Thursday, August 28, 2008

Bad News from Hershey Chocolate

photo by duncan via Flickr

If you remember nickel candy bars as big as two hands, you're as old as dirt like me. Well, I got some bad news for you. They are getting even smaller and more expensive.

Rumor has it (Wall Street Journal) that chocolate manufacturers are choosing between making their current product smaller or changing the ingredients, both so that they are less expensive to make. Hershey's is exchanging some vegetable oil for some cocoa butter in order to cut costs. Bummer. But, they say, all candy manufacturers will be doing the same thing, cutting the size, changing ingredients, or increasing the price because their costs have risen dramatically, some say 45%, in just one year.

I can handle higher gasoline prices, but vegetable oil for cocoa butter, now you're talking revolution.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I remember a Baby Ruth bar from the 50s and then from the late 60s, when they had downsized them and raised the price, just as they are going to do now. At some point, people let it be known they wanted larger candy bars, so the old sizes came back, at a higher price of course. Let's see if they get away with the downsizing this time.

Francis Shivone said...

I remember the same thing and loved the Baby Ruth bar, Clark bar, Reeses Cups, Almond Joy, Mounds, Snickers, the only one I never bought into was the 3 Musketeers. Not a big "Nouget" fan.