BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Chocolate shops are busy preparing now that Easter is creeping up on us.
As you prepare to fill your Easter baskets — be mindful that it may cost you a bit more this year thanks to the rising cost of cocoa and sugar.
Maggie Mulvaney is the owner and sponger maker at Park Edge Sweet Shoppe. She said her staff has been working long days to prepare for the holiday.
"We have been pumping it out like we've been working 12-14 hour days back there getting all the chocolate out and then packaged," Mulvaney said.
But with the rising cost of cocoa and sugar, she said her business will be eating a bit of the cost so all of it doesn't get passed on to her customers.
"So now, unfortunately, we're at that bubble where we have to raise your prices a little bit just to cover our costs because the cocoa is going up almost like double per pound for us," Mulvaney said. "You know what, we just add a little bit more of what we can and make it a little more bang for your buck."
Cocoa has roughly doubled since the start of the year. While sugar prices are also rising, a pound of sugar is up about 8 percent this year after hitting 2.7 percent last year. According to cocoa futures from the Intercontinental Exchange, there's been a $3,000 jump per ton in the past month.
Ted Marks, the owner and president of Fowler's Chocolate, said he's also experiencing rising costs. He said for now prices will remain nearly identical to what they were last Easter.
"It's a big holiday for us it's always one of the top two holidays for us between this and Christmas," Marks said. "I think what's driving this is a shortage of cocoa beans and as long as that's still a negative situation, we'll have headwinds as far as price goes."
He said his business deals with significant cost increases which will eventually be passed onto customers but not until after Easter.
