Haribo has released its first ever chocolate bar, and shoppers have mixed feelings.
Over a hundred years since Haribo first started making sweets, the brand has finally branched out into something completely new for it: a chocolate bar. It’s the result of a team-up with fellow German brand Ritter Sport, best known for its square-shaped chocolate blocks, and it marks the first time either brand has appeared on the other’s packaging.
What’s actually inside the bar?
The new bar brings together Ritter Sport’s milk chocolate with Haribo’s Balla Bites, the fruity gummy sweets that come in red, green and yellow flavours. Each bar weighs 100g and will set shoppers back £2, with stock expected to land on supermarket shelves at Lidl, Tesco, and Sainsbury’s from September. You’ll want to grab one sooner rather than later if you’re curious, since this is a limited-edition release rather than something that’s sticking around for good.
Shoppers can’t agree on whether this is genius or off-putting.
As with most unusual food mash-ups, reaction online has been fairly split. Plenty of people seem truly excited by the idea, with some describing the collaboration as amazing news and saying they can’t wait to try it.
Others are considerably less convinced. A fair few commenters have raised concerns about mixing chewy gummy sweets with chocolate, with one describing the combination of textures as something close to a sensory nightmare. Another admitted they’re generally not a fan of sweets mixed into chocolate, though they did concede the packaging looks lovely. A few people who love Balla Bites on their own said the idea of combining them with chocolate just doesn’t sit right.
The people behind it insist it’s a natural pairing.
Not everyone’s sceptical, though, least of all the companies themselves. The managing director of Ritter Sport UK and Ireland has been vocal about how well he thinks the two brands complement each other, pointing out that Ritter Sport has spent over a century perfecting chocolate, while Haribo has spent generations creating the kind of sweets most of us grew up loving. Bringing the two together, he argues, has produced something that’s properly surprising and really fun, rather than just a gimmick.
It’s part of a bigger trend of unlikely chocolate mash-ups.
Haribo and Ritter Sport certainly aren’t the only confectionery names getting creative lately. Biscoff and Toblerone recently joined forces on a new truffle-style treat, swapping Toblerone’s usual mountain-peak shape for smaller individual chocolates instead, while still keeping plenty of the flavours fans expect, including a caramelised biscuit filling alongside the classic honey and almond nougat. It’s already on shelves at several major UK supermarkets, priced between £6 and £6.75 depending on where you shop.
@sweetreviewsuk 🚨 OMG…Theyre here! 🚨 The brand new Lotus Biscoff Toblerone Diamond Truffles have officially landed in @Morrisons | Groceries & Food today and I had to review them immediately! Honestly? Biscoff lovers will love them! Super creamy, crunchy and packed with that classic Biscoff flavour, I personally felt like i needed more Toblerone to come through but that might be just me. BUT… £6.80 for the box is honestly crazy money 😭 Really enjoyed trying them, but I personally wouldn’t buy them again at that price. Would you pay £6.80 to try them? #Biscoff #Toblerone #DiamondTruffles #NewAtMorrisons #SweetFinds ♬ original sound – Sweet Reviews UK
Meanwhile, M&S has been leaning into nostalgia rather than novelty, recently bringing back four retro chocolate bars from its 1980s confectionery range. Priced at just £1 each and carrying the brand’s old St Michael logo, they’re proving a hit with anyone who remembers snacking on them the first time round.
Whether you’re tempted or not, it’s clearly a moment for chocolate experimentation.
Between gummy sweets meeting chocolate blocks, biscuit fillings turning up in mountain-shaped classics, and decades-old bars making a comeback, it’s shaping up to be an inventive year for chocolate lovers in the UK. Whether the Haribo and Ritter Sport combination turns out to be a stroke of genius or a step too far seems to depend entirely on how you feel about chewy sweets meeting chocolate in the first place, but either way, shoppers won’t have long to make up their own minds once it lands on shelves in September.
