Trader Joe’s has been long known for their unique and tasty snacks that many love. While most remain available for the audience, a few items, including the cocoa batons, are missing from the shelves.
Cocoa Batons have been taken off the market for several reasons. The main ones include a drop in quality, high prices that lower the affordability of products, a drop in demand from the customer, and, ultimately, a drop in product sales.
The article below mentions all the details of why Trader Joe’s has discontinued this fan favorite; read on!
Trader Joes History
Trader Joe’s is a chain of community grocery stores in America dedicated to giving its customers great value by offering the highest-quality goods daily at the most competitive prices. Since 1967, Trader Joe’s has offered top-notch service thanks to their distinct understanding of shopping needs.
Cocoa Batons gathered a great audience and quickly became a favorite for their light creamy, chocolaty filling that paired perfectly with the crunchy exterior of the biscuit.
It was perfectly suited for pairing with a cold chocolate ice cream treat. In some customer reviews, these batons were rated 10/10 and were preferred over their vanilla counter-product.
Customers were shocked when they couldn’t find this product on their regular shelves and struggled to figure out why. Consequently, they turned to online stores searching for this product to satisfy their chocolate cravings.
To their absolute disappointment, the cocoa batons were available online on websites such as Amazon, but the quantity was very low and the prices exceptionally high. Some online stores, such as eBay, sold these batons for almost ten times the original price!
History of Cocoa Batons at Trader Joe’s
Cocoa batons are believed to have first been introduced to Trader Joe’s audience as a holiday snack. Seeing its popularity, various flavors were introduced, along with being frequently available apart from the holiday season.
Cocoa batons have their consumers hooked! Not only were they quickly sold out and frequently restacked, but they are also looked forward to as a temporary snack, especially during the winter holidays. These batons are available in various flavors and continue to bring in more customers looking forward to buying multiple packs each.
Some customers believe that while the cocoa batons were a nice treat, their flavor was not unique. The chocolate was the same as their other chocolate products.
For this reason, it is believed that the product was discontinued as a variety of the same thing was already widely available on shelves.
Impact of Cocoa Batons Discontinuation on Trader Joe’s Customers
Customers have shown great frustration as Trader Joe’s has been known to keep its customer’s requests and needs as a top priority. Seeing customer favorites off the shelves and having to look out for alternative ways to buy their daily needs, including snacks and desserts, has led to increased frustration.
Seeing something they could afford easily unavailable or sold at an unreasonably high rate has led some customers to stop buying from the store and a decrease in the customers’ trust in Trader Joe’s for their regular grocery needs.
Due to their loyalty to the store and product and the requirement for good quality snacks, customers have turned to find alternate sources for cocoa batons.
They have started buying the snacks on sites such as eBay, where packs of three 5-OZ boxes are available for $11.99.
The snack is available with a little waiting time for customers who can overlook the prices. However, the search for an alternate snack continues for those who can’t afford or wait for the product.
Customers have started looking for replacements for the snack and have turned to experiment with more products from the Trader Joe’s range.
One such alternate exists in the form of the Baton Lover’s Quartet, which is available in various flavors, including chocolate. The chocolate batons are made from their beloved cocoa batons and satisfy their cocoa-biscuit cravings!
Trader Joe’s Response to the Discontinuation of Cocoa Batons
Trader Joe’s makes it clear that they take the customer’s consideration in high regard when continuing or discontinuing a product.
For cocoa batons, however, Trader Joe’s makes it known that its goal is to provide customers with the best-quality goods at the most affordable pricing. However, they must utilize their store shelves to achieve this wisely.
They remove products to create space for new ones if they are not good enough to keep their place on shop shelves. With that, they know that it might be discouraging, even tragic.
Trader Joe’s also puts in efforts to introduce new and popular snack options as replacements for the ones they take off their shelves.
An example of this are the multi-flavored Lover’s Quartets, which are the same, per se, as the cocoa batons but offer more flavors than only chocolate, catering wider range of customers and allowing them to experience multiple flavors and choosing the one they like.
This also allows more people to buy the same product instead of a few people buying various items. Trader Joe’s holds their customers, and therefore their customers’ feedback, on a very high pedestal.
They are well aware of the devastation customers face when they don’t see their favorite products on the shelves and even more when their production is stopped.
For this reason, without making any promises, they consider customer feedback when creating new goods or reintroducing old favorites.
To check the current price and availability of Trader Joes Baton Lover’s Quartet, click here to view the listing on Amazon.
Customer Feedback
Cocoa batons are winners amongst most Trader Joe’s fans. Seeing how important customer feedback is for the stores and their open portal to take customer feedback on their website, it is likely that the store will bring back the product.
Not only will this excite their existing customers to return, but the hype will also make non-customers curious to try the product – increasing its sales.
The stores’ success depends on customer loyalty and meeting their specific demands. Additionally, a super friendly and highly skilled staff is one of the techniques that Trader Joe’s uses to ensure the customers keep coming back.
Experience has shown that having a smiling face helping you out lets people pay higher for the same item without any trouble.
Seeing how heartbroken customers are at the unavailability of the cocoa batons, Trader Joe’s brought back a “winter only” version of the batons for $7.99 to make their customers happy and their holidays a bliss. The demand for it continues, and the loyal customers can’t wait to nibble their beloved snacks!
FAQs
Are Trader Joe’s Mini Tacos Discontinued?
The mini beef tacos from Trader Joe’s are back on the shelves. They are regarded as discontinued because they have been off the stores for some time.
However, they are back in the frozen section and appear to have undergone a reformation. Additionally, they are now clearly marked as gluten-free and cost more money.
Final Thoughts
Trader Joe’s has worked to become one of the most reliable grocery stores in America. It has offered quick and delicious solutions to frequent cooking problems, such as keeping various multicultural products ready to eat. Additionally, they continuously check customer reviews and preferences and introduce new food items their customers like to eat.
For snacks and quick bites, especially that fall under the confectionary category, Trader Joe’s has taken the world of chocolate lovers by storm with their Cocoa Batons.
Even if many people miss the velvety chocolate and biscuit combination, Trader Joe’s has kept a variety of other sweet items in stock to satisfy one’s needs. Just keep looking, and don’t give up!