Easter chocolate is more expensive this year, impacting some small businesses
Many celebrating Easter will wake up to baskets of goodies, but the sweet treats come with a bitter reality for some small businesses.
"Since last Saturday, people have been really coming in the door," said Jackie Van Norden, who owns Painted Turtle Chocolatier in Osseo, Minnesota. "So much today, everything you buy is online or your running to a mass merchant store, it's not the same experience."
An experience of her own, Van Norden left her corporate job to become a small business owner. But she says she's facing a pretty impactful challenge.
"There's been a shortage of cocoa beans for the last couple of years," Van Norden said. "The price has probably close to tripled."
It is causing her prices to be where they are, where each penny has handcrafted effort and quality.
"We do have customers that come in, ask for the prices and turn around and walk out," Van Norden said. "It's hard because they'll compare it to a candy bar that they get at a gas station."
The National Retail Federation says inflation is impacting the customer this year, and is projecting $23.6 billion in Easter spending sales — a near record — where 92% of consumers will purchase candy.
But for Van Nordan, who orders chocolate from a U.S. manufacturer who gets cocoa beans from the Ivory Coast, a lingering thought remains.
"If there are additional tariffs, those will just get passed on to me and then I'll have to decide... 'do I pass those on to my customers or can I absorb them?'" Van Norden told WCCO. "Just like all the shops in our little downtown, we need more traffic."
The Painted Turtle is located at 229 Central Ave in Osseo, Minnesota. More information can be found on the small business's website.
