Sarris Candies coins new chocolate for Election 2016
A close-up of the election-themed candy bars.
Sarris Candies is making coins that undecided voters can flip to make their candidate choice.
Bill Sarris holds chocolate bars bearing the likeness of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The bars are available at the company’s store in Canonsburg.
Sarris Candies has a whole section of election-themed treats.
Sarris Candies in Canonsburg turned a bitter 2016 presidential campaign into something sweet.
A section of the candy shop features election-related chocolates, including milk chocolate bars that bear a likeness to presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Additional candy options include chocolates shaped like an elephant or donkey and red-white-and-blue foil chocolates.
But the most popular chocolate, hands down, is a bag of chocolate coins stamped with the heads of Clinton and Trump on each side.
For the past two weeks, the store has held a Coin Flip Contest.
Customers who make a purchase receive a coin to flip, and Sarris employees keep track of whether it comes up Clinton or Trump. They tally the results and post a winner at the end of each week.
Patrons get to keep the coin.
“It’s amazing how upset some people get if they don’t get the person they want,” said owner Bill Sarris. “We’ve had people who have thrown the coins at our clerk. We changed it so that now, you can flip it or pick it. That way we don’t have an argument. If you want somebody, you get to pick that person and that’s your vote.”
The “Flip it or pick it” contest was the brainchild of Sarris, who was sitting in his office with a couple of people in late August, talking about how voters were having a hard time figuring out which candidate to vote for.
“I said, ‘Why don’t we make a coin,'” recalled Sarris. “Just for fun, for the people in the store. People can flip it, if they don’t like who they got they can eat it.”
Next thing he knew, people were stopping by the store requesting the gold-wrapped coins.
“We’ve sold thousands of them. It’s a lot more popular than I thought it would be,” the confectioner said.
Eric Trump dropped by Sarris Candies for an ice cream sundae following a campaign stop at Southpointe Friday, and left with a variety of chocolates, including some chocolate bars stamped with his father’s image.
The coins and chocolate bars have been popular at debate watch parties.
Voters might not agree on which presidential candidate they support, but, said Sarris, “chocolate makes everybody smile.”