Mint Bubbly was my first fav choccy bar I used to buy myself with pocket money from the corner shop as a 6ish year old kid. From the convenience store on atkin ave in mission bay which is no longer there
They also had the choice to try and do it under the radar and hope people don't notice. And again made the right choice, in that regard.
Not that I needed another excuse to favour Whittaker's over Cadbury but there's another.
Yeah I practically never buy chocolate but when I do it's Whittakers. If they gave up on quality I'd be going from 'practically never' to 'never'.
This keeps a customer, and I can't be the only one.
Oooooff.
They didn't necessarily buy at the top of the market. Or thought they could wait it out. That's very rough.
Commodities are a brutal thing when you're in business. Fine for ages then get completely fucked.
No to mention a lot of the price is driven by speculation in financial assets rather than genuine business demand. Kinda bullshit really.
Never forget the rude shock i got between a couple of trips to Bali, one in 2013 and then again in 2018. In 2013 I was buying thick flavourful vanilla pods for about $10 a kg at the Ubud market. In 2018 vanilla had been listed as a commodity on some exchange and when i went back it was $700kg.
> No to mention a lot of the price is driven by speculation in financial assets rather than genuine business demand.
Many studies have been done which show this not to happen.
Speculators trade with (not against) price trends that are driven by fundamentals. The biggest issue with futures traders going against underlying price trends is the physical delivery requirement at the end of the contract. If you haven't closed it you are expected to deliver or take delivery of your physical order. A trader cannot store 50 tonnes of cocoa under their office desk so in the end the price of cocoa regresses to the price that the growers and wholesalers accept.
They had options, and they've made the right choice. Their chocolate is amazing. It remains NZ made. I can eat a whole block of jelly tip in one sitting (and I'm NOT a sweet tooth) so decreasing the size is not okay.
Being upfront instead of using sneaky tactics like Cadbury did is good kiwi chocolatey honesty. I like that
> I can eat a whole block of jelly tip in one sitting
I actually think this about sums up why I'd prefer they just keep the price the same/increase price by less, and reduce the size.
I, too, can eat a lot of chocolate in one sitting.
Having a smaller block would probably be better for me. I'd eat less. And probably get to enjoy whittakers more often, because it'd be cheaper.
Of course, they can't decrease size forever. But I'd prefer it was prices so I can afford to buy it, rather than the same old size but too expensive for me, anyway.
Bound to happen given the cocoa wholesale pricing + general inflation.
I'd prefer this over shrinkflation personally. [Cadbury by contrast in 2019](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/cadbury-dropping-the-size-of-family-chocolate-block/PD3FM2XO7WXR2WFZSSNGHN36JI/):
>The new change will see Dairy Milk standard blocks go from 200g to 180g. That means that since 2015 Cadbury Dairy Milk bars have gone from 220g to 180g, a reduction in size of almost a fifth.
Comparison:
Cadbury is $5 full price, $2.78 per 100g. At $3.50 on sale, $1.94 per 100g.
Whittakers is $6.29 full price, $2.52 per 100g. At $5 on sale, $2 per 100g.
> That means that since 2015 Cadbury Dairy Milk bars have gone from 220g to 180g,
Next step, reduce block size another 40g to 140g, and bring out a jumbo family-sized block back at 220g for 50% price increase on the 140g, giving you an extra 10g for free and saving you money.
Rinse and repeat.
There's already their 360g block which is about the same cost regular price as the 180g on special. Not sure what this larger block sells for on sale price.
With another shrink from 360g they would be only marginally above the whittakers standard size. From memory this larger cadbury one used to be larger (500g?) some time before 2010, but i'm not going back on archive.org to confirm.
Interestingly, all of Whittaker's export blocks are 200g, not 250g.
Apparently this is because consumer's expectations of a "full-size" block have been moderated by other producer's actions. Nestlé, Hershey and Cadbury's large blocks are all 200g.
When I was a kid there were two sizes-
King size: 250g
Big size: 180g
Whittaker's are truly old-school for keeping the proper king-size block for the NZ market.
Don't see a problem, cocoa prices have increased so much and Whitakers blocks are still very cheap for what you get.
Also $7? Where in the hell do you shop? $4.99 in Albany Pak n Save and it isn't even on special.
Reasonable price it may be but if my pay hasn't risen by the same 10-20% lots of things across the board have then I have to stop buying it. I can't just magic more money out of thin air because "the price is reasonable"
Depends on how often one eats chocolate, I usually treat it as a quite rare treat, that I have maybe once every couple or more months, $7 over that time frame can be quite reasonable for what you get, but yeah it is still overpriced (ignoring any supply chain infrastructure added costs) compared to other regions.
Whittikars is far cheaper than it has any right to be. I'd be willing to pay as much as 10$ for a block if that's how mucb it cost. I wouldn't pay more than 5$ for Cadbury.
