A global shortage of Swedish-made candy, all thanks to a viral TikTok video? Stranger things have happened.
But that's exactly what went down earlier this year, when TikTok influencer Marygrace Graves showed fans the sweets she had picked up from a weekly trip to BonBon, a Swedish candy shop in New York.
“These are strawberry squid. This is the first time I've ever had these, they're delicious,” Graves told her followers in the January video, seemingly letting them down. into secret.
Well, the secret is out – and other TikTok users are starting to make their own Swedish candy videos, leading to millions of posts, a viral internet phenomenon and an ongoing global shortage of the country's precious candies .
Graves' viral attraction from the original video included some foamy candles, and others that made her teeth feel like they were going to break, she said. Some were oddly shaped, including a gummy rat she had for a tail; and there were many that had a unique taste, like bitter raspberry lemon gum which she approved of, and grapefruit candy which she said made her feel nauseous.
They were all imported from Sweden, a country known for manufacturing high quality sweets.
What makes Swedish candies stand out is that they go into unusual shapes and flavors, and away from additives usually found in American candy. North, according to Michelina Jassal, owner of Swedish candy shop Karameller in Vancouver.
“No GMOs, no corn syrup, usually (fewer) ingredients than the regular candy you're going to find at the grocery store,” said Jassal of the Scandinavian sweets. “The sickness (feeling) is not ) that's to your stomach that you sometimes experience with regular candy.”
The shortage sent Canadian importers scrambling to find supplies.
Jessica Borchiver, who runs online Swedish candy shop Sukker Baby from her home in Toronto, said increasingly impatient (and increasingly American) customers urged her to re -to stock a brand that is in high demand: Bubs Godis.
What had previously been a steady business for Borchiver had skyrocketed overnight. But running into Bubs “took everything over the edge,” she said. “Everybody who was anybody wanted to get their hands on it.”
Swedish candy makers prioritize Scandinavian customers
Bubs Godis is one of Sweden's largest candy manufacturing companies. As demand rose from its sudden virus, it was forced to stop taking on new international customers, a continuing policy at the end of December. The company was already running low on stock before the summer months, when Sweden began a six-week factory holiday.
Any company would be happy to see a sudden increase in international interest. But the makers of Bubs decided to take care of their own people first.
“We've had long-standing relationships with our customers in Sweden and the rest of the Nordics,” said Niclas Arnelin, director of international expansion at Orkla, the Swedish food and snacks group that owns Bubs “And we have to prioritize them right now.”
They might just be their best customers too – the Swedes have an infamous sweet tooth, consuming up to 16 kilograms of sugars a year, according to a spokesperson for Business Swedish, a group owned by the government and business that promote Swedish exports.
The so-called country has a long tradition Candy Saturdayor “Saturday sweets,” in which families are known to load up on sweets. The practice was born out of a study from the 1950s by medical researchers who found that the nation's dental health would improve if they limited their candy consumption to one day a week.
Stockholm resident Linda Rose remembers when the practice became popular. Along with her own children, she held a similar ceremony on Friday.
But if the global shortage is currently worrying the community with a sweet tooth, the Swedes have avoided the pain.
“There is no shortage here,” she said. “Not at all.”
