How a viral TikTok video caused a year-long global shortage of Swedish sweets

A global shortage of Swedish-made sweets, all thanks to a dangerous TikTok video? Strange things have happened.

But that's exactly what happened earlier this year, when TikTok influencer Marygrace Graves showed her followers the candy she picked up on a weekly visit to BonBon, a Swedish candy store in New York.

“This is strawberry squid. It's my first time having these, they're delicious,” Graves told her fans in a January video, as if letting them in on a secret.

Well, the secret came out – and other TikTok users started making their own Swedish candy videos, which led to millions of posts, a dangerous Internet phenomenon and a continuing global shortage of the nation's precious sweets.

Graves' viral pulls in the first video included candies that were foamy, and some that made her teeth look like they were about to break, she said. Some were oddly shaped, including the gum of a mouse he was holding by the tail; and many tasted different, like the raspberry lemon zest she approved of, and the grapefruit candy she said made her nauseous.

They are all imported from Sweden, a country known for producing high quality sweets.

What makes Swedish candies stand out is that they rely on unusual varieties and flavors, and away from the additives often found in North American candy, according to Michelina Jassal, owner of the Swedish candy shop Karameller in Vancouver.

“No GMOs, no corn syrup, basically [fewer] ingredients than your average candy you'll find at the grocery store,” says Jassal of Scandinavian sweets. “You don't have an upset stomach at all. [feeling] that sometimes you encounter common candy.”

The shortage has sent Canadian importers scrambling for supplies.

Jessica Borchiver, who runs the Swedish online candy store Sukker Baby from her home in Toronto, said an increasingly impatient (and growing American) customer base has prompted her to restock a popular brand: Bubs Godis.

What had been steady business at Borchiver rose overnight. But the run to Bubs “put everything on edge,” she said. “Everybody wanted to get their hands on it.”

Swedish sweets prioritize Nordic customers

Bubs Godis is one of the largest candy manufacturers in Sweden. As demand suddenly increased, it was forced to stop taking on new international customers, a policy that has been in place since late December. The company was already running out of stock during the summer months, when Sweden begins its annual six-week factory holiday.

Any company would be happy to see a sudden increase in international interest. But the builders of Bubs decided to take care of their people first.

“We've had a long relationship with our customers in Sweden and the rest of the Nordics,” said Niclas Arnelin, director of international expansion at Orkla, the Swedish food and snack company that owns Bubs. “And we have to prioritize ourselves right now.”

They may be their best customers, too – Swedes have a famous sweet tooth, eating up to 16 kilograms of sweets every year, according to a spokesperson for Business Swedish, a government-run and business organization that promotes Swedish exports.

The country has an old tradition called Lördagsgodisor “Saturday Sweets,” where families are known to load up on sweets. This tradition was born from a 1950 study by medical researchers who found that the nation's dental health could improve if they limited their candy intake to one day a week.

Stockholm resident Linda Rose remembers when the tradition first became popular. Along with his children, he performs the same ritual on Friday.

But if there's a global shortage plaguing the sweet-toothed public right now, the Swedes have been spared the pain.

“There is no shortage here,” he said. “Nothing, anyway.”