Woke up with a craving...

Does anyone remember "Ghirardelli Flicks"? They were oversized (OK, "humongous") chocolate chips, that came in what was basically a foil-wrapped toilet paper tube. They were wonderful.

Our local kid's TV host, JP Patches, used to hawk them mercilessly, probably in cooperation with the ADA's business development division.

Anyway, I went to the company website, and found this little tidbit;


I remember a candy called "Flicks". Do you still make them?
While we recognize many of our consumers remember “Flicks” with a nostalgic fondness, we no longer make the product. When the headquarters of Ghirardelli Chocolate Company moved from Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco to San Leandro, packaging equipment for this product was damaged. This machine was made before World War 1 and since the company that manufactured the machine had long since gone out of business, we were not able to repair the machine. Since that time, we have introduced a line of SQUARES™ Chocolates. We expect these SQUARES™ Chocolates to quickly surpass the legend created by “Flicks”, and garner a fond place in the heart of Ghirardelli consumers.



Now, that flies in the face of everything I know about customer service. Mister, you get out there and fix that chocolate machine. Fly in some metal fabrication experts. Hire some of those creepy Oompa Loompas away from that stupid kid that Willy Wonka gave his factory too. DO WHATEVER IT TAKES.

And another thing... How do you have the sheer audacity to attempt to hold a trademark on the work "Squares" as it relates to chocolate?? Are you going to use the old Huey Lewis "Hip to be Square" song in your ads? Doesn't that make "Hip" Square? You better fix the flicks machine.

Comments

Anonymous said…
If you read Ghirardelli's explanation again more carefully, you'll see that it's not the chocolate machine that's supposedly broken; it's the PACKAGING machine. Is this the lamest excuse for not producing a product ever? They could certainly put them in some other package, and I suspect they'd still sell like hotcakes. My theory is that they either used to put something toxic in them and don't want to have to admit it to the health-conscious community, or that they want to market a snobbier line of chocolates at a higher profit margin. The thing about the package machine being broken has got to be B.S.
Anonymous said…
Absolutely agree with anonymous.

Uness they dropped the machine into the bay and didn't bother getting it out again, fixing it is probably not that much work - IF THEY ACTUALLY WANTED TO MAKE THE FLICKS.

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