EDINA, Minn — For 14 years Missy Wettstrom and her sister Amy have run Droolin' Moose. And Missy says the hardest part of owning their chocolate business is dealing with supply chain issues.
"We try to adapt," said Missy. "Sometimes the challenges are just too big."
Their latest challenge is a surge in the price for cocoa.
It's a busy time for them at Droolin' Moose. Her team has been preparing for a rush of customers coming in for Easter-themed sweets and chocolate. Luckily, they start planning and ordering for this holiday months before so the supply-chain issues have yet to hit them.
"By the time it comes to any distributor, you know, then we're a few months down the road," said Missy.
In West Africa, home to 70% of the world's cocoa production, erratic weather and poor crops have sent cocoa futures hitting a record high of more than $10,000 per ton. That's a 250,000% increase from this time last year.
According to the Consumer Price Index, retail chocolate prices rose 11.6% in 2023 due to the soaring price of cocoa.
"As we're talking to our vendors, they were talking about some of the chocolate being, quote unquote, diluted with other ingredients to stretch it," said Missy. "Our philosophy here is to always maintain the highest quality of product that we've that we've become accustomed to."
Which means to keep the taste their customers love, they may eventually need to hike up the prices.
"It might be more expensive, we'd take raising a price over bringing in a cheaper product with less quality ingredients," said Missy.
Missy said she is planning for potential impacts by now, by figuring out ways her business can save.
"It's a big equation," she said. "There's a lot of pieces to it."
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