Across Philadelphia and the surrounding Delaware Valley, grocery stores have already set out their Easter candy displays. Shelves are filled with familiar seasonal items such as Cadbury eggs, Peeps, and chocolate bunnies. One product typically associated with the region’s Easter traditions is absent this year: the chocolate eggs produced by Zitner’s Candy.
For many people in the Philadelphia area, Easter has long included Zitner’s chocolates. Among the best-known is the Butter Krak Egg, a chocolate-coated candy with a coconut and buttercream center. Other varieties regularly purchased during the holiday season include the Double Coconut egg and the Peanut Butter egg. This spring, shoppers searching for those products in local stores are not finding them.
The situation first came to attention after Delaware County resident Carl Stieger visited several grocery stores and discovered the candies were missing. During stops at his neighborhood Giant, Acme, and Wawa locations, he could not find any Zitner’s products. With Easter about a month away, Stieger contacted Billy Penn to describe what he called a “very dire situation.” He also wrote that he was concerned about what might happen if people could not obtain their yearly supply of Butter Krak.
Following that tip, reporters checked several stores across the region to see whether the chocolates were available elsewhere. Visits to Acme, Giant, Wawa, and Target confirmed that the seasonal displays had already been installed and stocked with national brands. Despite the presence of other Easter treats, none of the stores carried Zitner’s Butter Krak eggs, Double Coconut eggs, or Peanut Butter eggs.
A Giant employee said it was unusual not to see the candies at this point in the season because the store normally carries them well before Easter. Customer service staff at Acme initially said the chocolates would appear on display on Thursday. By March 5, the shelves still did not contain any Zitner’s products.
The company’s online presence showed similar signs. On Zitner’s website, every listed product included a notice stating it was “out of stock.” The company’s Instagram and Facebook pages had not posted anything since April of the previous year. Attempts to contact the business through the email address listed on its website, [email protected], resulted in messages that bounced back with a notice saying they could not be delivered.
Questions about the missing candy appeared during a period when the chocolate industry has been dealing with several problems connected to cocoa supply and ingredient changes. In October, WHYY reported that chocolate candy prices had increased because of a cocoa bean shortage caused by climate change and labor shortages affecting cocoa production.
In February, New York Times reporter Claire Brown wrote about changes affecting Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs. According to a government database last updated in late 2023, the product previously contained more peanuts and milk chocolate than any other ingredients. Brown reported that a nine-ounce bag of foil-covered eggs listed sugar and vegetable oil as the first ingredients and did not list milk chocolate.
The changes drew criticism from Brad Reese, the grandson of the inventor of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. After trying Reese’s Valentine’s chocolates, he said he threw them away because he thought they were so bad. He said it was the first time in his life that he had thrown away a Reese’s product without eating it.
The developments in the chocolate industry led to speculation about whether cocoa shortages could be responsible for the absence of Zitner’s products. After several days of attempts to reach the company, Billy Penn contacted Evan Prochniak, the CEO and president of Zitner’s Candy. Prochniak said the cocoa shortage affecting other companies was not causing the current problem. Instead, he said the company is dealing with a temporary production issue. He did not provide specific details but said Zitner’s plans to release a public statement in the coming weeks with more information.
The delay means the company’s Easter products will not reach store shelves this season. Prochniak said he had tried to avoid the situation but that timing prevented the issue from being resolved before the holiday.
Zitner’s has operated for more than a century. The Philadelphia-based company was founded in 1922 and has supplied seasonal candies throughout the Delaware Valley for decades. Stores such as Giant, Acme, and Wawa regularly sell the company’s products, which are purchased by families in areas including Lower Bucks County, Montgomery County, South Jersey, and Delaware County.
Prochniak has been involved with the company for 15 years. He said the brand continues because people want its products and said the business has existed for more than 100 years.
Butter Krak remains one of the company’s best-known candies. Prochniak described it as a gourmet candy with an old-fashioned style. When he bought the company, he inherited handwritten recipe notes connected to its products. Some of those recipes date to the 1950s, while others go back as far as 1938. He said the ingredients used in Butter Krak have not changed.
During the current interruption, customers visiting grocery stores across the region have asked store employees about the missing chocolates, but retailers have not had information about restocking.
Prochniak said the company plans to restart pretzel production soon and intends to have its holiday candies available for Christmas.
