You heard us correctly! The FIFA World Cup in Brazil which ended on Sunday with a win for Germany, turned us into a nation of snackers.. This according to information gleaned from quite a few supermarket shelves. Corporate area grocery giants, John R Wong, Michi Super Centre, CPJ Market and Sovereign Supermarket shared their World Cup number crunching with Thursday Life

Nestled on Tobago Avenue in busy New Kingston, John R Wong’ s convenient location made it the preferred choice of business persons and professionals in the city. Over the last few weeks, General Manager Peter Vanderleer saw a spike in the sales of both snacks and beverages. Local break-time favourite, St Mary’s Banana Chips, was a hit with customers, as were Frito-Lay offerings Tostitos Scoops and Tortilla Chips. These saw snack sales up by 25 per cent and nuts up by 20 per cent. Vanderleer also confirmed similar results at sister store Loshusan Supermarket in Barbican which saw more families purchasing these items.

Michi Super Centre Store Manager Marvin Fletcher painted a similar picture for us at the full-service supermarket off Washington Boulevard. He credited the spike in sales to the increased inflow of customers, not only for regular shopping but also to purchase refreshments and view the matches. Fletcher saw an increase in St Mary’s Banana Chips and Doritos, selling 4,800 and 1,800 bags respectively in the first three weeks of the tournament. Ahead of the Argentina and Netherlands game last Wednesday, Fletcher said they were completely sold out of Doritos. Their bakery sales were also up by 42 per cent, with crowd favourites coconut macaroons, oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies selling a combined total of 1470 units over the same period.

Asked about World Cup sales increases, Sovereign Supermarket Director Evadne Loshusan reported modest growth. With mainly urban families and students from the surrounding schools as regular customers to the store at Sovereign Centre in Liguanea, Loshusan saw a five per cent increase in snacks, including Doritos and Lays.

Though CPJ Market on Lady Musgrave Road is a unique retailer of gourmet food items, fine wines and prime meats, General Manager Owen Smith noticed a 25 per cent increase in snack items. However, these were of the gluten-free line Glutino, and included cookies, crackers, pretzels and chips. Stacy’s Pita Chips and Kettle Brand Potato Chips were also best-sellers amongst the families, diplomats and caterers who frequented the North American-style outlet.

But beverage sales were a whole different ball game for the premium store. As an in-store initiative, there were specials on wines from the countries taking part in the World Cup. Farnese Pinot Grigio, a light Italian white wine, was the most popular among the selection, which included Colores Del Sol Malbec, a round-bodied red wine from Argentina, and spicy citrus Mexican Gold Tequila by Pepe Lopez. Ironically, Smith noted that Brazilian rum, Leblon, was the least popular during the special. These deals saw wine sales increase by 30 per cent.

Likewise, Michi had its own beverage special. Next to the bakery, the management set up a World Cup Village through partnership with Coca Cola and Wisynco. The cordoned -off area boasted several televisions and seating for customers to “view the games in a nice ambience”. It also housed a fully stocked bar that served up popular chilled cocktails from the countries that were playing on the day.

“A lot of customers were appreciative of that experience,” said Fletcher.

Coca Cola was the top thirst quencher amongst shoppers, with over 6,800 bottles being sold over the given period. With liquor sales up by 15 per cent, Fletcher noticed a shift in Red Stripe sales, with customers buying more cases than six-packs or bottles. This saw an unusual 600 bottles being sold.

At Sovereign Supermarket, beverage sales also increased by 5 per cent. Loshusan identified Red Stripe, particularly the one-litre bottle, and Dutch brew Heineken as customer favourites.

The beverage in demand by football fanatics was no surprise to Vanderleer in both his Kingston and Barbican supermakets.

“A clear winner, and that goes for every sporting event, is beer,” he pointed, out as sales rose by 30 per cent.

“As a matter of fact,” he added, ” there are a lot of people who normally drink spirits and wines, who during sporting events, default to beer. It’s traditional, I guess.”

Across the four stores, local support for the 2014 World Cup was evident.

“Everybody crowds around the TV area to see,” laughed Loshusan, “whether it’s customers or workers.”

Smith of CJP Market concurred: “FIFA World Cup has been exceptional.”

On the business end of the spectrum, Fletcher was somewhat surprised by the sales increases: “For this World Cup, I can tell you it’s the highest we’ve ever seen. It’s unprecedented. There’s just something about this World Cup that got everybody buzzing.”