{"id":857,"date":"2025-10-14T00:12:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T00:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/857\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T00:12:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T00:12:08","slug":"st-pete-chocolate-factory-sees-price-increase-from-tariffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/857\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Pete chocolate factory sees price increase from tariffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Buying your Halloween candy might feel more like a trick than a treat this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cacao prices have been rising due to several factors, including tariffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What You Need To Know<\/p>\n<p>The owner of <a href=\"https:\/\/schakoladstpete.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Schakolad Chocolate Factory in St. Petersburg<\/a> said cacao prices have gone up due to weather<br \/>\n<br \/>At the same time, tariffs have caused about a 7% increase\u00a0<br \/>\n<br \/>Packaging prices have also gone up, the owner said<br \/>\n<br \/>To combat the increases, Schakolad Chocolate Factory is looking into different suppliers<\/p>\n<p>One chocolatier in St. Petersburg is dealing with a nearly 50% increase.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What can be sweeter than owning a chocolate factory?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI call myself Wilhemina Wonka, or the chocolate lady,\u201d said Jane Rakestrawm, owner of Schakolad Chocolate Factory.<\/p>\n<p>Rakestraw said Schakolad Chocolate Factory is the oldest chocolate shop in Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe specialize in handcrafted luxury chocolates specifically for holiday gifts, where we can brand a business in chocolate,\u201d Rakestraw said.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2024, Rakestraw said some\u00a0chocolate makers have had to increase their prices by 40%. Rakestraw said that\u2019s because of weather conditions where cacao is grown. At the same time, she said\u00a0tariffs are also increasing her cost of goods by an additional 7%.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve owned multiple franchises before, and I\u2019ve never seen anything like a 47% increase in my cost of goods, that\u2019s huge,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>To deal with the increase, Rakestraw said, they are shopping smarter, changing their product line and increasing the cost of their products.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are adjusting our prices accordingly while still making the chocolate accessible and also keeping our margins where they need to be so we can be a sustainable business,\u201d Rakestraw said.<\/p>\n<p>Tariffs have also increased the price of packaging \u2014 she said it\u2019s more than doubled.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen your cost of goods goes up 40, 50%, you have to raise your prices or you\u2019re not going to be in business very long,\u201d Rakestraw said.<\/p>\n<p>They are still fine-tuning their changes and looking at new packaging and different suppliers for certain imported goods.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t have a huge corporate safety net. So, we are who we are, and buy local,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Rakestraw is hoping prices come down,\u00a0but for now they\u2019ll continue making adjustments when needed.<\/p>\n<p>President Donald Trump has said that foreign trade and economic practices have created a national emergency. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/fact-sheets\/2025\/04\/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-declares-national-emergency-to-increase-our-competitive-edge-protect-our-sovereignty-and-strengthen-our-national-and-economic-security\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">White House has said<\/a> the president imposed tariffs to strengthen the U.S. economy and to protect American workers.<\/p>\n<p>In November, the Supreme Court will consider whether Trump has the power\u00a0to impose sweeping tariffs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Buying your Halloween candy might feel more like a trick than a treat this year.\u00a0&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[558,28,115,596,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,1374,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-857","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-pinellas-county","12":"tag-st-pete","13":"tag-st-pete-headlines","14":"tag-st-pete-news","15":"tag-st-petersburg","16":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","17":"tag-st-petersburg-news","18":"tag-tampa","19":"tag-tyler-oneill","20":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}