Last year, Bazooka Candy Brands found itself dealing with a difficult mix of rising tariff costs and slowing demand for sweets produced in China and other Asian countries. The situation forced the company to completely rethink the way it worked with suppliers in a region that represents around 80% of its U.S. sales.
For years, the company had relied on a traditional model: higher order volumes in exchange for lower manufacturing prices. But according to Erika Nava, Vice President of Strategic Supply and Product Development, that approach no longer made sense once tariffs began heavily impacting costs across the supply chain.
Speaking during the Institute for Supply Management World 2026 event in Aurora, Colorado, Nava explained that Bazooka and its suppliers decided to stop treating negotiations like a battle and instead work together through what she described as a “perfect storm.”
“We approached it as, it’s not your fault, it’s not my fault. We’re both victims of this,” Nava said while discussing the tariff-driven price increases.
Rather than pushing suppliers to absorb all the pressure, Bazooka tried to find solutions both sides could realistically live with.
In some cases, suppliers agreed to split the additional tariff costs with the company. In others, their margins were already too tight, which meant Bazooka had to take on a larger share of the financial impact itself.
Those discussions also led to an unexpected level of transparency. Some suppliers opened up their cost structures to Bazooka, giving the company a clearer understanding of production economics and stronger insight for future negotiations.
“That was an unintended great consequence of this agreement,” Nava said.
The company also made the decision to stop producing certain SKUs that were no longer financially viable for either Bazooka or its manufacturing partners.
Nava explained that the agreements were designed as temporary arrangements to help everyone survive an unstable market environment. If tariffs were reduced, both sides would benefit proportionally. If tariffs increased again, the terms would need to be renegotiated.
Since then, Bazooka’s relationship with suppliers has evolved into something much closer to a partnership rather than a pure price-versus-volume negotiation model.
That mindset even extends to the company’s plans to reimburse suppliers for portions of tariffs introduced under President Donald Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act measures, which were later ruled illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“My nightmare is going to be, how do I calculate how much I’m going to share back to them,” Nava said. “I cannot just walk away saying, ‘Thank you for your help. See you next crisis.’”
The experience ultimately changed the way Bazooka views supplier relationships and convinced the company that stronger collaboration creates long-term resilience during periods of disruption.
Nava also shared four major lessons the company learned during the crisis.
The first was the importance of truly understanding suppliers beyond pricing discussions. She encouraged companies to learn how suppliers make decisions, what capabilities they have today and what they may be developing for the future. Regular communication, she said, matters just as much as pricing negotiations.
“A partnership starts with really asking questions rather than just dropping demands,” Nava explained. “That is what makes a difference in suppliers picking up the phone when you need them or going silent.”
The second lesson focused on performance management. Nava recommended setting annual supplier KPIs, continuous improvement targets and innovation goals, followed by structured quarterly reviews with strategic vendors.
The third lesson involved regularly mapping the value chain to identify inefficiencies and cost-saving opportunities. Through value stream mapping, companies can better understand how materials and information move across the supply chain and where improvements can be made.
Finally, Nava stressed the importance of recognising suppliers when they go above expectations. She personally sends thank-you emails to supplier executive teams whenever they provide exceptional support during difficult periods.
“I can tell you next time you need anything, they are going to do whatever it takes for you, because you value their contributions whenever they go above and beyond,” she said.
