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.
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