A message from our joint CEOs
A message from our joint CEOs, Brett and Kain Charlesworth
Hi Folks…
We have some good news and some bad news that we need to share with you. We’ll start with the bad news first.
The Bad News
Many of you would have heard in the media over the last 12 months or so about a worldwide shortage of chocolate, resulting in never-before-seen increases to the cost of chocolate.
This is about to impact on Charlesworth Nuts chocolate prices, so Kain and I want to offer you an apology (even though this is global issue completely out of our control) and try to briefly explain a complex situation.
At Charlesworth Nuts, we have always aimed to have just one price review every year and then set our prices for the next 12 months.
Each year some products increase in price, some stay the same and some even decrease in price, depending on what’s happening with nut prices in the global market.
This year, along with all chocolate manufacturers and retailers worldwide, we have a situation that has never occurred before. There’s a dramatic worldwide shortage of cocoa beans, which is the main ingredient for making chocolate. This is mainly caused by poor growing conditions…over a number of years…in the main regions the cocoa bean is grown. As a result, chocolate prices all around the world have increased dramatically and are continuing to increase.
To try to give this some context…
- In the 8 years from 2015 to 2023 the price for us to buy chocolate increased in total by 6%
- In just the last 2 years from July 2023 to August 2025 the price for us to buy chocolate has increased
by over 200%
In the last 12 months alone, we will have 4 separate cost increases on chocolate…each one of the 4 is a big jump on its own.
As a result of all this, we very regretfully have had to increase our chocolate prices as well.
The Good News
Unfortunately, we couldn’t do anything about the increases, but we have done something about the following…
1. We delayed increasing our prices for as long as possible, despite many chocolate prices having gone up already. It’s likely we’ll receive another cost increase soon, but if so, we will delay any further increases to our prices for as long as possible.
2. It may not feel like it, but we have actually absorbed part of the cost increases, to try to lessen theimpact.
3. We guarantee that the quality and freshness of our chocolate and our chocolate products will not be compromised in any way to keep cost prices down. Charlesworth chocolate will be as luscious and mouthwatering as it has always been.
4. The really good news is that at Charlesworth Nuts, you have the option of only buying the quantity you want (in-store only). We sell our chocolate products loose from our showcases, so you just tell us how much you want. You can still get your chocolate fix without spending any more if you don’t want to.
Two of our company and family values are “to be respectful” and “to be genuine”. To be true to these values we felt it was vital that we explain all this to you. Thank you for taking the time to read it. We hope it comes through in the spirit with which we intended.
And lastly, thank you so much for your loyalty and support over so many years for our 91-year-old, 4th generation family company. It’s greatly appreciated and never taken for granted.
Yours very sincerely…
Brett & Kain Charlesworth
Joint CEOs, Charlesworth Nuts