Waitrose has limited shoppers purchasing Lindt’s Dubai Style Chocolate to a maximum of two bars per transaction.
Steve Dresser, CEO of Grocery Insight, posted a photo of new signage in a Waitrose store, relating to Lindt Dubai chocolate to LinkedIn yesterday.
The shelf-edge label stated: “No more than 2 bars per person please… because we want everyone to have the chance to enjoy our delicious chocolate. Thank for your understanding.”
In his LinkedIn post, Dresser speculated that Waitrose might be “trying to generate scarcity”, with the signage being introduced as a marketing tactic.
However, a spokesman for the retailer insisted it was introduced to regulate stock levels of the £10 tablets.
“Due to the incredible popularity of this product, we want to make sure that as many customers as possible have the opportunity to try it,” he told The Grocer.
They responded to a viral TikTok craze, sparked by Dubai chocolatier Fix Dessert’s Can’t Get Knafeh of It tablet.
Launched in 2021 by British-Egyptian entrepreneur Sarah Hamouda, the indulgent creation centres on traditional Middle Eastern pastry dessert knafeh with pistachio and tahini, encased in hand-painted milk chocolate.
Over recent months, foodie and ASMR influencers have taken to TikTok to post videos of themselves eating the ultra-indulgent bars. At the time of publication, the brand had amassed 382.6k TikTok followers and the hashtag #dubaichocolate had been attached to 328.1k posts on the platform.
A limited run of the bars rolled into Lindt stores in Bicester Village, Leeds Trinity, McArthurGlen (Cheshire Oaks) and Bluewater in Dartford ahead of Christmas, and quickly sold out.
However, Lindt replenished stocks in all its UK stores last week, also securing listings with Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Ocado.
Lindt has also expanded the range with a Dubai Style Chocolate Praline Box and a smaller 40g sized Dubai Style Chocolate bar, which launched exclusively into its new London Piccadilly store, which opened last week.
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The response to the Dubai Style range so far had been “phenomenal”, Lindt UK & Ireland CEO Joel Burrows told The Grocer.
“The response is overwhelming; we are selling an incredible amount of the bars.
“People are really enjoying the taste of the product, and that’s what they’re saying on social media.
“They’re finding the bars, they’re taking pictures of the bars, but they’re also saying it tastes delicious. And that’s, what we’re trying to do: create delicious-tasting chocolate products.”
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