While the coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on many people’s plans, it’s also impacting the candy industry in a not-so-sweet way.
Just Born Quality Confections, which makes Mike and Ike, Hot Tamales and Peeps candies, will not be producing the marshmallow treats until Easter 2021, according to The Associated Press.
That means there will be none of the sugary snacks for Halloween, Christmas or Valentine’s Day.
Even though packages won’t be available in stores, the company said it plans to update its online store to allow customers to buy some products directly.
Just Born closed factories earlier this year in the midst of the pandemic and acknowledged that some of its products would likely go out of stock at retailers before it was able to ramp up production again.
“Although deemed an 'essential business’ by state and federal authorities, we made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend production at the end of March to help ‘flatten the curve’ while helping ensure the health and safety of our associates, which is our top priority,” the Pennsylvania-based company said in an April press release.
Just Born donated masks, gloves and candy to local hospitals.
The candymaker reopened two production facilities on May 4.
The company said the closures and an “expected overwhelming demand for Peeps for next Easter season” led officials to decide to focus on preparing for next spring’s demand.
About 2 billion Peeps are produced in more than 40 varieties each year.
The marshmallow candies have consistently been rated as a favorite Easter candy, and more than 1.5 billion of them are consumed each spring.
Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/XCUXZC2XYZHCRGNNGKFEX6U3LQ.png)
