Summary
- Real Wonka Bars were originally produced by The Quaker Oats Company but were discontinued in 2014 due to poor sales and difficulty with the recipe.
- Nestlé acquired the rights to the Wonka brand in 1988 and attempted to revive interest in Wonka Bars with new versions and flavors, but they were ultimately discontinued worldwide.
- Since 2013, fake Wonka Bars claiming to have Golden Tickets inside have circulated, leading to scams and counterfeit versions being sold in the UK. However, replicas of the original Wonka Bar wrapper and foil can still be purchased for novelty purposes.
Real-life Wonka Bars hit shelves as a consumer product after the release of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but these sweet treats are difficult to find today. The fictional candy bars were invented by Roald Dahl in his 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In the story, Wonka Bars are Willy Wonka's signature product. They are also a key plot element in each incarnation of the classic tale. The Golden Ticket that grants five "lucky" children the chance to visit Willy Wonka's chocolate factory is hidden inside the famous chocolate bars, with the candy serving as a catalyst for the whole story.
Wonka Bars made their on-screen debut in 1971's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, the first film adaptation of Dahl's novel. In this film, the bars come in brown and orange wrappers with pink borders. In fact, they look a lot like Cadbury bars. This makes sense, as Cadbury was part of Dahl's inspiration for Willy Wonka. Wonka Bars recieved a new look (and several new flavors) in the next on-screen adaptation in 2005, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. What appears to be the first-ever version of the Wonka Bar is shown in the trailer for the Wonka prequel movie starring Timothée Chalamet.
The Official Wonka Chocolate Bars Were Discontinued In 2014
Wonka Bars were first manufactured and sold by The Quaker Oats Company in conjunction with the release of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory in 1971. Per CBC, when approached about a film adaptation of Dahl's novel, Quaker Oats saw it as an opportunity to make a profit off the sale of real-life Wonka Bars and agreed to finance the film. Quaker Oats also had the title changed from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to , claiming it needed to include "Wonka" for promotional purposes. However, these original Wonka Bars had to be pulled from shelves because they couldn't get the recipe right and the chocolate kept melting.
In 1988, Nestlé acquired the rights to the Wonka brand and released their own Wonka Bars, along with a string of other Wonka candy products. When Charlie & The Chocolate Factory was released in 2005, Nestlé borrowed from the film by launching a nationwide sweepstake in which a Golden Ticket was hidden inside five Wonka candy products (via Convenience Store News). The five winners were awarded a prize for finding the Golden Ticket, each worth $10,000. In the years following the release of Charlie & The Chocolate Factory in 2005, Wonka Bars' popularity waned. Different divisions of Nestlé tried to revive interest by introducing new versions and flavors of Wonka Bars. However, by 2014, Wonka Bars were officially discontinued worldwide due to a lack of sales (via The Daily Meal).
Scams & Fake Wonka Bars Have Circulated Since 2013
Since Wonka Bars officially went off the market, plenty of fake versions have been sold in stores claiming to be the true, authentic Wonka Bars. This issue of Wonka Bar fraud has been especially pervasive in the UK: in 2013, one shop in Manchester was fined for scamming customers by selling fake Wonka Bars with so-called "Golden Ticket" prizes inside (via Manchester Evening News. This case was just the beginning of a long-lasting trend in the UK: as recently as 2022, a whopping £22,000 (the equivalent of roughly $27,000 USD) worth of counterfeit Wonka Bars were seized in a police raid of Oxford Street in London (via The Standard).
Where To Buy The Best Wonka Bar Replacement
While real Wonka Bars are no longer on the market, the original Wonka Bar wrapper and foil are available for purchase. The foil is color-customizable and there is also the option to add a Golden Ticket. The Red and Brown classic packaging can be bought either on its own or with a regular Hershey chocolate bar inside. There is also the option to have the Wonka Bar wrapper and the Golden Ticket personalized with whatever text the heart desires.
These Wonka Bar dupes may not taste exactly the same, but from the outside, they are almost identical to the original Wonka Bars from Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. This option is a close substitute that works just as well for collectors or those who are only interested in the novelty of the Wonka wrapper and Golden Ticket and couldn't care less about the chocolate itself. These Wonka Bar substitutes can be purchased at Candy Wrapper Store.
Sources: CBC, Convenience Store News, The Daily Meal, Manchester Evening News, The Standard
