Don't Kill the Messenger, Just Saying

Breaking up is hard to do.  Or so Neil Sedaka sang a few years ago.
We hear about break ups in the candy and gift business from time to time.  One of the biggies was MIKE and IKE, if you can believe it.
For those fans of Mike and Ike candy, their break up was a big moment.
Some companies just go out of business. Some companies like Wrigley's just make Beeman's, Black Jack and Clove gum every few years.  And sometimes companies just break up.
When things turn south for some companies, they occasionally sell their recipes to other companies.  We experienced that recently when Judson Atkinson stopped making Fruit Sours.  Finally another company, Sweets which makes very good taffy, bought the recipe and the right to make the Fruit Sours.  We experienced a few months of adjusting the recipe, but now it seems Sweets has managed to bring back those cherry sours which my sister used to love.
Now about Mike and Ike:  they have REUNITED!!  And to show that they are back together again, Mike and Ike is bringing bring some old friends:  Cherri and Bubb from 1989 and Lem and Mel from 1991.  I've also heard that a Strawberry flavor honoring their reunion will be coming out soon.
What do candy sellers like us do when there is a break up in the candy biz?  It is especially difficult when supplies of the candy are still available. Customers see it out there and think we are not being honest..  Sometimes folks just don't believe us.....yes, that is the truth. 
We've had a few sticky moments trying to explain that there are some changes in the manufacturing of some candies.  Take, for example, years ago when a customer just didn't believe that the Haribo gummi bears we carried were really manufactured by Haribo.  Even the explanation that Haribo has factories in various countries and sometimes the recipes are slightly different didn't go over with that customer.
Now we are facing the question of Kookaburra licorice...no longer in business and taken over by another company which was making the Kookaburra licorice under the Kookaburra name. It might just be a psychological thing....a rose is a rose by any other name, right?  (my interpretation of that quote!!)
Believe me, although it is great fun to introduce new candy to customers, we are never happy to see a popular candy go out of business or stop being manufactured.  It doesn't make sense that we would intentionally want to discourage business.  It is our philosophy that we attempt to answer all questions about items we sell. Sometimes the news just ain't good.
Our advice:  Don't kill the Messenger, just saying,  when the message is not what you want to hear.