Bakers scrambling to get Rice Krispies ahead of the holiday season
CBC
The shortage of a key ingredient ahead of the holidays has left many bakers caught in a crunch — scrambling to get their hands on Rice Krispies, one of the main components of a lot of Christmas treats like peanut butter balls and holiday squares.
Grocery stores say they're struggling to keep up with demand and keep the cereal in stock amid a shortage.
"We had a few boxes downstairs, and we had some people call and they came right away to get them. And that has been it," said Brittany Blaisdell, who works at the Ellerslie Red & White store near Tyne Valley, P.E.I.
"We haven't been able to get any more in."
Blaisdell said she's been getting lots of calls from people who say they haven't been able to find the Kellogg's cereal anywhere on the Island.
"It's a bit of a smaller community here and you get to know the regular people that do all the Christmas baking and stuff like that," she said.
"That's kind of what they're looking for, and they haven't been able to find them."
The cereal is in short supply across Canada, due in part to the global supply chain crisis and a strike that has hit four Kellogg's cereal plants in the U.S., where 1,400 workers have been off the job since October.
"There's a big hole there where the Rice Krispies should be," said David Fraser, store manager at the Co-Op in Souris, P.E.I. He says it's been hard to get the product for more than a month.
"For peanut butter balls especially, and other baking items, it's one of the necessities for baking."
Kellogg Canada isn't sure when things will change.
"At this time, we do not have an estimated date on when the product will be back in stock, but can assure you we are working as fast as we can to get it back on store shelves," the company said in a statement to CBC News.
Kellogg's had reached a tentative agreement with the union which represents the workers. But on Tuesday the workers rejected the deal, and negotiations collapsed.
In the meantime, bakers may have to look for suitable substitutions to add that snap, crackle and pop.
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