My Very Last Toblerone
No I Am Not A Diabetic And Have A Very Sweet Tooth
Toblerone is a chocolate you often see at duty free and are tempted to grab a few to give to family members or friends. I used to buy one every now and then more as a treat because I enjoyed the chewy honey almond nougat within the chocolate. You knew the chocolate was Swiss so they had a reputation for quality and the experience was always the same with each bar.
Two weeks ago I bought a small Toblerone and that experience was not the same as it was severely lacking the honey almond nougat inside. I actually checked one piece of the chocolate and found 1 speck of the nougat which was not the standard as each little slab used to have multiple so much so you could see the white flecks embedded in the chocolate.
I knew the ownership had changed over the years with the latest being the US giant Mondelez which is or was part of Kraft Foods before they split the company creating Mondelez. Over the years Mondelez has been buying up certain iconic brands like Toblerone with one eye on growing this segment. Toblerone was first created in 1908 so it has been around for a while and it only took this US company a couple of years to cock things up reducing their manufacturing costs through cutting back on ingredients which is a big shame.
A few years ago the Matterhorn on a Toblerone bar was deemed misleading as the company had moved production for some of the Toblerone bars to a factory in Slovenia and Toblerone could no longer use the Matterhorn image as part of their brand. This has obviously been placed on hold as this sub standard bar still has this on it's packaging. If you lose the Matterhorn image then I can guarantee you the sales will plummet and why Mondelez are now investing in the Bern factory and keeping Toblerone 100% Swiss.
When you travel around main land Europe it becomes rather clear what is chocolate and what is not chocolate as Cadbury's will be found in the confectionery section with the sweets and not with the chocolates. The common denominator here is Mondelez also owns Cadbury and the glass and a half advert of milk promised in every bar is now deemed for the history books.
Not only is there less milk, but Cadbury's does not reach the cocoa minimum threshold of 35% and is only at 20% and why it is just a sugary brown bar that does not qualify. Why mess with the recipe and ingredients that has been proven over the years is beyond me and this is all about more profits not caring about the consumer or the brand.
A premium brand like Toblerone is a premium priced chocolate and as a consumer you expect to taste the difference and not feel cheated. I am no fan of US "chocolate" and find it disgusting and would avoid it at all costs so having a US company in charge does not bode well if you like your chocolate.
I guess these days I am running out of chocolates hoping Mondelez leaves the other manufacturers alone. Cote D Or used to be one of my favorites and have since dropped them. This now leaves a few of the top of my head like Lindt, Ritter and Ferro Rocher. Let us hope they can remain out of Mondelez grips and kind of think how can they as Mondelez will buy them out and is a matter of time.
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Honestly, you're absolutely right. I’ve also noticed the changes in the taste and quality of some chocolates that we used to consider special back in the day.
I was never a big fan of Toblerone but it isn't clear to me why they couldn't use an image of a mountain on their packaging, even if it were no longer made in Switzerland.
There is good chocolate in the U.S. I've always thought Ghirardelli was good for example. But there is a lot of crap too.
I think if you use a picture of the Matterhorn which is in Switzerland and if not made there is mis leading and why it was deemed fake advertising and were told to remove it. I think they quickly realized how damaging this would be to the brand and quickly had to change their ideas. Same as the alcoholic drink Port not made in Porto cannot be called Port. I have never heard of Ghirardelli and just checked it is owned by Lindt so it should be very good and will look out for it.
A relatable rant on how beloved classics lose their soul under corporate control, sadly, even chocolate isn’t safe anymore.
Wtf one nougat in the entire chocolate? Maybe that's just a bad batch? But yeah, I'm not surprised since they do this all the time. 😭
I still remember Toblerone to be my most favorite chocolate but in recent years I thought it didn't taste special anymore just cos we bought it and not being given by someone coming from abroad lol. But maybe that's why... I still taste the nougats tho but maybe in a couple of months I will also start feeling the same way.
I've been able to try a few European brands recently like Fazer, Marabou, and Guylian and noticed a very big difference from those brands in the pic above.
No it was one piece in a piece you break off and I would guess the number of pieces of nougat and nut is in single figures what I have tasted so far and I am past half way and have given up. You will notice the difference if the brand has been purchased by another company.
Ah that makes sense!
Oh no! I have never had a Toblerone, but I have seen them.
You sound like me a few years back when experiencing my first Butterfinger after it was changed. It wasn't so much the chocolate had change, although there was less of it, but they changed something on the inside of it making it go all wrong. In case it was a fluke, a good while later I bought one more, but sadly.... the same messed up bar.
Bars of candy are not my first choice when there is a large choice of sweets, but still, over the years I've tried quite a few. I never, NEVER understand when a company changes their product after being HIGHLY successful for many years or another company buys it and changes it. Do they think the people won't notice??? .... that is what goes through my mind, because I do notice and I will cross something off as a possibility for the rest of my life with no problem as there are too many other products to choose from.
Sorry the US messed up you Toblerone. I Have to agree, our chocolate is nearly always inferior to the real thing.
Sadly this is greed playing out and how they boost their profits. This is hard to explain why they would tinker with a brand that is selling. Cadbury's used to be 27% cocoa and is now down at 20% for no other reason as cocoa is the expensive ingredient. Rather make the slabs smaller than changing the formula.
The thing is, I always wonder, won't they see a difference in the sales? Sure it won't show immediately since people will buy because they don't know of the change, but once they find it to be compromised, will they keep buying it? I always hope nobody keeps buying whatever they ruin.
Yes I hope they also stop purchasing the product as why would anyone settle when they are not happy with the new product? If you still have a chocolate two weeks after purchase then you know something is wrong.
LOL! VERY wrong!
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Its sad when an iconic snack like this is destroyed by cheap alternatives, and then goes on trying to pretend nothing is changed. I hope that enough consumers notice the decrease in quality and exercise their power as consumers to purchase from the brands that continue with tradition, and are transparent about ingredients. If there is enough of a shift away from a brand, it isn't far fetched to believe a big company like Mondelez might attempt to win back customers by reintroducing the original formula and making a big marketing publicity stunt about it. One can dream at least..
Yes consumers will not buy their product if they change it so drastically as you would not think you were eating the same chocolate.
I wouldn't be surprised if there was a specific plan in place to slowly degrade quality bit by bit over a long period of time so people wouldn't notice. If not for this specific case, then definitely for other products. Lots of smart and sneaky people working for some of these mega corporations.
I used to like Toblerone chocolate as a kid, Ritter and Ferro Rocher were the other two favorites during my younger days. I wouldn't call any of these brands high quality chocolate - they are more like a very tasty candy for me :)
Lindt does qualify as a decent mid-tier supermarket brand on par with a very similar American brand of chocolate Ghirardelli. In Seattle even in the most basic supermarkets we have a huge variety of higher end organic bean to bar chocolates such as the local manufacturer Maeve: https://maevechocolate.com/
And also Seattle based Theo Chocolate: https://theochocolate.com
There are many more higher end chocolate brands that you can find in Seattle area supermarkets, but if you really want a treat Fran's Chocolates are hard to beat: https://frans.com
Kraft and Hershey might be well known American brands, but they produce stuff that is not even remotely chocolate :)
Yes the private companies have higher end chocolate and in South Africa they are very few between. In the US and Europe you have the population to sustain these smaller companies. When we travel I do look out for them as a treat. I will have a look at the links thank you.