Q & A with Miss L

Q: Miss L, does Central Mark-up have a ton of chocolate?

A: Excellent question. The chocolate at Central Mark-up is found in four main locations throughout the store: the bins, the baking aisle, the chocolate island, and the temptation lane on the way to the express lane check-out. I will only include these four locations in the analysis as the chocolate that is found in other locations in the store, i.e. seasonal items such as valentines chocolates or easter bunnies, fluctuates and are not present year round.

Let's start with the bins. By my estimation, about one inch of bin chocolate is equal to one pound. The bins are about three feet high. That's 36 pounds of chocolate per bin, about ten bins, that's 360 pounds of chocolate in the bin area. The baking aisle holds considerably less chocolate. Mostly in the form of cocoa powders and chips, I guess the chocolate here most often is available in 10 oz. bags or tins. Probably about 125 of these items. That comes to about 78 pounds of baking aisle chocolate.

Moving on the chocolate island. This is more of the premium chocolate in the form of bars, but also bin chocolate in pre-weighed (and priced) containers. The area is a large display table with the chocolate stacked in attractive baskets. The standard bar is about 10 oz., and the overall area available is similar to the amount of space in the baking aisle. However, because of the shape of this chocolate, rectangles and squares, I would guess there is more chocolate on chocolate island than on the baking aisle. I'm putting this at 100 pounds.

Temptation lane is the wild card of Central Mark-up's "ton" of chocolate. Part of this is due to the configuration of temptation lane: flush against the wall, temptation lane features chocolates (and other goodies) in to-go sizes ranging in size and priced from $2.50 to $9.00 (or so). Here you find the standard 3 oz chocolate bar. Nuts, fruit, spice, marzipan - lots of fillings here. Keep in mind this will be subtracted from the total chocolate weight. The side of the lane against the wall is over six feet high, while the other side is about four feet. Both are approximately a foot deep. Three ounces, two dozen bars a box, at least two boxes of each variety, 100 varieties, that's 7,200 ounces. That's about 450 pounds. Don't forget, we've got to subtract the nuts! Let's cut our losses and round it out to 380 pounds of chocolate on temptation lane.

In total: 360 + 78 + 100 + 380 = 918 pounds of chocolate. But wait! What about the stock in the back of the store? Well, Central Mark-up isn't going to keep that much again in the back, it just doesn't make sense, they don't move the merch that fast. Let's be generous, and say they keep 2/3 of the amount on the floor in the back. Two thirds is about 612, so that comes to 1,530 pounds.

So the answer is No. Central Mark-up does not have a ton of chocolate.


Q: Miss L, how many Topo Chicos would you have to drink to reach the RDA of sodium?

A: Assuming I was on a 2,000 calorie diet, I would have to drink 100 11.5 fl oz bottles of Topo Chico to reach 100% of the RDA of sodium. Incidentally, I would reach the RDA of calcium at 50 bottles.