Chocolate shortage affects local confectioners
Chocoholics need not have a meltdown. Local confectioners are working to ensure their milk and dark varieties will remain available, even though a chocolate shortage caused by the coronavirus pandemic made getting inventory difficult.
Lori Steinheiser, owner of Peter's Chocolate Shoppe in Butler, said the shortage started just after the first of the year.
Her suppliers said the supply chain and employee issues suffered by many industries during the pandemic caused the 50-pound cases of chocolate bars she uses to make her treats unavailable.
Steinheiser said a plant in Minnesota that supplies her product was shut down as nonessential when the virus overtook the United States.
Later, the company supplied her dark and milk products from stockpiles it had amassed at the plant, but those stockpiles were quickly depleted.
“Now, they're not able to make enough for everyone to get caught up,” Steinheiser said.
She said dark chocolate bars continue to be difficult to procure.
More and more customers are indulging in dark chocolate due to its health qualities, Steinheiser said.
“We were unable to make dark chocolate products for quite a while this summer because we could not get it,” Steinheiser said. “We were finally able to get some in late July, but I had been trying to order it since March.”
When she can get dark chocolate, she buys 500 pounds at a time.“I kind of feel like I'm hoarding chocolate at the moment,” Steinheiser said, “but I'm trying to have enough for Christmas and Easter.”She said the 10-pound bars she buys do not spoil.“That's the wonderful thing about chocolate,” Steinheiser said.Easter 2021 was a challenge due to the shortage, when keeping milk or dark chocolate treats of any kind on the shelves was impossible.“At Eastertime, our shelves were bare,” Steinheiser said. “We sold out of everything, even our 13-pound bunny that is usually just for display.”She said her shop's shelves finally are beginning to fill up a little more.“We're finally getting the stock built back up as far as caramels and turtles and things like that,” Steinheiser said.Steinheiser said she sells about 60% milk chocolate and 40% dark chocolate.“I like them both, but milk chocolate is my go-to,” she said.Steinheiser said she's hoping the chocolate shortage is over so she can move forward with her historic Butler business.“Right now, because I'm able to get what I need, I would say I'm back to normal, and I'm hoping to stay ahead of it knowing what we know,” she said.
Barry Cummings, owner of Cummings Candy & Coffee, said the shortage has not greatly affected him because he only makes chocolate in the cooler months.But he is aware that the situation will affect his Christmas candy business.“We're just coming into the chocolate season now, and my suppliers let me know we'll be paying a premium,” Cummings said. “It's harder to get, so it costs more.”He has his supplier's assurance that a 2,500-pound pallet of dark and milk chocolate will be reserved for him, so he can get through the holidays.Christmas is his biggest holiday for selling chocolate, followed by Easter, then Valentine's Day.“I'm just trying to get us through the last quarter of the year and see what 2022 brings,” Cummings said.He said his business sells about 60% coffee to 40% candy at its three locations combined.While coffee beans are at a premium, he has not experienced a shortage as he has in the chocolate side of his 116-year-old family business.
