SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Chocolatier and founder of San Diego's Sweet Petite Confections Michelle Lomelin calls Valentine’s Day the Super Bowl of chocolate.
"The holidays are our biggest season, but it's only because the holidays [are] like 4 or 5 weeks long. Valentine's Day, it's all condensed into one [day],” Lomelin said.
But this year, the big chocolate day is coming with a much bigger price tag.
“Our chocolate prices [have increased] by 500% in the last two years," Lomelin said.
The spike hitting both businesses and customers. A year ago, her 16 piece box was $48. Now its priced at $60.
One major reason is the climate-driven crop failures in West Africa, a region that produces roughly 60 to 70 percent of the world’s cocoa. Lower production pushing prices to record highs.
And specialty chocolate is costing Lomelin more than she's ever imagined.
“For 3 kg of a specialty chocolate I might have been paying around $90. That chocolate now is like $500,"Lomelin says. "So not only can I not buy it, but no one else can.”
Then you add the tariffs on major cocoa-exporting countries, including Ecuador, Ivory Coast, the Dominican Republic, Ghana and even Europe, which are adding another 15% to 25% to costs.
And the impacts have been felt locally: “In San Diego we've had several chocolate shops that have gone out of business," Lomelin says. "That makes me sad, I'm sorry to see that happening, but I can see why it would be because it's not an easy time.”
Lomelin says that to survive, she’s adapting. Instead of importing specialty chocolates, she’s now making them in-house, cutting costs where she can while trying not to price customers out.
"It's just everyday operations are very, very expensive right now and you need to raise your prices but you don't want to price yourself out of the market," Lomelin says.
And chocolate isn’t the only Valentine’s staple getting more expensive. About 80% of flowers sold in the U.S. are imported, meaning tariffs and global supply issues could drive up bouquet prices too.
So yes, that sweet gesture may cost you a little more this year but it’s costing businesses more as well.
