TULSA, Okla — A cacao shortage is causing chocolate prices to rise.
For chocolatiers in Tulsa, that can mean a rising price for consumers.
Randy Page owns Cricket and Fig Chocolate and Café. He is trying to navigate the changes to ensure he doesn't increase his prices on chocolate until at least after the first quarter of the year is up.
He said prices are going up because cacao beans have been scarce.
“It’s supply and demand,” he said. “Climate change has had an effect on it, there’s been drought, there’s been diseases in the crops, there’s been aging cacao trees that are producing less.”
Page said the shop is paying more to import their chocolate—especially before the Christmas season started.
“I didn’t see any major increases until right at the first of December when I had to buy some more, and our chocolate literally went up 50 percent overnight," he said.
While Page wants to keep prices the same, some customers say buying from shops like Cricket and Fig provides a unique experience they want to keep getting- even if prices do go up.
Jim Kirkpatrick stopped into the shop to buy chocolates for those attending a business meeting.
He said getting a thoughtful gift is easy when supporting this local chocolatier.
“Who doesn’t like chocolate? And the good stuff is even better," he said. “I would have to think this is the go-to place for that special thing. You can go buy a package of chocolate hearts at Walmart, but no- this is the special place.”
Meegan Mitchell has been a customer of Randy’s since the shop first opened during the pandemic. She said his chocolate is like no other.
“They’re just like, I mean, a festival in your mouth," she said. "Every flavor is so different.”
She said supporting local merchants is important to her.
“We’ve got a lot of artists here in Tulsa, so if you need to find unique gifts, whether it’s art or food or whatever- you can find it, and it’s fun," she said. "The artists are all really fun people, and we should support them!”
Randy said for people to get more bang for their buck, he’s working on some new ideas as Valentine’s Day gets closer- to help keep his business running while providing customers with that unique experience.
“We’re really hopeful for a really good year this year," he said. “Because of the price increases, we’re going to look at developing some products that maybe hit some different price points that will maybe counteract some of those price increases.”
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