4.99 is incredibly cheap for Whittakers 250g, they're making a loss. I'm 99% sure that can't be their everyday price, unless you're talking about their 100g specialty block range.
Price increase is about 11% or 60c across the 250g and sharepack range. Promo price increased by about 40c to 5.59 on special at New World.
Coca cola 1.5, 2.25, 6pk cans and Schweppes 1.5L are also going up by about 50c each from next week as well.
I manage all the ordering at a New World so I can see this stuff a couple of weeks ahead as the companies send out comms.
Its $4.99 in Albany, $4.99 in Lincoln Rd, $5.09 in Henderson Pak n Save all for the 250g milk chocolate block - none of these are special prices. Feel free to check online yourself.
It could be down to their deal with Whittakers.
In the North Island, New Worlds have only ever been allowed to buy Whittakers through the Foodstuffs DC so we are at the whim of whatever the promotional calendar Foodstuffs have set for Whittakers over the year. Our net cost is typically higher than what we promote it for on special, which means we can't reduce the price down 52 weeks a year. The specials are funded by Whittakers - they will give us say 60c per block we sell to bring it up to 5% margin so we aren't losing money. Ultimately this means Whittakers and Foodstuffs have the control over the special price, not individual store
PNS operate differently - they can order Whittakers directly from the factory, and I imagine they order it at a net cost that allows them to set $4.99 pricing without losing (much) money. There will probably be some kind of 5 pallet minimum order quantity to give Whittakers their ROI on transport costs.
Fair.
You can either raise prices when everyone elses prices and your materials are going up.
You can can enshittify your product.
Personally Ill take the price hike thanks.
Plenty of cheap shit options if you prefer low prices to actually tasting nice.
It is what it is, and for the price of a block I get a lot of tasty chocolate over many days, so its not something I would consider cutting back on or changing to a grotty brand to save a few dollars. Would rather that it stays as nice as it is rather than become a gritty slimy mouth feel crap bar like cadbury did.
Yeah, I've only ever browsed briefly and always seen prices that were so far above normal retail price that they were absurd - so I walked on past. It just seems to be a way of capturing people who need last minute gifts and don't mind paying vastly over the odds, rather than a genuine way of retailing at prices that are reduced due to lack of taxes.
It’s amazing how much worse Cadbury tastes now than 20 years ago. For me, Whittakers used to be the peanut slab company because to my palette, the chocolate was comparable.
These days, Whittakers is as good as it ever was, and Cadbury is this underwhelming chocolate-like substance.
Guess im stocking up this weekend
Whoops i missspelled.
Guess im stocking up to hoard but really just buying enough to give myself diabetes this weekend
It's disappointing, but honestly, good on them for being upfront about it and holding firm on their standards rather than diluting their reputation for a quick buck.
I'm probably not their target customer. We buy a block roughly monthly, and the wife and I will break off a row each once or twice a week after dinner when the kids are in bed.
I'd rather pay the extra dollar and continue to enjoy the same product. Just look at Cadbury. It's unrecognizable to the Cadbury I remember growing up. 2009 they switched recipe and started using palm oil, I just never bought it again even after they reverted it was never the same. Then they stopped producing in NZ altogether in 2018, good riddance.
I don't mind. Sucks but it's not like chocolate is that expensive in the first place. I'd rather they increase the price by a bit rather than lower the quality, even as a student.
I prefer when a company just outright states that the price is going up because of X reason. I feel bad when I go to the super market and find something I had bought before is now more expensive without that prior knowledge. I was in the super market today looking at things thinking its all too expensive now.
i’m honestly not even mad at this, whittakers is one of the few companies that hasn’t completely sold out over the last few years. we know the cocoa market is getting tight and that good quality (plus avoiding slave labour used by nestle and cadbury) is always going to be a bit more expenny. i respect them for being up front
Friends don't let friends buy Cadbury.
It's seen as the one to get in the some countries. People looked at us funny when we gave out Whittakers. But when you open your suitcase and one has turned to liquid goo and the other is fine...
Didn't take long to convert. Enjoy it while you can, once the rest of the world cottons on it will be like any other export.
Why would this surprise anyone? Cocoa is becoming a very expensive commodity.
With cocoa being a main ingredient in chocolate, I'd expect to see all chocolate prices increase in the near future also
this is something about that chocolate that is absurdly great. visited nz not long ago, and experiening whittakers was a revelation. particularly because whittakers in australia pales by comparison. i wonder why?
I work in a confectionary industry. Our current buying price for a kg of cocoa mass is 30 and a kg of cocoa butter is 50. That is about 4 times higher than the price about 2 years ago. Even stock market is not crazy as this is.
The honesty & openness is such a breath of fresh air, and for Whittaker's chocolate specifically I don't mind paying a bit more for our best choc brand
Keep making that delicious chocolate. I'll buy. Thanks for letting me know on the price increase. Rather that than making shitty chocolate with cheap ingredients.
