By Brad Matthews - The Washington Times - Tuesday, July 26, 2022

The Choco Taco has been discontinued after nearly 40 years of being sold in convenience stores and ice cream trucks nationwide.

The frozen dessert snack, which was made by Unilever subsidiary Klondike, consisted of vanilla ice cream, surrounded by a waffle cone taco shell and topped with chocolate shell and nuts.

Choco Taco fans were up in arms.

Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut joined in the furor with a tongue-in-cheek tweet: “Tomorrow I am introducing legislation to invoke the Defense Production Act to mandate the continued manufacture of Choco Tacos. Please call your Senator and demand they co-sponsor.”

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Twitter poster @TypicalEarthling was incensed, tweeting at Klondike that “Choco Taco is an American institution and if you follow thru on this I will never buy another Klondike product the rest of my life and will become a bitter old man who chases kids off of his lawn, no one wants that…”

Twitter user Michael Kang-Bietz jested that it was “pretty racist for klondike to discontinue the choco taco - the most perfect ice cream treat.”

Twitter user Mark Ellison wrote: “I just stocked up all my freezers with Klondike Choco Tacos. Will sell for sex, drugs or rock n roll. What would you do for a Klondike Choco Taco?”

The uproar prompted Klondike to elaborate further about its decision to nix the treat. In a reply to one Twitter user, the company explained: “Choco Taco has been discontinued in both 1ct and 4ct packs. Over the past 2 years, we have experienced an unprecedented spike in demand across our portfolio and have had to make very tough decisions to ensure availability of our full portfolio nationwide.”

The demise of the Choco Taco followed a spike in demand for the most popular Klondike items during the COVID-19 pandemic. In an email to CNN Business, a Klondike Brand representative explained that “Over the past 2 years, we have experienced an unprecedented spike in demand across our portfolio and have had to make very tough decisions to ensure availability of our full portfolio nationwide.”

The Choco Taco started as an ice cream truck-only treat in 1984, but it began being distributed more broadly when Unilever obtained Good Humor-Breyers and therefore the Choco Taco in 1993.

Poster 1000th Ghost was one of the voices of reason amidst the jokes and mourning for Choco Taco, pointing out that “Come on people when was the last time you really got a #ChocoTaco? If it sold well they would not stop making it. That said of course I am going to try and find some.”

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.

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