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- Ice-cream sellers in the UK and Ireland are struggling to get hold of Cadbury's 99 Flakes.
- The Flake, a thin bar of folded chocolate, is a popular topping for a soft-serve ice cream cone.
- Cadbury's owner confirmed that it has having supply issues thanks to an unexpected spike in demand.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
The UK and Ireland's most iconic soft-serve ice cream combo, known as the 99 Flake, could be under threat this summer as the company that makes the iconic topping grapples with a surge in demand.
The Flake is a thin bar of folded chocolate popular at ice-cream trucks – when topping an ice-cream cone, the combo is called a 99 Flake. According to The Irish Times, ice-cream sellers in Ireland have reported problems sourcing Cadbury's half-length chocolate Flake.
Cadbury's owner Mondelez International confirmed the shortage in a statement to Insider and said it was a result of high demand.
"We are seeing a recent increase in demand for our Cadbury 99 Flake in the UK and Ireland that we had not expected," a spokesperson said, adding that the product had not run out completely, and was still available for ice-cream sellers to buy.
Mondelez International said that its 99 Flake chocolate bars were made in Egypt, outside Cairo, and in Coolock, outside Dublin.
Paddy O'Donnell, a business owner in Ireland that supplies Flakes to ice-cream sellers, told The Irish Times that it was "impossible" to get hold of these chocolates at the moment.
"There is word they will be coming out in dribs and drabs. It is the first time I heard of a shortage like this," he said.
He added: "I have sold more Flakes so far this year than I had right up to the middle of last summer. Hopefully, things will be back to normal soon but I am lucky at least to have some left."
The origin of the 99 Flake name is unclear. In a statement to the BBC, Mondelez said its meaning has been "lost in the mists of time," but offered one possible explanation. "In the days of the monarchy in Italy, the King has a specially chosen guard consisting of 99 men, and subsequently anything really special or first class was known as '99' - and that is how '99' Flake came by its name," a spokesperson said.