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Food

The Choco Taco is Dead, But it Will Never Be Forgotten

Klondike confirmed it discontinued the nearly 40-year-old Choco Taco on Monday. Many fans are lamenting its end online.
Wynne Davis
A young woman and young man are viewed from behind as they make a purchase from an ice cream truck window.
Choco Tacos, the beloved ice cream taco, are being discontinued. The frozen treats are considered a summer staple and are often sold at ice cream trucks. (Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)

If you love a good Choco Taco, we’ve got some bad news. The quirky ice cream treat is being discontinued.

You might still be able to get one from the remaining supplies in stores or from your local ice cream truck, but once they’re gone, don’t expect them to come back.

“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,” a representative for the Klondike brand told NPR.

“A necessary but unfortunate part of this process is that we sometimes must discontinue products, even a beloved item like Choco Taco. We know this may be very disappointing, but we hope you’ll try one of our other great products, including Klondike Cones, Shakes, Sandwiches, and of course, our signature Bar available nationwide.”

Those other frozen treats might be good, but they are likely cold comfort to the people caught in the hold of the Choco Taco. After all, what is summer without the goodness that is vanilla ice cream in a waffle cone taco shell that’s dipped in chocolate and covered with peanuts?

Choco Tacos have been around since 1983, when Alan Drazen created them in Philadelphia. People have loved this fan favorite for nearly 40 years and as such, they’re mourning the loss on social media.

“I thought it would be here forever, and I always told myself I’ll have one later but later is here and a choco taco is not,” user FilthyGrunger wrote on Reddit. “Its [sic] like losing a dog, but instead of a loving animal, it’s an ice cream filled taco topped with chocolate and nuts. Honestly, if there was anything I could say about its passing, I would say that the world didn’t just lose an ice cream taco, it lost its way.”

The outcry on Twitter was also loud, with some users wondering how a beloved item like the Choco Taco could be discontinued when other subpar packaged desserts were still being produced.

There are also quite a few folks who aren’t ready to say goodbye to the Choco Taco and expressed some desire to save it from the ice cream graveyard.

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian is offering to keep the snack alive, tweeting this to Klondike’s parent company: “Dear Unilever—I’d like to buy the rights to your Choco Taco and keep it from melting away from future generations’ childhoods.”

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., also said he wanted to save the dessert after hearing the news of its demise.

“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,” Murphy tweeted on Monday, apparently at least half-kidding.

All hope might not be lost though. The Klondike Twitter account has replied to a few accounts saying the company hopes “to find a way to bring Choco Taco back to ice cream trucks in the coming years.”

For this summer though, the question isn’t what would you do for a Klondike bar, but what would you do for a Choco Taco?

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit NPR.

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