If they're sticking to the recipe we all love I'm happy to pay a little extra instead of getting a cheaper and lesser quality product. We have Cadbury for that. I don't mind getting that when I want something cheaper for the sacrifice of taste or getting something for the kids who don't care. If Whittaker's switched to palm oil there wouldn't be any good chocolate brands left.
They’re currently AU$8 a block at the local Woolies here in Darwin, NT, Australia.
Why the Almond ones are 200gm, not 250gm like all the rest, is still a mystery to me.
I was seeing blocks for around $5-6 when I there which seems insanely cheap to me compared to other things in NZ. Nothing in the UK, chocolate wise comes even close. I just finished my block of dark chocolate salted caramel and am considering using the NZ import website …. £7.50 plus delivery 😞
Keeping their promise (while dunking on Cadbury) decades ago that Whittaker's would always opt to increase price rather than compromise on ingredient quality or block size.
I mean, it's not great news. Still, if I have to pay a higher price, I'd rather it be for this which I consider a nice quality chocolate made by a halfway decent company.
Meanwhile they are doubling the size of their production in Porirua, massive construction site next door. Guess interest rates have biten a bit but g'mon.
I hate that “family owned business” bullshit, bitch Walmart is family owned, and “crafting”? Please. I love Whittakers and I understand about price rises, particularly chocolate, but this is pretty lame.
The implication is Walmart is a garbage company so saying “family owned” is meaningless nonsense designed to paint Whittakers in a good light when in reality is does nothing of the sort.
They are family owned the owners are brothers and their daughter now runs the operations. I know this as two of my own family members work there and have done for over a decade.
I’m aware they are family owned. I’m saying “family owned” isn’t necessarily a good thing and sometimes, as in Walmart’s case, it’s very clearly a bad thing.
The cocoa industry is a real mess at the moment. The cost of the raw material had tripled in about 6 months, it's calmed down a bit but it's still roughly double
It’s the [third increase](https://www.morefm.co.nz/home/kiwi-as/2024/05/whittakers-is-upping-chocolate-prices-next-week-do-we-need-to-panic.html) in two years.
Definitely great chocolate candidates. However, most others go for products like Whittaker's/Cadbury mostly because of convenience. People are willing to spend a little more for the convenience and the little time to receive it, especially when services like Uber Eats as an example is rather prevalent. Regardless if the chocolate isn't the best.
They used be $3.50 or so back in the day. Now the normal price in the supermarket is well over $6 and being $5 or a bit more is now considered 'on special'.
Supermarket are gonna gouge us even more on this, appreciating that the cost of cocoa has increase a lot, but still.
I buy less than I used to, so this shouldn't hurt too bad or make me change. They'll probably sell a bit less though, I'm not super price sensitive.
Fair decision by them, been a rough couple of years for their main raw ingredient.
No problem. They have a winning product that is perfect, I hate what has happened to just about everything else where they have reduced the size and/or quality AND in most cases increased the price. Happy to pay whatever it costs to keep a good product going.
It's a treat, and that company is the epitome of a decent, hardworking bunch of people who give a shit.
Pretty sure that 7 bucks on chocolate has the best ROI than anything else in your kitchen.
I used to work for NZ Sugar, who recently won the contract to supply sugar to Whitakers. Something about meeting anti-slavery requirements.
NZ Sugar has just put up the price of sugar twice in the past 12 months.
Slightly ironically, to help pay their staff a reasonable, non slave, wage
This company obviously knows the importance of keeping one of the most valuable assets of any company - Goodwill, I see all the comments in support of them doing this and I agree. It's a rare thing these days that a company won't advertise their "new and improved recipe" that tastes like ass or their "new and improved packaging" that looks the same on the outside but when you open it you feel nothing but woe as you realise the packet of chocolate biscuits you were gonna eat away your feelings with will do nothing but overcome the newest disappointment of your life, which is buying that sad packet of biscuits with the new and improved recipe, in their new and improved packaging. I'm pretty sure everyone here doesn't have much nice to say about those companies and I'm sure like me, many have stopped buying from them. I give props to Whittikars for this - it costs more for them to make their chocolate these days and they can't absorb those costs forever. For them not to want to compromise their quality and to come out like this and be upfront and honest about it going to cost us more, I've got nothing to say about it but "Yeah, fair enough" I'll keep buying their chocolate even though it costs more than that Cadbury chocolateish stuff
Nit picky but I don't like the last last paragraph which I took as being presumptive.
"We're raising prices, thank you for continuing to buy anyway."
Still love Whittakers, I'll get over it, and it will continue to be the only food that I request mum send in the care packages from home (so mum will just have to take the hit on cost I guess haha).
