American chocolate is also vastly inferior to that produced in European countries...likely because Mars & Hershey can get away with selling a crummy product without fear of upstart competitors damaging their sales.
I'm guessing you're referring to American commercial chocolate? Real American chocolate (craft chocolate, that is) is now better than many European producers, and I say that as a European-born US citizen. (For full transparency, I'm also a chocolate judge and wrote a novel about the history and mythology of chocolate). Craft chocolate is produced by the many small bean-to-bar makers peppered all over the West Coast, New York, Florida and elsewhere. Strongly recommend checking them out... so many to choose from. Askinosie, Fruition, Raaka, Oakland Chocolate Company, Ratza Chocolate, Tandem Chocolate, etc etc. Best of all is heirloom chocolate, which turns your mouth into a floral garden—harder to come by though. A lot of these small batch makers sell direct from their websites, for many of the reasons outlined in Matt's piece here. There's so much to explore in the craft chocolate space that I'm launching a Substack on the topic soon.
Yeah, it was possible to find really excellent chocolate in America even at the height of the dominance of Hershey / Mars / Nestle. Alice Medrich was dishing up spectacular truffles back in the eighties ( https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/25/magazine/madam-cocolat.html ). But you had to really go looking for it.
It's even better now... especially bc of the concerted effort by bean-to-bar makers to source the beans directly, pay cacao farmers decent money, and experiment with the various phases of the chocolate making process. Have you ever tasted fresh cacao fruit? It's like no other fruit. They make jelly from it now... bc before it would all go to waste after the fermentation process.
Once a chocolate lover, a chocolate lover for life :) Do you have favorite bars? What do you think of inclusions (the added fruits/nuts/grains/etc you get sometimes), thumbs up or down?
Thanks for replying. As part of my healthy eating I eat Lindt 85% regularly. My diet regimen incudes flax, hemp, chia and pumpkin seeds, on average 3 times a week. Also, walnuts, pistachios, almonds, and other healthy nuts and fruits. Finding great chocolate with these ingredients included is a treat. Of course I need to work out at least 3 times a week so I can enjoy chocolate.
Sounds like you're on a good path. Only thing I'd say about walnuts ... try to get them unshelled, store in the fridge, and crack them open yourself. Every single bag of shelled walnuts I've ever bought (or seen) in the stores, no matter how high end, has gone bad. The way you tell is the nuts no longer have that healthy creamy white flesh inside... they're all oily. Not great for the digestion.
As for working out 3x a week, thumbs up to that! But no need to work out just to enjoy chocolate... that's a myth more persistent than the 5-second rule for eating fallen food :) Real chocolate doesn't make you fat — it's the sugar and unhealthy fats mixed into it. So if you're eating high quality chocolate or cacao nibs, the only reason to go to the gym is AFTER you eat it bc it'll boost your energy ;)
I agree on the walnuts from experience. I now by smaller amounts and store on the refrigerator. I will try your suggestion on buying unshelled walnuts. By oldest daughter is also a chocolate lover and is great at making chocolate desserts from scratch.
I was thinking along these lines as well, since I often go to a specialty shop here in Pittsburgh that offers a wonderfully broad selection of all different kinds of chocolate. (We also have our own independent chocolate maker here called Lux.) It will be interesting to see, noting both your starting a Substack and all the dynamics Matt describes, if these exciting independent makers can find a way to grow in a way that’s perhaps broadly comparable to what we’ve seen in craft beer and distilling.
Yeah, that’s the Lux I mentioned. Funny you mentioned wanting to profile them. I don’t know them personally but I’m a journalist here and I recently emailed them for a possible personality interview feature we do. (I haven’t heard back yet.) (I recommend the blueberry and cocoa nibs and the dark chocolate with raspberries and lime bars.) I concur on spending more on this stuff. I’ve often spent $10 or $12 for a chocolate bar....seeking out as dark a chocolate as I can get for the nutritional value but obviously compelled by the higher quality as well.
Ah, lovely to meet a fellow journalist! If you've already contacted them you get first cacao nibs! If you do the interview let me know and I can link to it from my Substack :) Even better -- if our respective profiles are distinct enough, which I sense they would be, we can cross post.
Haha. Yes, indeed.....best wishes for your new Substack. Sounds like a rich subject. I was planning an interview installment of about 1,200 words...epic length at my pub these days. I’ll likely try to call her on Monday or Tuesday after not getting an email response. My place isn’t going to allow a cross post. Feel free to track her down for a story. I’m sure yours will be more involved and specifically topical than what I’ll be able to do given the nature of the assignment. (Btw, the store I referenced here is called Mon Amie. It’s quite good.)
