Shoulda done an AskMe
April 15, 2023 3:59 AM Subscribe
According to the Globe and Mail's Jana G. Pruden, who first reported this story: "You could give one Rum & Butter bar to every person in the city of Red Deer, [Alta.,] then one to every fan at Rogers Place for a sold-out Oilers' playoff game, then one to every passenger on 26 fully-booked Westjet flights, then one to every musician in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, then one to every performer in a large-scale musical production of Cats, then one to every member of the Regina Esperanto Club — and you would still have eight left to eat yourself."The Globe and Mail's Jana G. Pruden is thorough and precise!
posted by trig at 4:27 AM on April 15, 2023 [21 favorites]
Let me just say that this is a hell of a phrase:
“Busy Mom's Homemade Treats in South Dildo”
posted by Kattullus at 4:34 AM on April 15, 2023 [34 favorites]
“Busy Mom's Homemade Treats in South Dildo”
posted by Kattullus at 4:34 AM on April 15, 2023 [34 favorites]
Giving some to food pantries would be a start!
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 4:39 AM on April 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 4:39 AM on April 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
That's exactly what she's in the process of setting up, but it's not like your local food banks can just take tens of thousands of chocolate bars!
posted by Dysk at 4:52 AM on April 15, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by Dysk at 4:52 AM on April 15, 2023 [7 favorites]
I wish her the best of luck, and I don't have any brilliant ideas. Honestly, I'm happy if some people love these things and find them delicious. But even reading the name "Rum & Butter Bar" makes me feel vaguely sick.
posted by SoberHighland at 4:54 AM on April 15, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by SoberHighland at 4:54 AM on April 15, 2023 [7 favorites]
She could build a giant sculpture with them, but probably some guy would get stuck inside.
posted by MtDewd at 5:36 AM on April 15, 2023 [15 favorites]
posted by MtDewd at 5:36 AM on April 15, 2023 [15 favorites]
Give them to various mail order companies, and they can include a bar or two for free with every order.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 5:38 AM on April 15, 2023
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 5:38 AM on April 15, 2023
Let me just say that this is a hell of a phrase:
“Busy Mom's Homemade Treats in South Dildo”
I just spent like ten minutes on Google Street View, scrolling around and giggling. Nan and Pop's Dildo Souvenir Shop, lol.
posted by Literaryhero at 5:42 AM on April 15, 2023 [9 favorites]
“Busy Mom's Homemade Treats in South Dildo”
I just spent like ten minutes on Google Street View, scrolling around and giggling. Nan and Pop's Dildo Souvenir Shop, lol.
posted by Literaryhero at 5:42 AM on April 15, 2023 [9 favorites]
but it's not like your local food banks can just take tens of thousands
According to the article, they can - but only 22,000…
This is sad, I am all the way over in Ontario and would love to have a case… (seeing as I developed a taste for Rum & Raisin ice cream when I was in Australia)
posted by rozcakj at 6:07 AM on April 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
According to the article, they can - but only 22,000…
This is sad, I am all the way over in Ontario and would love to have a case… (seeing as I developed a taste for Rum & Raisin ice cream when I was in Australia)
posted by rozcakj at 6:07 AM on April 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
Food banks? What about homeless shelters? When I was working in the hospitality industry we would bag up everything possible after an event and bring it to one of the local shelters. They were always happy to have it.
posted by evilDoug at 6:17 AM on April 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by evilDoug at 6:17 AM on April 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
Food banks? What about homeless shelters?
From the G&M article:
That said, I do think they're underestimating some people's ability to eat multiple bars a day easily. There are a lot of chocolate georgs out there.
posted by trig at 6:22 AM on April 15, 2023 [7 favorites]
From the G&M article:
“Give them to the food bank!” some said. (A food bank can’t distribute that many chocolate bars before June.)Apparently part of the issue is being on the hook for disposal costs of whatever doesn't get used.
“Pass them out across Canada!” some suggested. (Who will pay for shipping? How will the bars be handed out?)
“I’ll take a box!” some offered. (The boxes are in pallets of 11,000 bars at a food safe warehouse in Calgary, and can’t be accessed or easily broken up by individuals.)
That said, I do think they're underestimating some people's ability to eat multiple bars a day easily. There are a lot of chocolate georgs out there.
posted by trig at 6:22 AM on April 15, 2023 [7 favorites]
If they are unable or unwilling to break up those pallets into individual boxes then yeah I can see they would have problems. Wish I could buy some but I don't see them for sale on Amazon and I can't tell if they ship some other way to the US.
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 6:32 AM on April 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 6:32 AM on April 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
This is a logistics and shipping issue. They can't dispose of them locally because the local population is too small, so they need to send them away. But the shipping industry tries hard not to send trucks out empty so getting multiple truckers with empty space to show up and pick up pallets and bring them to other provinces without charging a hefty fee is not very plausible. How many empty trucks leave the community and head for parts distant enough, where there is a food pantry or homeless shelter to receive them?
