In her Queens, New York chocolate studio, Margaret Schmidt is creating her hand made chocolates as fast as she can.
“When you get a beautiful piece of chocolate and it melts beautifully in your mouth, life is fine.” Margaret Schmidt, owner, Schmidt’s Candies
With cocoa prices rising nearly forty percent in the past four years, the key ingredient in her chocolate is getting costly. At the expensive of her bottom line, she’s kept her prices the same. But the cost of most candy has risen with the price of cocoa.
“They are raising the price, there’s no question about it. People will have to pay more for their chocolate. It’s not a good thing to say but it’s going to happen.” Lawrence White, Economics Professor, New York University
And of course, the bigger the chocolatier, the bigger the impact of rising cocoa prices. In 2014, Hershey’s raised its candy prices by eight percent. Now,the company and some of its competitors are chipping in one billion U.S. dollars to support sustainable farming and boost output.
Much of the chocolate sold in the U.S. is made with cocoa from West Africa where recent poor weather and farming conditions have cut supplies.Plus, a growing middle class in places like China and Brazil crave the sweet treats too so global demand for chocolate is higher then ever. Still, those shopping here in New York’s Time Square are willing to pay any price for their Valentine’s Day chocolates.
But for Schmidt–whose chocolate shop is in a working class neighborhood-her customers don’t have as much to spend.
“It’s tough for an everyday business, but seasonally people have to come in and have their Valentine’s for the wife, they have to come in and get the bunny for their kid because they had it growing up-it’s all about the holidays at this point.” Margaret Schmidt, owner, Schmidt’s Candies
So, after she sells an expected 40 thousand pieces of her handmade chocolates for Valentine’s Day, she knows business will scale off. For some, chocolate is now too expensive to be an everyday indulgence.
