by Frank Holmes, reporter
President Joe Biden’s supply chain crisis helped spoil Christmas for many American children last December—and now experts are warning the administration is about to deliver another nasty surprise for the nation’s kids.
One of the largest candy makers in the world says, thanks to supply chain issues that the president has let fester for nearly two years, it will not create enough candy for Halloween.
Hershey Candy Company said the Pennsylvania-based confectioner does not have enough ingredients and other necessities to have enough candy to fill Trick or Treat bags.
Sponsored: In 1944, an experiment was done in this Nazi medical center…
“Despite this strong growth, we will not be able to fully meet consumer demand due to capacity constraints,” said Hershey CEO Michele Buck in a speech to investors last Wednesday.
That’s bad news since Hershey, the fifth-largest candy company on the planet, makes virtually every treat you see in the bottom of a child’s beggar’s night bucket.
Reese’s Cups, Kit Kats, Milk Duds, Jolly Ranchers, Hershey’s Kisses, Mounds and Almond Joy, Payday, York Peppermint Patties, Rolos, and more all roll off the the128-year-old company’s assembly line.
Or, at least, they used to.
These are the favorite candies of children and parents alike. Reese’s Cups were the top-selling candy in the United States during Halloween 2021, according to sales figures crunched by the website Candystore.com. Voters also named chocolate and peanut butter cups their favorite sweet treat of the season.
But they’re really the favorite candy choice of kids—the ones celebrating Halloween as part of their fleeting childhood. Kids aged 8-14 voted Reese’s Cups their favorite Halloween treat, and Kit Kats ranked third in a separate YouGov poll from last year. In all, Hershey made three of the top 10 favorites of the spooky fall season.
“Chocolate dominated: It was the main flavor in each of the top 18 adult picks,” according to YouGov.
Urgent: Common prescription drug now linked to Alzheimer’s? [Sponsored]
But Hershey says demand is surging for its candy every single day. U.S. chocolate and candy sales busted a record high of $36.9 billion in 2021, according to the National Confectioners Association, which tracks overall sales. Hershey’s sales soared by 19 percent from March through June, compared with the previous three months, Buck reported.
Evidently, people in Biden’s recession-ridden America need to get their happiness off the shelf.
Ordinarily, the company would ramp up production lines, but it can’t—because it can’t get the ingredients and other components it needs to keep kids happy.
To make matters worse, Hershey says the candy won’t just be in short supply for the costumed kids: The company expects the shortages to continue through the end of the year… so it will be unable to make Christmas candy, as well.
That’s leading to more news that’s not very sweet: When there’s too great a demand and too little supply, prices rise—and it’s already begun. Nestlé marked up its candy bars 6.5 percent, with CEO Mark Schneider explaining costs had to go up to restrain “the impact of unprecedented inflationary pressures and supply chain constraints.” While Biden has known the supply chain is a problem his entire administration, he hasn’t fixed the problem yet… so you have to pay even more in the checkout aisle.
Hershey is following with its own cost hike. “Historically, Hershey’s sales growth has been driven by higher prices and not necessarily volume,” told RedState.com. “The company is entering this period from a position of strength with that expertise.”
In other words, there will be less candy, you’ll pay more for it, and this year’s Trick-or-Treaters may soap your windows because you can’t give them the candy they want.
Sponsored: Clear your lungs with THIS
Our ice cream-crazed president has a ghoulish plan to steal the remaining Halloween joy from our kids.
Frank Holmes is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”