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ERIE, Pa. (Erie News Now) – It’s one of a candy lover’s favorite holidays, Valentine’s Day. But in 2022, some of your favorite sweets may not be easy to grab.
Hershey tells the Wall Street Journal they “lack manufacturing capacity and labor to meet the Valentine’s Day demand.” Oreo maker Mondelez, Inc. also tells WSJ they’re lacking supplies.
The two sweet giants have even gone as far as cutting advertising, so they can catch up with the demand.
Locally at sweet shops like Pulako’s Chocolates, they’re seeing customers get a head start on Valentine’s Day.”It’s been earlier this year than it has been in even past years,” said store manager, Susan Mazzone.
Like every other industry, supply chain shortages have been a roadblock. “We’ve managed to work around, get something different- something we hadn’t thought about doing before,” said Mazzone.
It’s not so much the chocolate products they’re having a hard time getting, but the packaging it’s put in, so they’re making do with what they have this close to Valentine’s Day
“We couldn’t really get the heart shaped boxes. We didn’t really get what we wanted. We got what we could get. We’re not buying hundreds at a time. We’re only buying ten or twenty at a time,” said Mazzone.
Staffing is another bump in the road for the local chocolatier. On their busiest weekend of the year, they’ll only have a team of about 25 employees.They’re expecting to sell thousands of strawberries on February 13th and 14th, alone.
“There will be lines, but we’ll be here, and we’ll be moving as fast as we can,” said Mazzone.
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