Sounds good Tim. I wouldn't get to it till after I softlaunch my 'stack anyway. Do ping me once it's published though, would love to read it and give it some Substack love :)
Yes it's wonderful to have shops like those. There's one at the Chelsea Market in NYC I recently visited (and dropped $140 on craft bars from all over the world that I'm not sure I can tell my husband about LOL). I'd share a photo of their chocolate wall if only these comment sections would let you.
Do you know them personally? I'd be delighted to profile them.
Scale is indeed a challenge for the smaller makers, but there are people working on ways to support them and spread the word. My future Substack is a part of that effort—these people do excellent work, they're passionate about the craft, the farmers they support, and the environment the cacao is grown in. It's a lifecycle approach, unlike the commodity & profit motives that drive Big Chocolate
NOW IT SEEMS I AM.( I would like to make mention that I subscribe to a half dozen journalist's across Substack and my comments box is blocked at all of them. Likewise any Substack notification's I receive remain garbled and unreadable. Attempt's to contact SUBSTACK have proven futile. The Taibbi Twitter File reports, the kangaroo court DNC congressional hearing and the recent Louisiana court opinion on free speech violation's make it clear that subscription journalism works. America needs a safe and well managed platform for the healthy truth/fact national dialogue it deserves.
Matt, great article. Mr. Beast is an innovator who is pushing boundaries, hopefully he uses his online voice to bring greater attention to monopolies in the future! Speaking of using your online voice, have you ever thought of attempting to go on Joe Rogan? I genuinely think that would be a good thing for your movement, but I’m interested to hear if I’m wrong.
The “innovation” that Hershey and Nestle do for their flagship products are things like “Reeses cups but twice as big!”, “Reeses cups but with chunky peanut butter!”, etc. It’s so boring!
1000% with you Natalie. I don't consider the candy bars the large companies produce to be real chocolate. One of the most innovative chocolates I've ever tasted was a Biryani truffle. I didn't believe they could pull it off when I saw the label, but good heavens that truffle was transporting. Another one was moonshine chocolate.
There sure is. It's called bean-to-bar chocolate. See my comment up above in response to John Seal's note, but in essence, craft chocolate makers in the US and abroad are doing some extraordinary things. I have the great fortune of serving as a chocolate judge and having one of my feet dipped in the craft chocolate world. It's vibrant, it's mind-blowingly good, and it's America's best kept secret.
Buying chocolate might be viewed as a "Class" thing or a marketing" thing. Suppose you just want a quick taste of chocolate for $1.28. You can get it at WalMart, or for a little more at Krogers, but you sure cannot get it at any of the places listed in the Consumer Report article. After consuming a Heath bar, do you really say, "I should have bought a Skor bar," or vice versa. If Krogers stocked the chocolates shown in the CR article, how many would they sell? If a small Hershey bar cost $6, how many would buy it, even if it was great chocolate.
My girl friend loves Hershey kisses--as a concept--because she doesn't eat many, but they do melt in her mouth. I do however appreciate fine chocolate; I just can't afford them. I was once offered a piece from a box of four pieces someone had sent my host. It was so good that I sneaked down to the kitchen after bed time to get a second piece. When in the morning my host said "There are only two left, I felt so caught that I sent two replacement pieces from the local Brattleboro chocolatier. This was 30 years ago and I was amazed at the price for two "great" chocolate pieces. I say "great" because I could not afford to taste them.
However, I do agree with the concept of being against buying shelf space to keep out the competition. And I often wonder whether the ice cream I ate as a child in the 40s and 50s was carrageenan-free, and how much does the manufacturer now save by adding carrageenan and "gums" to the ice cream.
There's a ton to unpack in your comment on class and marketing... and I'd probably run this comment to its max word count if I did that! But let's just say, in a cacao shell, that it's becoming easier and more affordable to get your hands on some very good quality chocolate. I wasn't thrilled when Amazon bought Whole Foods, but I have to say, being a Prime member certainly gives you a lot of good chocolate for your dollar. Recommend popping by the chocolate aisle in your local WF... they often have specials where you can get two bars for a discounted price. You really can't get any better than ~$3 for an Endorfin Foods bar in terms of price. I'd imagine most people could spring for that (I'd rather buy good chocolate than get my nails or hair done—I mean I can do THOSE things myself)
The other way to think about prices is what the actual cost to your body is when you buy junk chocolate. Look at the ingredients. If you see things like PGPR, TBHQ, high fructose corn syrup, and other things that you can't easily identify as food, stay away. Real cacao has a long list of health benefits, so that $5 or $8 you're spending on a quality bar is also your "apple a day."
