Cadbury Crispello Double Choc

Region

United Kingdom

Associated With

Kraft Foods - British launch under the Cadbury brand

Defining Feature

Three separate filled wafer pieces in a resealable 30g packet

Status

Discontinued - original British three-piece format

Overview

Cadbury Crispello Double Choc put three separate filled wafer pieces in one resealable 30g packet.

Rolled out in Britain in October 2012, its loose chocolate-coated shells could be eaten one at a time or shared. Kraft pitched that format to women as a way to control portions, a premise criticised at launch for its gendered language.

The range expanded into sharing bags and Vanilla Velvet in 2013, while trade reporting put combined sales at about £10m after a year. The original three-piece form later disappeared from regular UK shops; imported four-finger bars reported in 2025 were a different product format.

Why It Mattered

Three separate pieces became the basis for a gendered sales pitch. Kraft marketed portion control specifically to women, while Gillian Orr’s launch-time criticism challenged the assumptions about guilt and indulgence behind that approach. Crispello shows how packaging could carry a message about eating habits as well as hold the chocolate.

Original Pack and Construction

• Each 30g packet contained three loose wafer shells with chocolate-flavoured filling and a Cadbury milk-chocolate coating.
• The resealable packet carried a recommended price of 50p at launch.
• A 2012 review transcribed 55 calories per 10g piece and 165 calories for the complete packet.

Rollout and Market Rationale

• A British trade report dated 29 September 2012 announced rollout from 8 October; an opened-packet post that day confirms possession, not the first national retail sale.
• Kraft cited a Kantar Worldpanel finding that women’s countline purchasing had declined 0.5% by volume over the 52 weeks ending 2 September 2012.
• A separate report gave a 6.6% MAT value decline for singles; it measured something different from the Kantar volume figure.
• Kraft announced £7m of launch support across women’s press, outdoor advertising and point of sale, but this was a planned commitment rather than audited expenditure.

Earlier Format, Expansion and Later Imports

• Milka Crispello had appeared in Austria in September 2011 as 150g wafer-shell pralines, although an identical recipe or shared manufacturing line is not established.
• The British range gained a 120g sharing bag in March 2013 and the 30g Vanilla Velvet countline in July.
• The Grocer named Crispello its top launch of 2012 and reported combined countline and sharing-bag sales of approximately £10m after one year.
• The original British range remained active in 2013, but its withdrawal date and reason are unknown. The 34g four-finger imports reported in 2025 were a distinct format.

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