Over the last month I’ve been getting questions about the stock market and how it is going kind of crazy. As of this writing, commodity prices are up a staggering 400+%. I have many thoughts and feelings about this but I need to do the subject justice so I’m not going to dive into it just yet. What I am going to say is I’m starting to put in place a new pricing structure where I am adjusting our pricing to focus on labor, meaning the money you pay, goes to my staff more than the company in general. I’ve started reducing our margin on whole raw beans. I wish I could say the prices dropped but I can’t. What I can say is raw beans are barely going up because there is minimal labor. Consider this incentive to by those. Roasted beans and nibs are going to be going up a some for the opposite, i.e. more labor.
Let’s get to some of the ups and downs.
The Ups.
Organic Uganda Semuliki 2024 is in. It is as incredible as always but maybe, just maybe, more elegant and bold at the same time.
Vanilla has been out of stock a little while and is back in stock. Because of that I’ve included it in our Kit of the Month.
The Kit of the Month is a lovely 72% Ghana with a hint of vanilla and marshmallow (the later being part of the flavor profile, not an addition). My intent it for remind you why you love chocolate and are reading this and have dove head first into making your own chocolate. Get the kit. You won’t regret it. You don’t even have to subscribe. Just buy it one off. It’s that good.
The Behmor 2000AB is back in stock.
We have 4 new beans Peru landing next week. Look for them in April.
The Downs
I’ve had to take some of our bag quantities of certain beans down because the market is in such a state of flux that the price is literally changing on a day to day basis and I have no way to keep up. The main two are Ghana RFA and Ivory Coast. If you need a bag or more of either of those, please write me directly and we can hammer out how to make it happen.
We have removed the option where wholesale customers can handle their own shipping. Sadly the warehouses have decided they don’t like this and have stopped allowing it.
I’ve also had to remove our wholesale cocoa butter, both Natural and Deodorized due to a dwindling inventory and skyrocketing prices. I have a plan formulating there, so stay tuned.
Cocoa butter silk is coming to an end for the season. I’m not quite sure when we will stop but it will be sometime in April. Get it while you can.
I, your faithful Alchemist, will be having minor nasal surgery (again) to correct an issue that is interfering with my sleep. I’ll be out of communication the week of March 25th until April.
Another up:
Whew, with all those dire bits of news, of really, it is kind of a reward for those that read this to the end, we have implemented a new FedEx shipping special. FedEx has rolled out a new flat rate program not unlike the USPS Flat rate boxes. I’m honestly not sure how they are giving us these awesome rates but in many cases they are going to complete offset the increases we have had to make in small to medium shipments. 25 lb boxes are now shipping for under $30 instead of over $50. And the best part that isn’t obvious in check out is that these are all 2 day Express.
Sometimes things go our way.