When cocoa prices more than tripled last spring, Ben Bailey knew it was bad news.

The founder of Chomp, Salem’s much-celebrated vegan chocolate manufacturer, said his 4,000 square foot factory relied on the raw ingredient for all of its products. Following a poor harvest in West Africa, the price shot from about $3,000 per ton to over $10,000.

“When your main ingredient for your business goes up 300% overnight, that’s pretty difficult,” he said.

In the year since, cocoa prices have fluctuated but remained high, and new tariffs on imported goods from most of the world mean they’re likely to stay there or keep rising, Bailey said.

So this spring, he decided to shut down the factory, put Chomp on hold and scale back his chocolate-making ambitions. Bailey and his employees will now focus o

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