Ferrero Rocher Original Milk Chocolate Bars and Hazelnut, Party Food, Chocolate Hamper, Milk Chocolate with Crunchy Whole Hazelnut and Cocoa Filling, (90g)

Product Information

Ferrero already has a presence in Ireland with its TicTac sweets plant in Cork, where it employs about 270 people. The group’s success in breaking into the highly competitive UK market is seen as the catalyst for the Ferrero takeover, proving the case for Fulfil being more than simply a local Irish success story. Salmonella closure I wasn't sure what to expect when biting into this bar, but it transpires this is a 55% dark chocolate bar with a "hazelnut and cocoa filling." Each segment contains a soft, crumbly heart of chopped hazelnuts and cocoa paste. There's no snap when portioning this bar, largely due to the pliable filling. Opening the box, I was greeted by golden Ferrero Rocher branded foil. When I tried tearing into it, I realised it is a metallised plastic wrapper, which is great for freshness and appearance, but a nightmare for recyclability and a pain to break through. The golden clad bar ready to wow But, the most important question needs answering. How does this compare to a Ferrero Rocher? Would the ambassador be proud? Honestly, no, not really. The bar format just doesn't do it for me. It doesn't taste nor look premium, and doesn't strike me as a logical bedfellow to the traditional Ferrero Rocher ball.

The deal will allow the Irish brand to compete on the global stage with Mondelez, which acquired UK high-protein bar Grenade last year, and Mars, which owns the Kind brand. As part of the transaction, the Ferrero Group will take over the brand's iconic portfolio and plans to retain the management and the employees of the business," the company said. Fulfil employs about 40 staff in Ireland and Britain. TicTac plant Following the Mondelez-Grenade deal and the full acquisition of Kind by Mars a year earlier, Fulfil attracted attention from both private equity and trade buyers. The company was said to prefer the option of a privately owned family group such as Ferrero over other suitors.

Tinker around the edges and perhaps replace the chopped hazelnuts with a oozing chocolate hazelnut spread and Ferrero might have stumbled across a new cult hit that could be marketed under the Nutella brand. But in a saturated chocolate bar market where hazelnut dark chocolate bars are plentiful, this doesn't stand out for me. Sugar, cocoa mass, hazelnuts (12%), palm oil, cocoa butter, fat-reduced cocoa powder, whey powder, concentrated butter, emulsifier (soya lecithin), vanillin. Cocoa solids: 55% minimum (dark chocolate). A segment of the bar is shown below along with a couple of hazelnuts, just to reinforce that this is a chocolate and hazelnut bar.

The deal is subject to competition authority approval and is expected to close in the next few months. Ferrero’s sales in the year to August last were €12.7 billion. It employs about 39,000 people across 107 companies selling in 170 countries. The bar is portioned into 15 segments, each imprinted with the Ferrero Rocher logo or a motif that reminds me of a wild foraged truffle (I think it's supposed to be a design of a Ferrero Rocher). Similar to Guylian squishing seahorses into a chocolate bar, Ferrero Rocher balls are now available in flat 90g bars. But would the Ambassador approve? Let's find out.The bar doesn't hold up to my memories of Ferrero Rocher. The bar cannot create the same experience, and I think lending it the Ferrero Rocher branding probably doesn't help, as it raises expectations beyond the scope that the chocolate bar version can deliver.