, Mars then wrote us a two-page letter from their legal team saying they could not back an EU application, without even asking us if we were going ahead with it.”