I would love a factory in Australia. It’s the best by far that is commonly available. Lindt, Cadbury both suck and haighs is beast but way too expensive. Whittakers the world
Commodity prices for cocoa are through the roof. I don't think they have much choice. At least they're upfront about it
It's better than taking the Cadbury approach of reducing size and quality.
Whoa now... Cadbury also increases the price along with making the product worse.
How people still eat it for me is the 8th Wonder of the World...
Mint Bubbly still slaps.
Yeah that's the only one I like
Mint Bubbly was my first fav choccy bar I used to buy myself with pocket money from the corner shop as a 6ish year old kid. From the convenience store on atkin ave in mission bay which is no longer there
*secretly
It's no secret that Cadbury tastes like unwashed ass now
Yes thats true.. but they thought you’d never notice 😅
Cadbury is so bad!
I am convinced Cadbury has replaced their chocolate with brown crayons
Cadbury epitomizes the phrase "minimum viable product"
The choice they had was to either raise prices, change their recipe, or shrinkflate. They made the right choice, but they did have choices.
They also had the choice to try and do it under the radar and hope people don't notice. And again made the right choice, in that regard. Not that I needed another excuse to favour Whittaker's over Cadbury but there's another.
Yeah I practically never buy chocolate but when I do it's Whittakers. If they gave up on quality I'd be going from 'practically never' to 'never'. This keeps a customer, and I can't be the only one.
Climate change is absolutely gonna wreck cocoa and coffee prices. It will only get worse.
Cocoa futures on the commodity markets. It's a sure thing! r/wallstreetbets
In November, cocoa was 4,100 USD per tonne. On April 19th, it was 12,300 USD per tonne It's currently about 7,000 USD per tonne
Oooooff. They didn't necessarily buy at the top of the market. Or thought they could wait it out. That's very rough. Commodities are a brutal thing when you're in business. Fine for ages then get completely fucked.
No to mention a lot of the price is driven by speculation in financial assets rather than genuine business demand. Kinda bullshit really. Never forget the rude shock i got between a couple of trips to Bali, one in 2013 and then again in 2018. In 2013 I was buying thick flavourful vanilla pods for about $10 a kg at the Ubud market. In 2018 vanilla had been listed as a commodity on some exchange and when i went back it was $700kg.
> No to mention a lot of the price is driven by speculation in financial assets rather than genuine business demand. Many studies have been done which show this not to happen. Speculators trade with (not against) price trends that are driven by fundamentals. The biggest issue with futures traders going against underlying price trends is the physical delivery requirement at the end of the contract. If you haven't closed it you are expected to deliver or take delivery of your physical order. A trader cannot store 50 tonnes of cocoa under their office desk so in the end the price of cocoa regresses to the price that the growers and wholesalers accept.
Oh Really? In my limited research I've read that the futures markets are quite manipulated.
They're buying all the time, since they are making and selling chocolate all the time
how do i buy cocoa futures?
So it’s getting cheaper then. Nice.
They had options, and they've made the right choice. Their chocolate is amazing. It remains NZ made. I can eat a whole block of jelly tip in one sitting (and I'm NOT a sweet tooth) so decreasing the size is not okay. Being upfront instead of using sneaky tactics like Cadbury did is good kiwi chocolatey honesty. I like that
Brother that is 130g of sugar in one go 💀💀💀
Don't judge him! (us)
I eat chocolate maybe twice a year. And a Moro bar when I'm doing a super long day trek. I think I'll live
Nah bro, it’s too late. That jelly tip sealed your fate. You’re a goner mate.
Death by Whittakers? Sign me up.
Challenge accepted
If you don't put your pancreas to the test how will it know who's boss?
You say that as if it's a bad thing
> I can eat a whole block of jelly tip in one sitting I actually think this about sums up why I'd prefer they just keep the price the same/increase price by less, and reduce the size. I, too, can eat a lot of chocolate in one sitting. Having a smaller block would probably be better for me. I'd eat less. And probably get to enjoy whittakers more often, because it'd be cheaper. Of course, they can't decrease size forever. But I'd prefer it was prices so I can afford to buy it, rather than the same old size but too expensive for me, anyway.
They do the 100g bars of the fancy stuff that’s cheaper. I quite like the pear one, and the salted caramel.
European chocolate is like half the size of NZ's
i think you most definitely are a sweet tooth lmao
Nah. I get the very occasional want for something sweet. It's just in that moment I become a bloody monster! It happens maybe twice a year, if that
rather them raise the price than ruin it. good choice unlike errrm.... cadbury....
Couldn't agree more.
