CHICAGO — A load of bollocks. That seems to be the consensus within Chicago's British and Irish community to the recent news that their beloved Cadbury chocolate will no longer make the trip across the pond.
Let's Buy British, a leading distributor of foods from the U.K., said last week that it would halt all imports of British-made Cadbury chocolate. The move also pertains to certain British-made Nestle treats, including Kit Kats, Toffee Krisps and Maltesers.
The deal stems from a lawsuit filed last year by chocolate giant Hershey's against the distributor, alleging trademark infringement.
Janet Fuller explains why the chocolate supply is being cut off:
Hershey's manufactures Cadbury chocolate for the American market. The packaging is similar; the recipes are different.
"It's total nonsense," said Nick Spencer, owner of Spencer's Jolly Posh Foods, the Lakeview restaurant and market catering to British expats, where Cadbury Dairy Milk, Flake and Crunchie bars are top sellers.
Spencer and others who grew up eating Cadbury say there is no mistaking — by wrapper or flavor — the British chocolates from their American counterparts. Cadbury, they say, is milkier, creamier, meltier. Indeed, the first ingredient listed on the back of a British Cadbury bar is milk; on an American version, it's sugar.
"It's ridiculous. I know a lot of my friends, we won't touch the American-made stuff," said Catriona Byrne, 21. The first-generation Irish-American buys her Cadbury from the gift shop at the Irish American Heritage Center in Mayfair, where she teaches music.
Jefferson Park resident Lucy Davies, who hails from outside Liverpool, England, was even more blunt.
"It has an aftertaste of vomit. Particularly Hershey's," she said.
Specialty import stores around town report a trickle, not a surge, of customers looking to stockpile their favorite British treats, but store employees say the import ban is all the talk around the cash register.
At O'Connor's Deli and Market in Edison Park, manager Sue Lally said she discussed the situation at length on Monday with a young female customer, an American, who bought $12 worth of candy bars.
"She left saying, 'This is how screwed up the world is. I can go to a store now and buy pot, but I can't buy Irish candy anymore,'" Lally said.
Nick Cardinal, manager of Winston's Market in Tinley Park, is worried about the impact on business. The shop stocks more than 100 kinds of imported British chocolate bars.
"It's gonna hurt, you know," Cardinal said. "Chocolate is one of our biggest sellers. It's a good 30 percent of our business."
Cadbury devotees have taken to social media to voice their utter displeasure. On Twitter, they're using the hashtag #BoycottHershey. An online petition destined for the inbox of Hershey's CEO John P. Bilbrey has collected more than 27,000 signatures.
Lucy Pask, who started the Facebook group and website Windy City Brits, is taking the news in stride. Though she doesn't minimize most Brits' emotional connection to Cadbury — her wedding party favors were Cadbury Creme Eggs — she also doesn't see much point in protesting.
"We're British. We're more likely to write a stern letter and hide behind a hashtag," she said with a laugh. "We're not going to ... start tipping Hershey's into the river. That's just not us."
And besides, she said, those returning to Chicago from a trip to the motherland, herself included, likely will continue bringing suitcases full of Cadbury chocolate back with them.
To keep things fair and minimize any potential customer panic, Spencer has pulled much of his Cadbury supply from the shelves and will slowly parcel it back out for sale over the next six months.
He said that there still are plenty of other British-made chocolate brands to enjoy. But he also plans to fill the Cadbury void. He's working on his own version of the classic Cadbury Dairy Milk bar to sell in his shop.
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