How Early Should Themed Food and Drink Hit the Shelves?

As news comes through that hot cross buns have hit the shelves in Australia the week after Christmas, with both Coles and Woolworths selling the Easter themed food, we ask, when is too soon to sell holiday themed food and drink?

Hot cross buns are the prime example of when a themed food hits retail well in advance of the holiday itself, and when you look at the figures, maybe we can understand why - last year, Woolworths sold 10 million hot cross buns across Australia in January alone.

"We know many of our customers love getting delicious hot cross buns as soon as they can and we see high demand immediately when they hit our shelves — with 10 million hot cross buns sold just in January last year," a spokesperson from Woolworths said late December, also confirming that the hot cross buns were rolled out nationally across all of their stores from January 2.

"Some of our in store bakers have simply been perfecting their wares ahead of the official in store launch next week."

Public opinion in Australia was split once the buns went to sale, with many taking to social media to voice their opinion that it was too early or too soon after the last holiday period to see these on sale. So we ask, how early do you think is too early?