Sweltering Britain suffers Cadbury Flake 99 shortage as supply issues in Egypt bite

Lack of iconic seaside treat puts dampener on UK's warmest day of the year

Women enjoy the afternoon sun in Trafalgar Square in London. Getty Images

People cool off beside the River Thames. AFP

A cooling ice cream for a young beach-goer in Bridlington, Yorkshire. PA

A selfie in front of the London Eye, as people enjoy the sunny weather on Westminster Bridge in London. PA

Bournemouth beach in Dorset. Temperatures of up to 34C - very high for the UK - are expected in London and potentially some parts of East Anglia. PA

Cycling in the sunshine on Boscombe beach in Dorset. PA

Crowds hit the beach in Bournemouth. PA

Sweltering on the London Underground. High temperatures are becoming more common in the UK amid global warming. Bloomberg

Bournemouth beach is packed with sun-seekers. PA

Beach-goers shelter under a Union flag umbrella. PA

A cooling plunge into London Fields Lido in Hackney, east London. PA

A reminder to stay hydrated in South Kensington tube station, central London. PA

Fun in the sun on a pedal boat in Warwick. PA

Striking a sunny pose with a London phone box. A tourist enjoys the heat. PA

A sunshine stroll near the Houses of Parliament in London. PA

Britain is suffering from a shortage of the Cadbury Flake 99 due to supply issues at one of its manufacturing plants in Egypt.

It comes as the UK experienced its warmest day of the year on Friday, with temperatures expected to reach 34°C in some parts, well above the average for June.

Cadbury Flakes — often added to vanilla soft-serve ice cream cones to create the quintessentially British '99' treat — are a common sight at seasides across the country in the summer.

But an unseasonably warm late spring and early summer has meant Flakes are now in short supply.

Mondelez, the parent company of Cadbury, has blamed global supply issues and unexpected high demand for the scarcity of supplies.

“We have been experiencing some global supply chain disruptions, alongside a recent increase in demand for the product in the UK and Ireland above the levels that we had anticipated at the start of the year", the company told The National.

"Flake 99 is available for our customers to order but, for now, we are just carefully managing stock allocation fairly across all our customers.”

It added that the supply issues were "in line with what many other companies are reporting".

The iconic British brand, based in Bourneville near Birmingham, shifted production of the Flake to Dublin and an even larger facility in Egypt, which was built to satisfy the Middle East's insatiable demand of Cadbury chocolate.

It is now the second year running that the UK has suffered a Flake shortage.

The Ice Cream Alliance said: "There is, once again, a shortage of the Flake product.

"This is disappointing to our members and their customers as the Flake product is synonymous with the whippy ice cream known as the Flake 99 and enjoyed throughout the UK especially during the summer months.

"The ICA hopes that the supply issue is resolved as soon as possible to benefit both our members, the ice cream industry and their customers."

First introduced in 1930s, mystery over the Flake 99's unusual name circulated for years, with many people mistakenly assuming it was related to the item's price in pence.

Cadbury has admitted the origins are "lost in the midsts of time" but has speculated the name could be related to the elite bodyguard unit of the Italian king, which included 99 men.