Methinks “marketing” is buying low cost crap and pretending it’s real. I’m
Not sure it’s “class”, but I’d wager I spend a lot less money month over month on local craft chocolate bars (there are several at my market), than those who buy cheap bars. Ultimately, the point is that if there were more competition, there’s be a plethora of options at all price levels.
Wow, that snippet of the Robinson-Patman act is fascinating. Does that mean it was never legal for Microsoft to charge computer manufacturers for each machine they sold, irrespective of whether it went out the door with a copy of Windows on it? Because I've always thought it shouldn't have been legal.
Thanks Matt. I am a big sweets guy. I never buy Hershey or Mars products. There are great small chocolate stores if you look. I have also noticed there are less and less of them. In Texas the the mom and pop chef runs restaurants are hard to find. Why eat at a national chain restaurant when you can find a chef owned one. I have a simple philosophy, if it comes in a can or box I do not eat it. The same goes for food you eat at chain restaurants. Learn how to cook, you will enjoy it.
Nestlé actually has a large and respected innovation group. But it’s a food science company, not a candy or chocolate company. And in an industry where mashing ranch Doritos into pizza is considered innovation, the word doesn’t mean a whole lot.
Matt, not on topic, but when you need to search online, what search engine is your go-to choice? Do you have some others to recommend? Loved your book! I'm old enough to remember, with loads of respect, the later battles by Wright Patman as head of the House Banking Committee.
John Wright Patman was a nemesis of my father who had a 45 year banking career in Wisconsin, beginning in 1925. To name one irritant of his, I heard the fussing over credit unions and "state savings and loans" which as you know "Mr. Patman" championed,. My life trajectory went to far different places thankfully.
I use Google, as well. It's become a de facto Ma Bell or USPS of sorts, yes?
. . . in the 1970’s as part of the Reagan Revolution . . You need to be more careful.
So I read this sloppy line, I think, what else is wrong or misleading in your essay? The shelf space issue is very old and I think one problem is that the producers or distributors who buy it might be viewed as purchasing a service from the retailer. On the other hand, Walmart has a process for evaluating new products, so my guess is that there is a way, but nothing in business is easy. BTW, the shelf space issue was covered by 60 Minutes, if I remember correctly, back in the ‘70s or 80s, and many new soft drinks have been developed since then.
I made a mistake because the change is complex and I got it slightly confused in my head and then on the page. My copy editor didn't pick it up. It happens.
Robinson-Patman stopped being enforced in the 1970s, and the same people who pushed ending that enforcement ended up staffing antitrust in the Reagan administration. Then Reagan ended merger enforcement. I've written about all of this.
Thanks for the great article. I really hope that the US candy monopoly gets broken up, if only to get better candy and chocolates. Yes, some of the candies I grew up with are still available but in very limited shops. Some I think have disappeared forever. I do not like shopping online because 1) it's boring and 2) 99% of packages come with a ton of plastic packaging that requires us to take the trash out very often. Thanks again for shining a light on this shady business of forcing competitors out of grocery stores.
I'm fortunate that my local grocer stocks a lot of great, high quality local and international chocolates not owned or produced by Nestle, Mars, or Hershey. The quality difference is astounding! It makes me sad that so many people either choose or have no choice but to eat the abhorrent candy from those big conglomerates.
Is there a good ‘recipe’ for consumers to have their voices heard and will it matter? I mean ...does it help to make the convenience store owner aware that my daughter loves being able to buy Prime and that her dad loves to push the buttons of the likes of Pepsi and Coke etc in some small way.
American chocolate is also vastly inferior to that produced in European countries...likely because Mars & Hershey can get away with selling a crummy product without fear of upstart competitors damaging their sales.
I'm guessing you're referring to American commercial chocolate? Real American chocolate (craft chocolate, that is) is now better than many European producers, and I say that as a European-born US citizen. (For full transparency, I'm also a chocolate judge and wrote a novel about the history and mythology of chocolate). Craft chocolate is produced by the many small bean-to-bar makers peppered all over the West Coast, New York, Florida and elsewhere. Strongly recommend checking them out... so many to choose from. Askinosie, Fruition, Raaka, Oakland Chocolate Company, Ratza Chocolate, Tandem Chocolate, etc etc. Best of all is heirloom chocolate, which turns your mouth into a floral garden—harder to come by though. A lot of these small batch makers sell direct from their websites, for many of the reasons outlined in Matt's piece here. There's so much to explore in the craft chocolate space that I'm launching a Substack on the topic soon.
