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Sour news for lolly lovers as Allen’s discontinues classic sweets

Sep 09, 2023

The iconic sweets have been absent from supermarket shelves this year and a recent announcement has left many shoppers with a sour taste in their mouths. Source: Getty Images.

If you have a sweet tooth in Australia, then Allen’s brand of lollies probably brings back some fond memories of your local milk bar. Their line of confectionaries, with their all too familiar colourful packaging, has graced shelves for over a century now.

But all is not well in the modern age when it comes to some of their mainstay products. Three of their most iconic sweets have been conspicuously absent from supermarket shelves this year and a recent announcement from the company has left many shoppers with a sour taste in their mouths.

Allen’s and its parent company Nestlé have released statements confirming that the production of Red Ripperz, Sherbies, and Milkos was paused temporarily this year.

“We have temporarily paused our individual bags of Allen’s Red Ripperz Sticks, Sherbies, and Milkos as we move production to our new location in Broadford,” Melanie Chen, Nestlé head of marketing confectionary told 7Life.

Allen’s official Facebook page reiterated the announcement of the temporary pause and added “We’re working hard to bring these back to shelves in their own bags as soon as possible, but the good news is that lolly lovers can still find Sherbies, Red Ripperz, and Milko chews in bags of ALLEN’S Chew Mix.”

Reception to the announcement ranged from sweet to sour. Some social media users were relieved but impatient, asking Allen’s to make an announcement to notify them when normal production resumes. Other reactions were decidedly less forgiving.

“This is amazing news! Bags of just Sherbies!” one person wrote.

“This the worst day of my life. For real, please bring them back here.”

“Thank goodness for that. I was so disappointed to hear that they were discontinued,” commented another.

“Please when are Red Ripperz going to be back in stock? I really want some I’m so desperate.”

The disappearance of these classic sweets isn’t the only change to supermarket shelves that has angered shoppers across the county.

Recently, like so many products on supermarket shelves these days the beloved Monte Carlo biscuit seemingly fell victim to shrinkflation. The sneaky strategy in which companies make products a bit smaller, like shrinking the number of chips in the bag, while keeping the price the same.

One unhappy biscuit lover took to social media to express their grievance about the recent changes in the biscuit’s size, with many more fed up with getting “ripped off”.

The unhappy shopper sent a photo of the biscuit in question to 3AW radio host Jacqui Felgate, complaining that the raspberry jam-coated layer of cream inside the biscuit has reduced in size.

“What has happened to the Arnott’s Monte Carlos?” they wrote in the message, which was shared to Instagram.

“Monte Carlos have always been a favourite but as you can imagine with the steep rise in the cost of living a packet has sadly become a luxury spend. So you can imagine our horror when we opened the packet this evening to a long awaited treat to this …”