Cacao-Free Chocolate Hits Market

Nov. 23, 2022

British startup wants products to be “guilt-free.”

What is being billed as the first “cacao-free” chocolate is now being marketed to British consumers by a startup company.

WNWN (Waste Not, Want Not) Food Labs rolled out Waim! Bars to British consumers in September. The name is a play off Daim, the name of a popular candy bar marketed in Europe by Mondelēz International. The company now claims on its website that Waim! Bars have “officially sold out.”

WNWN has developed a process for making chocolate from carob seeds and fermented barley. Carob has long been used as a chocolate substitute, but the use of barley is new and yields a product that is much closer to traditional cacao-based chocolate.

WNWN’s appeal is mostly to socially conscious consumers who are aware of the problems involved in cacao production, which include forced child labor and deforestation. “We believe that your favourite sweet treats should be harm-free and guilt-free,” the company declares on its website.

About the Author

Pan Demetrakakes | Senior Editor

Pan has written about the food and beverage industry for more than 25 years. His areas of coverage have included formulations, processing, packaging, marketing and retailing. Pan worked for Food Processing Magazine for six years in the 1990s, where he was operations editor (his current role), touring dozens of food plants of every description. He has also worked for Packaging and Food & Beverage Packaging magazines, the latter as chief editor, during which he won three ASBPE awards. He is a graduate of Stanford University with a BA in communications.