Yeah, it was possible to find really excellent chocolate in America even at the height of the dominance of Hershey / Mars / Nestle. Alice Medrich was dishing up spectacular truffles back in the eighties ( https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/25/magazine/madam-cocolat.html ). But you had to really go looking for it.
It's even better now... especially bc of the concerted effort by bean-to-bar makers to source the beans directly, pay cacao farmers decent money, and experiment with the various phases of the chocolate making process. Have you ever tasted fresh cacao fruit? It's like no other fruit. They make jelly from it now... bc before it would all go to waste after the fermentation process.
Thank you. I am a chocolate lover more years than I can count. Your expertise is clearly evident for everyone to follow.
Once a chocolate lover, a chocolate lover for life :) Do you have favorite bars? What do you think of inclusions (the added fruits/nuts/grains/etc you get sometimes), thumbs up or down?
Thanks for replying. As part of my healthy eating I eat Lindt 85% regularly. My diet regimen incudes flax, hemp, chia and pumpkin seeds, on average 3 times a week. Also, walnuts, pistachios, almonds, and other healthy nuts and fruits. Finding great chocolate with these ingredients included is a treat. Of course I need to work out at least 3 times a week so I can enjoy chocolate.
Sounds like you're on a good path. Only thing I'd say about walnuts ... try to get them unshelled, store in the fridge, and crack them open yourself. Every single bag of shelled walnuts I've ever bought (or seen) in the stores, no matter how high end, has gone bad. The way you tell is the nuts no longer have that healthy creamy white flesh inside... they're all oily. Not great for the digestion.
As for working out 3x a week, thumbs up to that! But no need to work out just to enjoy chocolate... that's a myth more persistent than the 5-second rule for eating fallen food :) Real chocolate doesn't make you fat — it's the sugar and unhealthy fats mixed into it. So if you're eating high quality chocolate or cacao nibs, the only reason to go to the gym is AFTER you eat it bc it'll boost your energy ;)
I agree on the walnuts from experience. I now by smaller amounts and store on the refrigerator. I will try your suggestion on buying unshelled walnuts. By oldest daughter is also a chocolate lover and is great at making chocolate desserts from scratch.
I was thinking along these lines as well, since I often go to a specialty shop here in Pittsburgh that offers a wonderfully broad selection of all different kinds of chocolate. (We also have our own independent chocolate maker here called Lux.) It will be interesting to see, noting both your starting a Substack and all the dynamics Matt describes, if these exciting independent makers can find a way to grow in a way that’s perhaps broadly comparable to what we’ve seen in craft beer and distilling.
Yeah, that’s the Lux I mentioned. Funny you mentioned wanting to profile them. I don’t know them personally but I’m a journalist here and I recently emailed them for a possible personality interview feature we do. (I haven’t heard back yet.) (I recommend the blueberry and cocoa nibs and the dark chocolate with raspberries and lime bars.) I concur on spending more on this stuff. I’ve often spent $10 or $12 for a chocolate bar....seeking out as dark a chocolate as I can get for the nutritional value but obviously compelled by the higher quality as well.
Ah, lovely to meet a fellow journalist! If you've already contacted them you get first cacao nibs! If you do the interview let me know and I can link to it from my Substack :) Even better -- if our respective profiles are distinct enough, which I sense they would be, we can cross post.
Haha. Yes, indeed.....best wishes for your new Substack. Sounds like a rich subject. I was planning an interview installment of about 1,200 words...epic length at my pub these days. I’ll likely try to call her on Monday or Tuesday after not getting an email response. My place isn’t going to allow a cross post. Feel free to track her down for a story. I’m sure yours will be more involved and specifically topical than what I’ll be able to do given the nature of the assignment. (Btw, the store I referenced here is called Mon Amie. It’s quite good.)
Sounds good Tim. I wouldn't get to it till after I softlaunch my 'stack anyway. Do ping me once it's published though, would love to read it and give it some Substack love :)
Yes it's wonderful to have shops like those. There's one at the Chelsea Market in NYC I recently visited (and dropped $140 on craft bars from all over the world that I'm not sure I can tell my husband about LOL). I'd share a photo of their chocolate wall if only these comment sections would let you.
