This went from sweet to sour.
A Swedish candy craze that took over TikTok and local confectionaries has resulted in a shortage of the Swede sweets around the globe.
As a result, New Yorkers flocked to candy stores late at night, opting for a sweet treat instead of going out to bars on the weekends, inspired by a viral video posted by Macy Grace Graves, who informed her followers about the deliciousness of Scandinavian candy.
The frenzy exhausted stockpiles — and workers — at local haunt BonBon, which often saw a line stretching down the sidewalk in front of its Lower East Side location.
And the soaring popularity has resulted in a crushing candy crunch.
“It’s like the crack is gone. It’s like selling drugs – they’re addicted,” BonBon co-founder Robert Persson previously told The Post. “Thank goodness, this is a positive thing.”
Likewise, on social media, sweet-toothed TikTokkers post candy hauls and taste tests of their bulk buys, while NYC tourists rush to get their hands on some of the sour grub while visiting the Big Apple.
The subsequent dearth of delectables has been devastating.
Last month, Orkla, producers of the fan-favorite brand Bubs, announced that there was not enough supply to meet the demand. As a result, vendors who are struggling with keeping Bubs candy in stock are hoarding the sweets.
“The trend started to really increase during the spring, but unfortunately we didn’t have enough safety stock before the summer,” Orkla director Niclas Arnelin told The Guardian.
“During summer, we need to let people in the factory have their vacations by law, and we also close the factory for maintenance. We sold everything we produced over the summer. And after that, we ran out.”
Arnelin told Canada’s CBC News that the company was going to “prioritize” customers in Sweden and the surrounding regions, with whom the company has had “long relationships.”
“They’re a texture that’s not a marshmallow or gummy, but foam – so they’re right in between,” BonBon COO Sara Ciliberto previously told The Post of Bubs chewy candies. “They’re so intriguing.”
The allure of the Swedish sweet is that it contains real sugar, not high fructose corn syrup, a common sweetener in American candies, while being available in unusual flavors or shapes, too.
“No GMOs, no corn syrup, typically [fewer] ingredients than your conventional candy that you’re going to find at the grocery store,” Michelina Jassal, the owner of the Vancouver-based Swedish candy store Karameller, told CBC News.
“You don’t quite have that sick-to-your-stomach [feeling] that you sometimes experience with conventional candy.”
In Gotham, BonBon regulars have been converted from traditional US-made candy to the confections produced overseas.
“It tastes so good,” Haley Alpert, 27, previously told The Post. “I don’t want normal American candy anymore.”