Perhaps they could partner with some well funded non-profit and get the them to do the logistics work? But the best funded charities with corporate backing are slow to move and have their own programs going on. Breast Cancer, for example is partnered with the CIBC Bank. They could likely do something, since their volunteers mainly work for the CIBC Bank and do the volunteer work unpaid in their own time so that it gets included in their performance review. If the branch manager sends out an all hands e-mail, the employees go into action. So if the pink ribbon people decided they were going to do this, and use it for their own publicity, they probably could, although it would be a stretch.
But then there is the question of the value of the bars - it's a terrible waste to let chocolate bars end up in the garbage - but they are also calories without nutrition, the kind of thing dangerous for diabetics to binge on. If you wanted to go to that effort to deliver pallets of about to expire food to the food banks, you'd do far better to choose something that was actually nutritious.
Now the pink ribbon people could always hand out the bars at their "run for the cure" events this summer - but they don't need to, they likely don't want to go to the effort for the meagre good publicity they could get and the logistics of receiving, storing and dispersing a pallet to their various charity runs would be complex and difficult. By comparison it would be way easier for the local organizer to swing past Costco and pick up two cases of oranges to hand out.
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:57 AM on April 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
Perhaps they could partner with some well funded non-profit and get the them to do the logistics work? But the best funded charities with corporate backing are slow to move and have their own programs going on. Breast Cancer, for example is partnered with the CIBC Bank. They could likely do something, since their volunteers mainly work for the CIBC Bank and do the volunteer work unpaid in their own time so that it gets included in their performance review. If the branch manager sends out an all hands e-mail, the employees go into action. So if the pink ribbon people decided they were going to do this, and use it for their own publicity, they probably could, although it would be a stretch.
But then there is the question of the value of the bars - it's a terrible waste to let chocolate bars end up in the garbage - but they are also calories without nutrition, the kind of thing dangerous for diabetics to binge on. If you wanted to go to that effort to deliver pallets of about to expire food to the food banks, you'd do far better to choose something that was actually nutritious.
Now the pink ribbon people could always hand out the bars at their "run for the cure" events this summer - but they don't need to, they likely don't want to go to the effort for the meagre good publicity they could get and the logistics of receiving, storing and dispersing a pallet to their various charity runs would be complex and difficult. By comparison it would be way easier for the local organizer to swing past Costco and pick up two cases of oranges to hand out.
posted by Jane the Brown at 6:57 AM on April 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
The tragedy is that we are six months (in either direction) from her being an absolute legend at Hallowe'en.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:07 AM on April 15, 2023 [23 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:07 AM on April 15, 2023 [23 favorites]
I know a radio guy in Alberta who lobbied to bring these back. I should give him a ping and see if he can help somehow.
posted by clawsoon at 7:30 AM on April 15, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by clawsoon at 7:30 AM on April 15, 2023 [6 favorites]
It's an extremely non-trivial problem to break up warehouse pallets for individual sale. Solving it is basically why Amazon owns the online retail market despite being incredibly shitty in many other ways.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 7:33 AM on April 15, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by TheophileEscargot at 7:33 AM on April 15, 2023 [6 favorites]
Yeah, I would absolutely buy a box or two if she had them available that way, and I'd probably spend a silly amount on them, because they were my favorite chocolate bar when I was a pre-teen. What a shame.
posted by joannemerriam at 7:41 AM on April 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by joannemerriam at 7:41 AM on April 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I thought "I don't think a food bank WANTS a bunch of junky chocolate." (I would not want to eat rum and butter chocolate either, most likely, since I hate butterscotch and this sounds akin to it.) This sounds like a completely unsolvable problem given what logistics and restraints are on the project, unfortunately. What a bummer.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:51 AM on April 15, 2023
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:51 AM on April 15, 2023
Maybe they made some business mistakes, but at least their chocolate factory didn't blow up.
posted by hypnogogue at 7:54 AM on April 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by hypnogogue at 7:54 AM on April 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
It's an extremely non-trivial problem to break up warehouse pallets for individual sale. Solving it is basically why Amazon owns the online retail market despite being incredibly shitty in many other ways.
I wonder how much doing fulfillment by amazon would cost, and whether that might not be too big a gamble. (I assume they're paying for storage right now, so it's not like they have zero costs at the moment.)
posted by trig at 8:19 AM on April 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
I wonder how much doing fulfillment by amazon would cost, and whether that might not be too big a gamble. (I assume they're paying for storage right now, so it's not like they have zero costs at the moment.)
posted by trig at 8:19 AM on April 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
I can redistribute a crate of free candy bars, where do I sign up?
posted by aniola at 9:57 AM on April 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by aniola at 9:57 AM on April 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
Yeah I'm unclear why Amazon isn't discussed in the article as a possible solution. It seems like with a little media attention to boost sales it would be trivial to offload all these candy bars via Amazon by June.
