Sweet success: Sask. chocolate makers prepare for busy holiday season amid tariffs, inflation
CBC
Claude Hardenne occasionally tries out new packaging or moulds for his locally made chocolates, but he would never tinker with the recipes Harden & Huyse has used for almost 50 years.
“The product line no longer belongs to us,” Hardenne said in an interview at his Saskatoon store this week.
“It belongs to the customers, so we can't really mess with their beloved horse heads or the hazelnut crunch or fillings … They want that consistency they've had in their lives all these years.”
Christmas is big business for Saskatchewan chocolate makers as people grab treats for stocking stuffers and holiday parties. But it’s been a volatile year, given the U.S. tariffs, inflation, shipping disruptions and general economic malaise.
On Friday, the benchmark price of cocoa was about $6,200 CDN per tonne, but it was hovering around $9,000 for much of 2025 due to lower than expected cocoa production caused by bad weather and disease.
“It's been, to be totally honest, a little bit stressful on both sides of the counter,” Hardenne said. This year, he paid more than usual for the imported ingredients to make the high-end Belgian chocolates, and in turn increased prices for customers.
“That's changed the dynamics a lot, but we sometimes refer to [chocolate] as an affordable luxury and people still want to have those things that they built traditions on. So from that point of view, we're having a great season.”
While Harden & Huyse embraces tradition and immutable recipes, Venessa Liang is the mad scientist experimenting in her chocolate lab to develop new flavour combinations.
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, Liang spends the days at her pharmacy oncology job and the nights in her basement kitchen, making the luxury chocolate bars she sells at foodiepharmbabe.com every December.
“I'm not shipping to the U.S. this year,” Liang said in an interview on Dec. 11, the day before this year’s chocolate bar drop.
“That's definitely the biggest impact with the whole tariffs and trade war situation, mostly because I don't want to deal with the complications of that.”
Liang imports chocolate and other ingredients to make her bars, which feature flavour fusions and artistic designs. She hadn’t noticed much price fluctuation until this year, she said.
“Chocolate has always been expensive."
The least expensive high-end chocolate she buys is typically around $55 to $75 per three-kilogram bag, she said.
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.
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