A popular mobile food business in the Isle of Man has apologised to customers after being forced to reduce the size of its brownies and blondies due to soaring ingredient costs.

The Parish Pantry, based in Ramsey but operating from a converted horsebox, announced on Facebook that the rising cost of chocolate—nearly tripling in the past year—along with increases in electricity and packaging costs, has made it unsustainable to continue offering the same portion sizes.

In a heartfelt social media post, the business explained that rather than increasing prices, it had opted to reduce the thickness of its sweet treats while maintaining the same high-quality ingredients.

It started by saying it’s a decision the business has been ‘putting off repeatedly’, but ‘unfortunately the time has come’.

The post read: ‘As all my fantastic customers will know, our sweet treat portions have always been on the big side, and value for money is something we have always prided ourselves on.

‘However, this has now become unsustainable… The price of chocolate has almost tripled in the last year, along with steep rises on all the other ingredients that I use and electricity and packaging.’

The Parish Pantry acknowledged that its portions were previously larger than many competitors’ and assured customers that the revised sizes still represent good value.

It also invited feedback, stating that if demand was high, it could offer the option to revert to larger portions at a higher price.

The cost of food production has become a growing challenge for many small businesses on the Isle of Man, with rising global ingredient prices and energy costs squeezing margins.

Despite the change, the business remains committed to quality and encouraged customers to try the new portion sizes, promising they have been tweaked to be ‘even better at this size.’