posted by potrzebie at 10:39 AM on April 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by potrzebie at 10:39 AM on April 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
Bookmammal, thanks for the excuse to reread the famous cheese Ask. 😍 🧀
posted by kitten kaboodle at 10:53 AM on April 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by kitten kaboodle at 10:53 AM on April 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
Wait, isn't this like an ideal school fundraiser? The problem with those where kids sell $5 chocolate bars to their friends and family is that the school only keeps like $1-2 per bar, if that. If they get the bars for free, that is some serious band candy cash.
posted by blnkfrnk at 2:16 PM on April 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by blnkfrnk at 2:16 PM on April 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
Wish they could set something up with Amazon. I like rum and butter flavor and wouldn't mind buying a (small) box or two.
posted by blue shadows at 2:28 PM on April 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by blue shadows at 2:28 PM on April 15, 2023 [1 favorite]
My partner got me one (via a friend) for Easter. We're doing our part! We sadly missed out on the Cuban Lunch.
posted by Ashwagandha at 3:16 PM on April 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Ashwagandha at 3:16 PM on April 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
Let me just say that this is a hell of a phrase
Improved only by strategic punctuation: Busy Mom's Homemade Treats in South. Dildo.
posted by bendy at 3:59 PM on April 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
Improved only by strategic punctuation: Busy Mom's Homemade Treats in South. Dildo.
posted by bendy at 3:59 PM on April 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
The last line of the interview got me grinning:
"I suspect that if you fed some pork on it, that would be the most decadent pork you ever had."
posted by Calvin and the Duplicators at 4:12 PM on April 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
"I suspect that if you fed some pork on it, that would be the most decadent pork you ever had."
posted by Calvin and the Duplicators at 4:12 PM on April 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
I say this with fondness, but this would absolutely be an Ask where every third answer is a suggestion explicitly ruled out as impossible in the question details.
posted by eponym at 5:03 PM on April 15, 2023 [22 favorites]
posted by eponym at 5:03 PM on April 15, 2023 [22 favorites]
What makes dark chocolate and peanuts a Cuban lunch, to a Canadian? Are peanuts called "Cuban" in other contexts? And why lunch? Someone please build a time machine and find out.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:11 PM on April 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:11 PM on April 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
Metafilter: where every third answer is a suggestion explicitly ruled out as impossible in the question details.
posted by Calvin and the Duplicators at 5:12 PM on April 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Calvin and the Duplicators at 5:12 PM on April 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
If the issue is the cost of transporting the candy bars, how about a fundraiser?
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 5:21 PM on April 15, 2023
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 5:21 PM on April 15, 2023
What makes dark chocolate and peanuts a Cuban lunch, to a Canadian? Are peanuts called "Cuban" in other contexts? And why lunch? Someone please build a time machine and find out.
The troubled chocolatier in question has you covered!
Also, apparently someone is already selling some of these on Amazon. Spread the word, I guess!
posted by trig at 5:25 PM on April 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
The troubled chocolatier in question has you covered!
Also, apparently someone is already selling some of these on Amazon. Spread the word, I guess!
posted by trig at 5:25 PM on April 15, 2023 [3 favorites]
And something I learned from that history page that I hadn't known: Canada too interned citizens of Japanese descent during WWII. (For a long time the company that originally made Cuban Lunch was led by a guy whose parents had been interned, which was how the family wound up in Manitoba having lost all their property; later he would drop out of school and go to work at the chocolate factory.)
posted by trig at 5:44 PM on April 15, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by trig at 5:44 PM on April 15, 2023 [4 favorites]
apparently someone is already selling some of these on Amazon
On that Amazon page, the first review is a very Canadian one:
posted by Ashwagandha at 6:18 PM on April 15, 2023
On that Amazon page, the first review is a very Canadian one:
anyone who ever enjoyed the original rum and butter chocolate bar will probably agree when I say it was good but not great! the chocolate itself isn't the same and the filling was lacking the pieces should be thicker and definitely more filling it gets a passing grade however!This echoes my feeling about it - there's something missing about them but not enough for me stop eating it! I asked my partner about the Cuban Lunch and they revealed that they ate it while I was at work (The secrets!) and said it was "Just OK."
posted by Ashwagandha at 6:18 PM on April 15, 2023
I know a radio guy in Alberta who lobbied to bring these back. I should give him a ping and see if he can help somehow.
Turns out they never sent him the case they promised him for voicing their commercial, so he doesn't sound very enthusiastic.
posted by clawsoon at 7:54 PM on April 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
Turns out they never sent him the case they promised him for voicing their commercial, so he doesn't sound very enthusiastic.
posted by clawsoon at 7:54 PM on April 15, 2023 [2 favorites]
Update: "Thanks to the publicity, her chocolate bars have since found homes in a variety of places in need. ... All of the candy is now accounted for, Ms Regehr Westergard said, and she could not be more relieved with this sweet ending."
posted by oulipian at 5:22 PM on April 19, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by oulipian at 5:22 PM on April 19, 2023 [3 favorites]
Yay! That's gotta be a relief.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:36 PM on April 19, 2023
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:36 PM on April 19, 2023
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