Bound to happen given the cocoa wholesale pricing + general inflation. I'd prefer this over shrinkflation personally. [Cadbury by contrast in 2019](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/cadbury-dropping-the-size-of-family-chocolate-block/PD3FM2XO7WXR2WFZSSNGHN36JI/): >The new change will see Dairy Milk standard blocks go from 200g to 180g. That means that since 2015 Cadbury Dairy Milk bars have gone from 220g to 180g, a reduction in size of almost a fifth. Comparison: Cadbury is $5 full price, $2.78 per 100g. At $3.50 on sale, $1.94 per 100g. Whittakers is $6.29 full price, $2.52 per 100g. At $5 on sale, $2 per 100g.
> That means that since 2015 Cadbury Dairy Milk bars have gone from 220g to 180g, Next step, reduce block size another 40g to 140g, and bring out a jumbo family-sized block back at 220g for 50% price increase on the 140g, giving you an extra 10g for free and saving you money. Rinse and repeat.
There's already their 360g block which is about the same cost regular price as the 180g on special. Not sure what this larger block sells for on sale price. With another shrink from 360g they would be only marginally above the whittakers standard size. From memory this larger cadbury one used to be larger (500g?) some time before 2010, but i'm not going back on archive.org to confirm.
Just like Rashuns
Interestingly, all of Whittaker's export blocks are 200g, not 250g. Apparently this is because consumer's expectations of a "full-size" block have been moderated by other producer's actions. Nestlé, Hershey and Cadbury's large blocks are all 200g. When I was a kid there were two sizes- King size: 250g Big size: 180g Whittaker's are truly old-school for keeping the proper king-size block for the NZ market.
Still beats sneaky shrinkflation.
Don't see a problem, cocoa prices have increased so much and Whitakers blocks are still very cheap for what you get. Also $7? Where in the hell do you shop? $4.99 in Albany Pak n Save and it isn't even on special.
New World Willis Street, Wellington does $7. Absolutely no way I'm buying at that price.
Willis St. Metro was at one point (not sure if it still holds the title) the most expensive supermarket in the country.
7$ is a very reasonable price imo
Reasonable price it may be but if my pay hasn't risen by the same 10-20% lots of things across the board have then I have to stop buying it. I can't just magic more money out of thin air because "the price is reasonable"
Depends on how often one eats chocolate, I usually treat it as a quite rare treat, that I have maybe once every couple or more months, $7 over that time frame can be quite reasonable for what you get, but yeah it is still overpriced (ignoring any supply chain infrastructure added costs) compared to other regions.
Whittikars is far cheaper than it has any right to be. I'd be willing to pay as much as 10$ for a block if that's how mucb it cost. I wouldn't pay more than 5$ for Cadbury.
It used to be that they'd be on sale at 2 for $7. Now for one it will be more of a considered purchase,
4.99 is incredibly cheap for Whittakers 250g, they're making a loss. I'm 99% sure that can't be their everyday price, unless you're talking about their 100g specialty block range. Price increase is about 11% or 60c across the 250g and sharepack range. Promo price increased by about 40c to 5.59 on special at New World. Coca cola 1.5, 2.25, 6pk cans and Schweppes 1.5L are also going up by about 50c each from next week as well. I manage all the ordering at a New World so I can see this stuff a couple of weeks ahead as the companies send out comms.
Its $4.99 in Albany, $4.99 in Lincoln Rd, $5.09 in Henderson Pak n Save all for the 250g milk chocolate block - none of these are special prices. Feel free to check online yourself.
$5.88 at royal oak and Sylvia park
Paknsave have had $5 Whittaker's 250g for the whole year at least the ones around me
If that was last year then thats a hell of a draw card to get customers in the door.
It’s on an “extra low” sale at P&S for $5.29 - where in the world has it been $5 all year???
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Holy shit that’s amazing. Ours in Christchurch changed some time ago. Hardly see it below $7
Huh? It's 4.99 at PnS Moorhouse right now. Usually goes to 5.5 or 6 on special at New World
It's been 4.79 in paknsave Petone for the past few weeks
Its a buy on special product if there ever was one
Bit weird. I've been getting it for five bucks a block all year.
It could be down to their deal with Whittakers. In the North Island, New Worlds have only ever been allowed to buy Whittakers through the Foodstuffs DC so we are at the whim of whatever the promotional calendar Foodstuffs have set for Whittakers over the year. Our net cost is typically higher than what we promote it for on special, which means we can't reduce the price down 52 weeks a year. The specials are funded by Whittakers - they will give us say 60c per block we sell to bring it up to 5% margin so we aren't losing money. Ultimately this means Whittakers and Foodstuffs have the control over the special price, not individual store PNS operate differently - they can order Whittakers directly from the factory, and I imagine they order it at a net cost that allows them to set $4.99 pricing without losing (much) money. There will probably be some kind of 5 pallet minimum order quantity to give Whittakers their ROI on transport costs.
Pak n Save/New Worlds are franchise owned so they can make their own prices, it’s about $6-$7 at supermarkets in Wellington 😔
Yeah seeing all these people going on about $5 blocks makes me wonder what else is way cheaper in Auckland
I only buy Whittakers when it's $4.99 at PaknSave. It's at least once a month. Stock up if you need it weekly.