Going to look up Lux... assume it's this one? >> https://luxartisanchocolates.com/
Do you know them personally? I'd be delighted to profile them.
Scale is indeed a challenge for the smaller makers, but there are people working on ways to support them and spread the word. My future Substack is a part of that effort—these people do excellent work, they're passionate about the craft, the farmers they support, and the environment the cacao is grown in. It's a lifecycle approach, unlike the commodity & profit motives that drive Big Chocolate
Same with just about everything edible.
MATT. I AM A PAID SUBSCRIBER (RENEWAL DUE AUG/'23) BUT AM NOT ALLOWED TO POST AND MARKED AS UNPAID.
NOW IT SEEMS I AM.( I would like to make mention that I subscribe to a half dozen journalist's across Substack and my comments box is blocked at all of them. Likewise any Substack notification's I receive remain garbled and unreadable. Attempt's to contact SUBSTACK have proven futile. The Taibbi Twitter File reports, the kangaroo court DNC congressional hearing and the recent Louisiana court opinion on free speech violation's make it clear that subscription journalism works. America needs a safe and well managed platform for the healthy truth/fact national dialogue it deserves.
Mike it might be your HTML settings in your email program, check those
Matt, great article. Mr. Beast is an innovator who is pushing boundaries, hopefully he uses his online voice to bring greater attention to monopolies in the future! Speaking of using your online voice, have you ever thought of attempting to go on Joe Rogan? I genuinely think that would be a good thing for your movement, but I’m interested to hear if I’m wrong.
The “innovation” that Hershey and Nestle do for their flagship products are things like “Reeses cups but twice as big!”, “Reeses cups but with chunky peanut butter!”, etc. It’s so boring!
1000% with you Natalie. I don't consider the candy bars the large companies produce to be real chocolate. One of the most innovative chocolates I've ever tasted was a Biryani truffle. I didn't believe they could pull it off when I saw the label, but good heavens that truffle was transporting. Another one was moonshine chocolate.
There’s certainly a market for better chocolate. The new age of crafts people reaches candy too. Nice round up here:
https://www.consumerreports.org/health/chocolates/best-boxed-chocolates-a3274221746/
There sure is. It's called bean-to-bar chocolate. See my comment up above in response to John Seal's note, but in essence, craft chocolate makers in the US and abroad are doing some extraordinary things. I have the great fortune of serving as a chocolate judge and having one of my feet dipped in the craft chocolate world. It's vibrant, it's mind-blowingly good, and it's America's best kept secret.
I always search for local Chocolate makers when shopping for gifts. My mom (who always buys See’s) loved Seattle’s Theo Chocolate. :)
Thank you for supporting them Brant. Theo was one of the first companies I talked to when I was researching my book. Sadly, they just announced they're closing up shop and merging with American Licorice >> https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/theo-chocolate-to-close-seattle-factory-announces-job-cuts-merger/. But maybe that will help them thrive a different way—they'll be one of AL's organic brands.
Buying chocolate might be viewed as a "Class" thing or a marketing" thing. Suppose you just want a quick taste of chocolate for $1.28. You can get it at WalMart, or for a little more at Krogers, but you sure cannot get it at any of the places listed in the Consumer Report article. After consuming a Heath bar, do you really say, "I should have bought a Skor bar," or vice versa. If Krogers stocked the chocolates shown in the CR article, how many would they sell? If a small Hershey bar cost $6, how many would buy it, even if it was great chocolate.
My girl friend loves Hershey kisses--as a concept--because she doesn't eat many, but they do melt in her mouth. I do however appreciate fine chocolate; I just can't afford them. I was once offered a piece from a box of four pieces someone had sent my host. It was so good that I sneaked down to the kitchen after bed time to get a second piece. When in the morning my host said "There are only two left, I felt so caught that I sent two replacement pieces from the local Brattleboro chocolatier. This was 30 years ago and I was amazed at the price for two "great" chocolate pieces. I say "great" because I could not afford to taste them.
However, I do agree with the concept of being against buying shelf space to keep out the competition. And I often wonder whether the ice cream I ate as a child in the 40s and 50s was carrageenan-free, and how much does the manufacturer now save by adding carrageenan and "gums" to the ice cream.
