International- A Canadian vintage candy company owner is struggling to give away thousands of chocolate bars.
- Crystal Regehr Westergard has more than 130,000 Run & Butter bars in her possession.
A vintage candy company owner has thousands of chocolate bars and has been struggling to give them away before the expiration date.
Crystal Regehr Westergard, the founder of Canadian Candy Nostalgia, has 133,000 Rum & Butter chocolate bars that are set to expire in June, according to an April 11 interview on CBC's podcast "As It Happens" last week.
The candy, which was widely beloved in the 1980s, is described as rum flavored with Caramilk inside, the outlet reported.
Westergard ordered the bars from an overseas production company, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were some delays. When she finally received her orders, she got them in bulk, as CBC reported. People are buying them, but not at a rapid pace.
"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," Westergard told the outlet. "So suddenly the stores aren't ordering the same gargantuan sum."
—Cuban Lunch Co (@CubanLunch) April 15, 2023
In an effort to get rid of them, Westergard tried giving them to schools, and local homeless shelters — but there are still far too many. She tried to give them to the Edmonton Oilers, a professional ice hockey team, to give to fans, but they have their own contracted snack suppliers, CBC's report said.
Since Westergrad has spoken out about her dilemma, she has been in touch with food banks that could take a couple of thousand off her hands.
In an update on the company's Facebook page, she said the inquiries have been pouring in.
"All my inboxes are crammed. So far, St Vlad's Church and the Drop in Centre have received loads. Please support them," the post said.
She told Insider that there have been orders trickling in.
"We do believe we have enough commitments to send out the rest, if the volunteer organizations come thru," she said in a statement. "I think the best thing we can do is to 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."