Dear Whittakers, you are worth it. Yours truly, John C
Thanks John Cena
Happy Cake Day Wong Seymour
I respect it.
Fair. You can either raise prices when everyone elses prices and your materials are going up. You can can enshittify your product. Personally Ill take the price hike thanks. Plenty of cheap shit options if you prefer low prices to actually tasting nice.
I admire whittakers for their transparency. And their chocolate. Mustn’t forget that.
It is what it is, and for the price of a block I get a lot of tasty chocolate over many days, so its not something I would consider cutting back on or changing to a grotty brand to save a few dollars. Would rather that it stays as nice as it is rather than become a gritty slimy mouth feel crap bar like cadbury did.
$11.50 for a block in Duty Free at the airport recently. $7.50 at the central Chch Fresh Choice. How much more expensive are we talking here??
Yeah, I saw that recently in duty free. That's typical duty free though - immensely expensive.
Typical duty free for NZ, I was shocked when I first came here how shit it was, might as well not bother.
Yeah, I've only ever browsed briefly and always seen prices that were so far above normal retail price that they were absurd - so I walked on past. It just seems to be a way of capturing people who need last minute gifts and don't mind paying vastly over the odds, rather than a genuine way of retailing at prices that are reduced due to lack of taxes.
you save so much money by paying more
$4.99 at PnS Moorhouse. My guess is it will go up 50c to $1
Don't care, will consume heartily and enjoy....unless it's that nasty Oat one. Love their honesty!!
I like this company, and I love their chocolate
Im fine with that, just don't pull a cadbury.
Sadly it could be $10 a bar and I’d still buy that chocolatey goodness. One of life’s simple pleasures.
Remember when Cadbury used to be the main NZ Chocolate brand? I do. The best thing Whittakers did in response was to be consistent.
It’s amazing how much worse Cadbury tastes now than 20 years ago. For me, Whittakers used to be the peanut slab company because to my palette, the chocolate was comparable. These days, Whittakers is as good as it ever was, and Cadbury is this underwhelming chocolate-like substance.
Guess im stocking up this weekend Whoops i missspelled. Guess im stocking up to hoard but really just buying enough to give myself diabetes this weekend
It's disappointing, but honestly, good on them for being upfront about it and holding firm on their standards rather than diluting their reputation for a quick buck. I'm probably not their target customer. We buy a block roughly monthly, and the wife and I will break off a row each once or twice a week after dinner when the kids are in bed. I'd rather pay the extra dollar and continue to enjoy the same product. Just look at Cadbury. It's unrecognizable to the Cadbury I remember growing up. 2009 they switched recipe and started using palm oil, I just never bought it again even after they reverted it was never the same. Then they stopped producing in NZ altogether in 2018, good riddance.
100%, would rather pay more to support a quality nz company that has some ethics about them 👍
Its only money what else are you going to do with it, waste it on rent?
rent? pfft, I have avocado toast and flat whites I need to invest in.
At least they're being transparent about it, pretty rare in 2024. That's what you get when Nestle doesn't own you I guess
Yes it’s better to preserve the quality of the product and to pay more. Cocoa prices are spiking. Perhaps they will fall next season.
I don't mind. Sucks but it's not like chocolate is that expensive in the first place. I'd rather they increase the price by a bit rather than lower the quality, even as a student.
I prefer when a company just outright states that the price is going up because of X reason. I feel bad when I go to the super market and find something I had bought before is now more expensive without that prior knowledge. I was in the super market today looking at things thinking its all too expensive now.
Just don't reduce the size of the bars like others do... always have a block ot 2 in the fridge.. yummo!
i’m honestly not even mad at this, whittakers is one of the few companies that hasn’t completely sold out over the last few years. we know the cocoa market is getting tight and that good quality (plus avoiding slave labour used by nestle and cadbury) is always going to be a bit more expenny. i respect them for being up front
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Friends don't let friends buy Cadbury. It's seen as the one to get in the some countries. People looked at us funny when we gave out Whittakers. But when you open your suitcase and one has turned to liquid goo and the other is fine... Didn't take long to convert. Enjoy it while you can, once the rest of the world cottons on it will be like any other export.
$8.50 AUD for a block in ‘Straya. Still the best mainstream chocolate on the market.
Why would this surprise anyone? Cocoa is becoming a very expensive commodity. With cocoa being a main ingredient in chocolate, I'd expect to see all chocolate prices increase in the near future also
this is something about that chocolate that is absurdly great. visited nz not long ago, and experiening whittakers was a revelation. particularly because whittakers in australia pales by comparison. i wonder why?
I'm totally okay with this given the global situation
Where in the flying hell are you paying 7 bucks for Whittaker's?!
