For the first time in 5 years, we’re updating our prices and we want to talk openly about why.
If you’ve followed Uncle Mike’s for a while, you know we’re slow to make changes. We’ve kept the same recipes, the same values, and yes, the same prices for more than 5 years now. But the world around us has changed a lot in that time, and the cost of creating natural, small-batch products has changed with it.
We Hate Raising Prices… But Cocoa Butter Left Us No Choice
Every year, it feels like at least one staple ingredient surges in price. We’ve been absorbing these steadily rising costs for years. Many of the ingredients we rely on most, especially the oils and butters used as base ingredients in most of our products, have skyrocketed in the last two years alone:
• Olive oil: up more than 50%
• Coconut oil: up more than 50%
• Cocoa butter: up nearly 400%—you read that right. In just two years it's now 4 times the price it was in 2023, and it’s a key component of many of our products.
We kept watching the prices, searching out alternative sources, shopping around for options and hoping, especially in the case of cocoa butter, that the price would balance out again, all the while absorbing the difference in cost—because keeping things affordable for you really matters to us. But now, that gap is too big for a small business to carry. And it’s not just ingredients.
Shipping rates have increased significantly in the past 5 years. Because such a large portion of our sales are shipped right to your door, those increases hit us directly. Rent has also risen by 35% since moving into our current location three years ago.
When all those pressures stack up, they start to threaten the viability of a business—even one that runs as lean as ours.
Why We Made This Decision
This was not a decision made easily. We hummed and hawed about it for months and put it off as long as we could. The simple truth: we won’t survive another 5 years if we don’t adjust.
We’re making this change to:
• Continue using high-quality, natural ingredients
• Keep production consistent, sustainable and safe
• Stay rooted in Saskatoon and continue serving our community
• Maintain the integrity of what we make (no cutting corners, ever)
What Won’t Change
The heart of Uncle Mike’s.
We will keep making honest, natural products that do what they’re supposed to do. We’ll keep sourcing good ingredients. And we’ll keep treating our customers like the good neighbours you are!