There's a ton to unpack in your comment on class and marketing... and I'd probably run this comment to its max word count if I did that! But let's just say, in a cacao shell, that it's becoming easier and more affordable to get your hands on some very good quality chocolate. I wasn't thrilled when Amazon bought Whole Foods, but I have to say, being a Prime member certainly gives you a lot of good chocolate for your dollar. Recommend popping by the chocolate aisle in your local WF... they often have specials where you can get two bars for a discounted price. You really can't get any better than ~$3 for an Endorfin Foods bar in terms of price. I'd imagine most people could spring for that (I'd rather buy good chocolate than get my nails or hair done—I mean I can do THOSE things myself)
The other way to think about prices is what the actual cost to your body is when you buy junk chocolate. Look at the ingredients. If you see things like PGPR, TBHQ, high fructose corn syrup, and other things that you can't easily identify as food, stay away. Real cacao has a long list of health benefits, so that $5 or $8 you're spending on a quality bar is also your "apple a day."
Methinks “marketing” is buying low cost crap and pretending it’s real. I’m
Not sure it’s “class”, but I’d wager I spend a lot less money month over month on local craft chocolate bars (there are several at my market), than those who buy cheap bars. Ultimately, the point is that if there were more competition, there’s be a plethora of options at all price levels.
Wow, that snippet of the Robinson-Patman act is fascinating. Does that mean it was never legal for Microsoft to charge computer manufacturers for each machine they sold, irrespective of whether it went out the door with a copy of Windows on it? Because I've always thought it shouldn't have been legal.
Thanks Matt. I am a big sweets guy. I never buy Hershey or Mars products. There are great small chocolate stores if you look. I have also noticed there are less and less of them. In Texas the the mom and pop chef runs restaurants are hard to find. Why eat at a national chain restaurant when you can find a chef owned one. I have a simple philosophy, if it comes in a can or box I do not eat it. The same goes for food you eat at chain restaurants. Learn how to cook, you will enjoy it.
Nestlé actually has a large and respected innovation group. But it’s a food science company, not a candy or chocolate company. And in an industry where mashing ranch Doritos into pizza is considered innovation, the word doesn’t mean a whole lot.
[nods head vigorously]
Pretty hard to find a more evil company this side of Monsanto.
Matt, not on topic, but when you need to search online, what search engine is your go-to choice? Do you have some others to recommend? Loved your book! I'm old enough to remember, with loads of respect, the later battles by Wright Patman as head of the House Banking Committee.
I use Google.
And wow, most people back then weren't paying attention to Patman.
John Wright Patman was a nemesis of my father who had a 45 year banking career in Wisconsin, beginning in 1925. To name one irritant of his, I heard the fussing over credit unions and "state savings and loans" which as you know "Mr. Patman" championed,. My life trajectory went to far different places thankfully.
I use Google, as well. It's become a de facto Ma Bell or USPS of sorts, yes?
Matt, I think you should set up a meeting with Mr. Beast. You'd be a valuable resource!
. . . in the 1970’s as part of the Reagan Revolution . . You need to be more careful.
So I read this sloppy line, I think, what else is wrong or misleading in your essay? The shelf space issue is very old and I think one problem is that the producers or distributors who buy it might be viewed as purchasing a service from the retailer. On the other hand, Walmart has a process for evaluating new products, so my guess is that there is a way, but nothing in business is easy. BTW, the shelf space issue was covered by 60 Minutes, if I remember correctly, back in the ‘70s or 80s, and many new soft drinks have been developed since then.
I made a mistake because the change is complex and I got it slightly confused in my head and then on the page. My copy editor didn't pick it up. It happens.
Robinson-Patman stopped being enforced in the 1970s, and the same people who pushed ending that enforcement ended up staffing antitrust in the Reagan administration. Then Reagan ended merger enforcement. I've written about all of this.
Also, it's spelled, Procter & Gamble
Yeah, business is hard. You should start your own Substack.
Thanks for the great article. I really hope that the US candy monopoly gets broken up, if only to get better candy and chocolates. Yes, some of the candies I grew up with are still available but in very limited shops. Some I think have disappeared forever. I do not like shopping online because 1) it's boring and 2) 99% of packages come with a ton of plastic packaging that requires us to take the trash out very often. Thanks again for shining a light on this shady business of forcing competitors out of grocery stores.
I'm fortunate that my local grocer stocks a lot of great, high quality local and international chocolates not owned or produced by Nestle, Mars, or Hershey. The quality difference is astounding! It makes me sad that so many people either choose or have no choice but to eat the abhorrent candy from those big conglomerates.
Is there a good ‘recipe’ for consumers to have their voices heard and will it matter? I mean ...does it help to make the convenience store owner aware that my daughter loves being able to buy Prime and that her dad loves to push the buttons of the likes of Pepsi and Coke etc in some small way.