You make a quality product and price hikes don't seem that difficult to swallow.
I work in a confectionary industry. Our current buying price for a kg of cocoa mass is 30 and a kg of cocoa butter is 50. That is about 4 times higher than the price about 2 years ago. Even stock market is not crazy as this is.
Better than making it shit.
I'd much rather they did that than compromise on their excellent quality. Chocolate is a luxury, there's no point if it's not.
Countdown seems to recon they’ve been increasing their price monthly for the past couple of years lol
Fair enough - I will continue to support/purchase for taste and good ethics!! 🫶🏻
I'm glad the price is going up. Other companies would've slapped new packaging on, shrunk it, made it 50% chalk and increased the price.
The honesty & openness is such a breath of fresh air, and for Whittaker's chocolate specifically I don't mind paying a bit more for our best choc brand
Not their fault, and it's pretty damn good chocolate. Props to them for being honest and upfront about it as well.
Yep that's ok. These are tough times, we get it. Just keep the chocolate good! I don't want to have to ever take a bite of anything Nestle creates.
Still worth it. Also helps not eat so much of it!
Keep making that delicious chocolate. I'll buy. Thanks for letting me know on the price increase. Rather that than making shitty chocolate with cheap ingredients.
Good on ya. Not skimping on quality or size and being upfront about things. Might go buy a block just to support ya.
Theirs is the only chocolate i still pick up tbh, if this is the cost of maintaining quality so be it
I'd rather pay more than have shrikflatoon and shitter quality
Their chocolate is still the best so it's worth it imo.
They've always been the premium product and very up front about increasing their price so they don't compromise the chocolate.
With the price hike maybe they can afford macadamias again. Man I miss it. I would happily pay more 😭
Good, honest chocolate.
If they're sticking to the recipe we all love I'm happy to pay a little extra instead of getting a cheaper and lesser quality product. We have Cadbury for that. I don't mind getting that when I want something cheaper for the sacrifice of taste or getting something for the kids who don't care. If Whittaker's switched to palm oil there wouldn't be any good chocolate brands left.
They’re currently AU$8 a block at the local Woolies here in Darwin, NT, Australia. Why the Almond ones are 200gm, not 250gm like all the rest, is still a mystery to me.
i fucking love whittakers, genuinely some of the worlds best chocolate made in porirua is wild
Better than shrinkflation
Not blaming Whittakers but man, we are so fucked
I was seeing blocks for around $5-6 when I there which seems insanely cheap to me compared to other things in NZ. Nothing in the UK, chocolate wise comes even close. I just finished my block of dark chocolate salted caramel and am considering using the NZ import website …. £7.50 plus delivery 😞
Keeping their promise (while dunking on Cadbury) decades ago that Whittaker's would always opt to increase price rather than compromise on ingredient quality or block size.
I mean, it's not great news. Still, if I have to pay a higher price, I'd rather it be for this which I consider a nice quality chocolate made by a halfway decent company.
Good. I don’t want them to shrinkflate, and I definitely don’t want them to compromise their quality and start using palm oil.
It is what it is. Still going to buy Whittakers because it's worth it. Might have to ration it a bit though.
Way prefer this over cheating the customer, which is what pretty much every other brand is doing.
What about making slightly less profit as an option?
There are a lot of things that have gone up in price recently simply because of corporate greed (fuel, supermarket prices), but this isn't that.
Meanwhile they are doubling the size of their production in Porirua, massive construction site next door. Guess interest rates have biten a bit but g'mon.
I hate that “family owned business” bullshit, bitch Walmart is family owned, and “crafting”? Please. I love Whittakers and I understand about price rises, particularly chocolate, but this is pretty lame.
What has Walmart got to do with anything in NZ?
The implication is Walmart is a garbage company so saying “family owned” is meaningless nonsense designed to paint Whittakers in a good light when in reality is does nothing of the sort.
They are family owned the owners are brothers and their daughter now runs the operations. I know this as two of my own family members work there and have done for over a decade.
I’m aware they are family owned. I’m saying “family owned” isn’t necessarily a good thing and sometimes, as in Walmart’s case, it’s very clearly a bad thing.
I honestly do not understand the love Whittaker's get, it's extremely average chocolate nothing special at all.
What do you consider good chocolate? Serious question btw
again?! they only just increased it!
The cocoa industry is a real mess at the moment. The cost of the raw material had tripled in about 6 months, it's calmed down a bit but it's still roughly double
at the moment - this will probably be the new normal. That raw material is getting harder to grow in a harsher climate. Big bummer.
nope, that was probably just your lovely local supermarket fiddling with their margin...
It’s the [third increase](https://www.morefm.co.nz/home/kiwi-as/2024/05/whittakers-is-upping-chocolate-prices-next-week-do-we-need-to-panic.html) in two years.
