Sugar shortage has local bakers in sticky situation

As Christmas baking season ramps up, local bakers are finding it a bit more difficult to find Rogers Sugar products on store shelves. 

“There is a short supply of sugar products coming in,” says Lee Kotowicz, franchise owner of Sobey’s in Steinbach, “but they do continue to come in on a daily basis as of right now, a little bit each day.” 

Meanwhile, Old Church Bakery in Steinbach will be able to continue baking a lot of the sticky buns that have become quite popular with their customers. 

Megan Dueck, the manager, says they ordered a large amount of sugar as soon as they heard that there could be a shortage. 

“Brown sugar, we got a good stockpile on, we also helped out some other smaller local businesses and got them a bit of sugar as well, so hopefully that can help give them a bit of a boost,” she says. “I don't know if it'll actually reach till Christmas, but we also didn't want to be greedy and take it all, you know, there's a bit of a balance." 

Dueck does not know if they have enough sugar to last through Christmas, but she is not worried about it. 

“It's not something that's in our control. So, let's just do what we can, share the cookies we can bake, and then just enjoy the holidays for what it is, right?” 

For anyone needing smaller quantities of sugar, Dueck says they might still find some in local grocery stores. 

“There's a few of these smaller off brands, I don't think they make large amounts though. We haven't gone that far into looking into that though but that could be an option for home bakers, to try to look into those different companies.” 

Dueck believes we can still enjoy a sweet Christmas even if the sugar shortage continues. 

“As long as you're around friends and family, that's most important, right?

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