Crystal Regehr Westergard, the founder of Canadian Candy Nostalgia, is faced with a unique challenge: How to get rid of 133,000 chocolate bars. Purchased during the pandemic, the bars were ordered from an overseas production company, yet didn’t arrive until months later.
According to an interview on CBC’s podcast “As It Happens,” the Rum & Butter chocolate bars have an expiration date sometime in June, which leaves a tiny window to sell them. The rum-flavored caramel-filled candy was popular in the 1980s.
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Westergard shared with CBC, “If you haven’t had a chocolate bar in about 30 years and you see it — holy cow, you buy the whole box because you hadn’t seen it for 30 years, right? And then when you realize no, there’s boxes there every time… then people don’t buy the whole box. So suddenly the stores aren’t ordering the same gargantuan sum.”
Stuck in a pickle, Westergard has tried giving chocolates to schools and local homeless shelters, yet hasn’t made a significant dent in the 133,000 bars. She even tried giving some to the Edmonton Oilers to giveaway to fans, but they already have an agreement with a snack supplier. From food banks to churches, Westergard is hoping to find answers to her chocolatey plight.
An update was posted on the company’s Facebook page, “All my inboxes are crammed. So far, St Vlad’s Church and the Drop in Centre have received loads. Please support them.”
Responding to Insider, Westergard shared more about the on-going challenge, “We do believe we have enough commitments to send out the rest, if the volunteer organizations come through. I think the best thing we can do is let people know not to contact me and clog my inbox asking for me to mail them a free box. Rather, they should expect to support these charities that are helping us by taking them.”