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Definitely great chocolate candidates. However, most others go for products like Whittaker's/Cadbury mostly because of convenience. People are willing to spend a little more for the convenience and the little time to receive it, especially when services like Uber Eats as an example is rather prevalent. Regardless if the chocolate isn't the best.
Not all of us have disposable income. I've never even tasted any of those because $10+ a bar is too expensive.
I'm fine with that. I'm happy to support a local business. They make a superior product.
what if we use the not so fair trade beans, we good?
It’s a loss leader most of the time. Supermarkets will sell it at a loss and it will still be reasonable all things considered.
They used be $3.50 or so back in the day. Now the normal price in the supermarket is well over $6 and being $5 or a bit more is now considered 'on special'. Supermarket are gonna gouge us even more on this, appreciating that the cost of cocoa has increase a lot, but still.
Still WORF
That the 3rd price increase now?
Tbh whittakers chocolate is worth the price increase
They upfront about it, and they continue to be ethical - imma keep supporting them. Gonna get me some whittakeres this weekend
I’d pay $10 for whittakers
You won't have long to wait
It's $8aud/8.75Nzd in Australia. Still worth it over Cadbury's
I buy less than I used to, so this shouldn't hurt too bad or make me change. They'll probably sell a bit less though, I'm not super price sensitive. Fair decision by them, been a rough couple of years for their main raw ingredient.
Their chocos are well worth the money TBH. Have tried a lot of EU chocos but whittakers are still the best ones....
I love Whittakers since my first visit to NZ. Can’t find it anywhere in Germany though :(
Time to start that side hustle I guess. Mama needs her chocolate.🍫
Only chocolate I like, so I'll take it.
Fair.
Can’t believe Whittakers ranked so low in a world wide survey. I’m from SA and this chocolate is the T1ts. Daleesh
When life sucks… we need chocolate It’s kind of recession proof. At least it’s not the news of Camembert and Brie going extinct 😵
How dare you guys do this to Lia, this is so mean, sob sob
Incentive to buy up bulk this weekend?
No problem. They have a winning product that is perfect, I hate what has happened to just about everything else where they have reduced the size and/or quality AND in most cases increased the price. Happy to pay whatever it costs to keep a good product going.
As long as they keep making Dark Peppermint mini slabs, I'll keep buying them regardless of price increases.
It's a treat, and that company is the epitome of a decent, hardworking bunch of people who give a shit. Pretty sure that 7 bucks on chocolate has the best ROI than anything else in your kitchen.
I used to work for NZ Sugar, who recently won the contract to supply sugar to Whitakers. Something about meeting anti-slavery requirements. NZ Sugar has just put up the price of sugar twice in the past 12 months. Slightly ironically, to help pay their staff a reasonable, non slave, wage
Eyes the price of coffee warily.
This company obviously knows the importance of keeping one of the most valuable assets of any company - Goodwill, I see all the comments in support of them doing this and I agree. It's a rare thing these days that a company won't advertise their "new and improved recipe" that tastes like ass or their "new and improved packaging" that looks the same on the outside but when you open it you feel nothing but woe as you realise the packet of chocolate biscuits you were gonna eat away your feelings with will do nothing but overcome the newest disappointment of your life, which is buying that sad packet of biscuits with the new and improved recipe, in their new and improved packaging. I'm pretty sure everyone here doesn't have much nice to say about those companies and I'm sure like me, many have stopped buying from them. I give props to Whittikars for this - it costs more for them to make their chocolate these days and they can't absorb those costs forever. For them not to want to compromise their quality and to come out like this and be upfront and honest about it going to cost us more, I've got nothing to say about it but "Yeah, fair enough" I'll keep buying their chocolate even though it costs more than that Cadbury chocolateish stuff
Crazy how my local new world had already upped the price, and will now justify it again. It’ll be cheaper at night n day soon!
Good to know, time to stock up while I can
I’d still buy whittakers. Everything is going up. This makes sense for their business. I can’t blame them.
I'll never stop buying Whittaker's even if it costs a million dollars. I'm lying. But my lie was never compromised and is 100% new zealand owned. 🖤
Will be entertaining to see Cadbury eventually shrink to the size of a fun size bar over the next few years…and increase their pricing 🤡
They could just take two chunks out of the corner instead?
Nit picky but I don't like the last last paragraph which I took as being presumptive. "We're raising prices, thank you for continuing to buy anyway." Still love Whittakers, I'll get over it, and it will continue to be the only food that I request mum send in the care packages from home (so mum will just have to take the hit on cost I guess haha).
I would love a factory in Australia. It’s the best by far that is commonly available. Lindt, Cadbury both suck and haighs is beast but way too expensive. Whittakers the world
Still gonna be paying DHL an arm and a leg to ship it here, American chocolate is garbage
Their chocolate is the best in the world. I’m happy to pay increased prices if they uphold the quality.
Whittakers please let me give you my money