It's getting hot out there but if you want to cool down with that summer staple of a 99 ice cream you may fall victim to a shortage of Cadbury Flakes. Ice cream sellers have said for a second year in a row, the crumbly chocolate treats are hard to come by.
The parent company of Cadbury, Mondelez International, has said it has been affected by a surge in demand for 99 Flakes as well as global supply chain issues. It is working hard to resolve the situation, it said in a statement.
It's a repeat of the summer of 2021 when there were similar shortages of the chocolate to stick in ice cream. And it's bad news for those hoping to sell the traditional ice cream while the sun shines.
The owner of Abbey's Ice Cream in Hessle, East Yorkshire, said cash and carries had been limiting sales. Abby Beech told the BBC she had been limited to 10 boxes and she didn't know when she could get hold of more.
She said: "There are 144 [Flakes] in a box. It sounds a lot but if you go to a large event you could easily use eight or nine boxes."
Over in Hull, Lawrence Glauser, the owner of Lorenzo's Ices, said Cadbury, based in Birmingham, moving Flake production to the Middle East, didn't help. He said: "Since Cadbury moved production of Flakes to the Middle East, it's been a nightmare getting hold of them."
A spokesperson for Mondelez International said: "In line with what many other companies are reporting, we are experiencing some global supply chain disruptions, alongside a recent increase in demand for the product in the UK and Ireland above the levels that we agreed with our customers at the start of the year.
"This means we are experiencing some short-term stock challenges on Flake 99.
"We are working, and will continue to work hard, to resolve the situation, and are working closely with our direct distributive customers to manage stock allocation fairly based on initial forecasts."
