SALEM, MASS. (WHDH) - Some ice cream shops around Massachusetts may be left out in the cold after a popular supplier says they are battling a sugar shortage.
For more than 20 years, Maria Harris has only scooped Richardson’s Ice Cream at her Salem shop which boasts 32 flavors. Now, for the first time, many of her cases are empty.
“Last week, which was a huge order, they said, ‘Well we don’t have this and we don’t have that,’ and I go, ‘What do you mean you don’t have this?'” Harris asked. “I almost had a heart attack and I said, ‘Well, what am I gonna do? We’re going into the busy season.’”
The dairy’s sugar supplier never came through with a scheduled delivery, bringing the Middleton creamery’s churn to a temporary halt. This means Bay Staters looking for a cool treat may not see their favorite flavor for a few weeks.
In a time when supply chain issues have emptied shelves of all kinds of goods, local business owners like Harris are wondering what could happen if she ever truly got to the bottom of her tubs.
“I said to myself, “Well I’m gonna go out of business if they don’t have ice cream,'” she said.
Thankfully for ice cream lovers and sellers alike, the interruption in production was brief and things are now back up and running and the workers are still scooping.
“I kinda grew up with their ice cream,” Harris said. “It’s a really rich ice cream, it’s locally made, people like locally made things.”
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