WE’VE all had a favourite chocolate bar be cruelly discontinued, but luckily those retro classics are not always gone for good.
Chocolate manufacturers regularly discontinue items in the face of declining sales, but sometimes they’re brought back in response to fan demand.
Much-loved chocolate bars often make a return even after being discontinued[/caption]
Among those to have been banished from shelves only to later make a return are Cadbury’s Wispa bar.
The bubbly chocolate bar was first launched in 1981, only to be discontinued in 2003, when the chocolate maker relaunched its Dairy Milk brand.
But the strength of public opinion convinced Cadbury to bring back the Wispa bar in 2007 and it’s remained on shelves since.
While Wispa returned permanently, other nostalgic chocolates have only been brought back for limited runs.
For example Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Marble bars made a short-term return to B&M stores after a petition to bring the chocolate bar back attracted more than 20,000 signatures.
So, if you’re mourning a favourite chocolate bar don’t despair, it may be back on shelves soon.
Here are all the bars we know are set to make a return and those you may have already seen on shelves:
Milky Way Crispy Rolls will be returning to shelves next week[/caption]
Milky Way Crispy Rolls
Mars is set to bring back Milky Way Crispy Rolls for a limited-run, due to customer demand.
The chocolate bars, which see a classic Milky Way filling inside chocolate-covered wafer fingers, will make their come back in supermarkets next week.
The crispy rolls had been removed from stores in 2022, but will relaunched alongside the new Bounty Crispy Rolls and Twix Crispy Rolls.
The three chocolate treats will be on shelves from February 4 for a week.
Iceland is selling all three of the crispy rolls for 50p each while shoppers can get three for £1.20.
The White Crunch bar had been missing from shelves for seven years[/caption]
White Crunch bar
Nestle’s White Crunch bars were spotted in Home Bargains earlier this year, seven years after being discontinued.
Their appearance came as a shock to customers after the sweet treat, which was first launched in 1965, was axed from production in 2018.
Chocolate giant Nestle had also confirmed it had “no current plans to bring them back” in July 2024.
But nevertheless, the goodies were back on shelves – and as a sharing pack size.
The return didn’t appear to be permanent and it’s likely the bars had been imported from another country where the bar is still sold.
Cadbury Fuse bars have made a return in miniature[/caption]
Fuse
Cadbury discontinued Fuse bars in 2006, a decade after their launch, but they have been spotted on shelves since.
The chocolate bar brought together sliced peanuts, raisins, cereal and fudge pieces in one sweet treat.
While the original was discontinued, towards the end of last year pictures of spin-off Fuse Mini Treats were spotted in stores.
The treats were sold in B&M, but sadly did not signal a return of the original Fuse bar.
B&M regularly sources nostalgic chocolate bars that have been discontinued in the UK, but are still sold in other markets and Cadbury confirmed that this was the case here.
There was uproar when Nestle announced it would discontinue Caramac bars[/caption]
Caramac
In 2023 Nestle discontinued Caramac bars after 64 years on shop shelves.
The caramel-flavoured bar derives its name from the combination of words caramel and Mackintosh, the company which originally manufactured it.
It was first launched in the 1950s with other variations following including a limited edition Caramac KitKat bar and Caramac buttons.
But two years ago, the manufacturer said it had made the “difficult decision” to scrap the treat due to low sales.
The decision caused uproar and it wasn’t long before Nestle backtracked and Caramac bars were seen back on shelves.
In July last year Nestle confirmed it was bringing back the bar in three varieties.
For a limited time shoppers could get their hands on a classic single bar, three-bar multi-pack and sharing bag of buttons.
Shoppers urged Nestle to make the return permanent, but it has yet to confirm this will be the case.
The chocolate bars fans would most love to see make a return
In 2022 a survey commissioned by Jackpotjoy asked 2,000 participants which retro chocolates they’d most like to have in their ‘dream selection box’. The top 10 were:
- Cadbury Dream – 8%
- Cadbury Marble – 7.9%
- Cadbury Aztec – 7.8%
- Cadbury Time Out – 6.9%
- Milky Way Crispy Rolls – 6.2%
- Kit Kat Caramac – 5.9%
- Mars Delight – 5.7%
- Cadbury Fuse – 5.6%
- Cadbury Astro – 5.3%
- Fox’s Echo – 3.6%
The Marathon bar was renamed as Snickers in 1990[/caption]
Marathon
Rebrands in the confectionary world often leave legions of nostalgic fans behind them – think Opal Fruits, Dime and Raider.
So, last year Mars decided to delight fans and bring back Marathon bars, 34 years after they were rebranded as Snickers.
The bar, which consists of nougat, caramel, and peanuts wrapped in milk chocolate, was called Marathon when it made its way over to the UK from the US in 1968.
And for a few months of 2024 Snickers bars sold in Morrisons featured a return to the retro branding.
Mars Senior Brand Manager Steve Waters had said: “We’re excited to bring back the Marathon bar branding for a limited period.”
The strawberry Aero hadn’t been seen on supermarket shelves for some 50 years[/caption]
Strawberry-flavoured Aero bar
Last year a chocolate bar was spotted in stores after an absence of some 50 years.
Strawberry-flavoured Aero bars were described as “lovely”, with a fan adding that it “taste[s] like strawberry milkshake”.
Aero, then produced by Rowntree’s, had first launched a strawberry version of its bubbly chocolate in the 1970s, but it didn’t stick around for long.
At that time the confectioner would often experiment with different flavours for its Aero brand including coffee, rum, orange and lime.
Fifty years on, the new strawberry bars appeared exclusively on Spar shelves in May, before being rolled out across other retailers from the beginning of July.
Top Deck
Last year also saw Cadbury confirm it had brought back a “yummy” 90s chocolate bar after giving it a makeover.
The chocolate maker announced it would relaunch its Top Deck bar across the UK as part of its 200th-anniversary celebrations.
The bar boasted two generous layers of creamy white and milk chocolate, meaning chocolate aficionados got the best of both worlds.
While the return was met with delight Cadbury said the the much-loved bar, which first launched in 1993, would only be returning to shelves for a limited time.
Quality Street coffee creme
In 2023 Nestle brought back a Quality Street fan favourite last seen in chocolate tubs over two decades ago.
The chocolatier brought its coffee creme flavour back ahead of Christmas, and it made a limited return again in 2024.
While the chocolates weren’t in regular tubs they were available to add to pick ‘n’ mix tins, sold at selected John Lewis branches.
How to save money on chocolate
We all love a bit of chocolate from now and then, but you don’t have to break the bank buying your favourite bar.
Consumer reporter Sam Walker reveals how to cut costs…
Go own brand – if you’re not too fussed about flavour and just want to supplant your chocolate cravings, you’ll save by going for the supermarket’s own brand bars.
Shop around – if you’ve spotted your favourite variety at the supermarket, make sure you check if it’s cheaper elsewhere.
Websites like Trolley.co.uk let you compare prices on products across all the major chains to see if you’re getting the best deal.
Look out for yellow stickers – supermarket staff put yellow, and sometimes orange and red, stickers on to products to show they’ve been reduced.
They usually do this if the product is coming to the end of its best-before date or the packaging is slightly damaged.
Buy bigger bars – most of the time, but not always, chocolate is cheaper per 100g the larger the bar.
So if you’ve got the appetite, and you were going to buy a hefty amount of chocolate anyway, you might as well go bigger.
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