Cadbury’s Vegan Plant Chocolate Bars Debut In UK Supermarkets Next Month

Vegan chocolate enthusiasts will no doubt be excited to hear the latest news announcement from Mondelez, the owner of chocolate brand Cadbury, that a vegan version is about to hit shelves. Launching in the UK and Ireland next month, the new Cadbury Plant Bar is vegan and wrapped in plant-based packaging. 

Mondelez has just announced that the long-awaited vegan Cadbury Plant Bar range will hit shelves next month. From November, two flavours of the Cadbury Plant Bar—Smooth Chocolate and Salted Caramel—will be available across the UK and Ireland. It will be sold next to the conventional standard Dairy Milk bar on store shelves, says Mondelez. 

Cadbury Plant Bar

Both flavours of the Cadbury Plant Bar contain only 100% plant-based ingredients and have been certified by the Vegan Society. According to the food giant, which also owns global confectionery labels including Oreo, Toblerone, and Sour Patch, the new range took two years of R&D. 

Instead of using dairy milk, the company used almond paste, which it says replaces the taste and texture of milk ingredients “while offering a hint of nuttiness” and “retaining the creamy taste you expect from Cadbury”. The chocolate bars will be wrapped in 100% plant-based packaging, which has been certified by the ISCC as renewable and bio-sourced. 

Cadbury Plant Bar will make its store debut in November across all Sainsbury’s locations nationwide in the UK and Ireland, before rolling out to all other major retailers from January 2022. It will be retailed at a slight premium at £2.50 per 90-gram bar, compared to £1.00 for the regular Cadbury Dairy Milk bar. 

‘Appetite for plant-based alternatives never been more apparent’

Mondelez says the move is a response to the growing mainstream demand for plant-based foods. It first revealed that plans were underway to create a vegan versions of its Dairy Milk bar last year, saying it wanted to “provide people with greater choice”.

Mondelez’s UK managing director Louise Stigant says that the time was right for the company to roll out its first-ever vegan Cadbury bar in the UK, given the dramatic uptick in veganism in the country in the past months alone. “With 500,000 participants in this year’s Veganuary, double the number of participants from the year before, the increasing public appetite for varied snacking options and plant-based alternatives has never been more apparent.”

It isn’t just vegans that Mondelez is eyeing, with mass consumers also trending towards flexitarianism, also known as part-time veganism. One recent global poll estimates that 42% of consumers worldwide now consider themselves flexitarians who are actively minimising their meat and dairy consumption in the name of health, sustainability and animal welfare. 

Related: Cadbury heir launches vegan chocolate brand HiP

In the UK, another survey suggested as many as a quarter of Brits have made deliberate cuts to their animal-based food intake since the pandemic hit. 

Vegan Society’s trademark marketing manager Ericka Durgahee says that Mondelez’s new vegan chocolate bars will “give more options to everyone” and will allow “anyone who misses Cadbury chocolate [to] enjoy their favourite delicious chocolate bar without the use of animal products.”

When Cadbury Plant Bar launches, it will join a number of other iconic brands that have also added vegan chocolate to their offerings, including the Vegan KitKat created by Nestlé, and Lindt’s Vegan Oat Milk chocolate range. Luxury chocolatiers have hopped on the trend too, including French brand La Maison du Chocolat, which launched its first 100% vegan collection box earlier this year. 

Lead image courtesy of Mondelez.