Why Procurement Headaches Forced a Rethink for Penguin Bars

Chocolate favourites Penguin and Club now wear a different label in the UK – not because of a recipe innovation, but due to changing procurement decisions made under cocoa supply pressure.

The coating on the bars no longer contains enough cocoa to meet UK regulations for milk chocolate.

Instead, their manufacturer, Pladis, has opted for a more affordable blend to keep production viable amid global supply disruptions and soaring cocoa prices.

Unstable sourcing conditions

The UK does not grow cocoa, relying entirely on imports from regions close to the equator.

More than half of all cocoa beans brought into the UK come from Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Both countries sit within a narrow band of cocoa-growing regions that face tough agricultural conditions.

In 2023, rainfall in the region more than doubled the 30-year average. The result was an outbreak of black pod disease, which rotted cocoa pods before they could be harvested.

That setback was then followed by a drought early in 2024 and worsened by El Niño, a natural cycle where surface temperatures in parts of the Pacific Ocean rise, leading to a knock-on effect on global weather patterns.

Scientists at World Weather Attribution said the heatwave that followed in the region was “10 times more likely” and around 4°C hotter due to the ongoing effects of climate change.

This combination of extreme rain, crop disease and drought caused instability in cocoa production. Farmers can no longer grow or harvest cocoa with consistency, which leads to shortages in supply.

Procurement teams across the sector are now under mounting strain amid cocoa price rises. In the UK, imports dropped by 10% between 2022 and 2024 as cocoa prices increased by 20%. Global cocoa prices in 2025 remain three times higher than they were in 2022.

Adjusting ingredient procurement

Pladis – the company behind Club and Penguin, as well as McVitie’s, Godiva, Go Ahead and Jacobs – has changed its approach in response.

Under financial pressure, the business has reformulated the coating on their bars, using cheaper alternatives such as palm oil and shea oil. These ingredients are more cost stable and from different regions, including Southeast Asia and West Africa.

The substitution, however, affects the product’s classification. According to UK food standards, any product labelled as “milk chocolate” must contain at least 20% cocoa solids.

With the new coating formulation falling short of that mark, the bars now need to carry a different name and can no longer be legally sold as “chocolate," meaning they must instead by labelled as “chocolate flavour”.

Pladis confirmed the move, stating: “We made some changes to McVitie's Penguin and Club earlier this year, where we are using a chocolate flavour coating with cocoa mass, rather than a chocolate coating.”

The business maintains that consumers will not notice a difference in the eating experience: “Sensory testing with consumers shows the new coatings deliver the same great taste as the originals.

However, the once-iconic line from Club packaging – “If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit, join our club” – now stands at odds with the product’s legal content.

Global pressures felt by consumers

These reformulations reflect wider changes across the food sector as businesses respond to inflation. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported in March 2025 that general food inflation stood at 3.1%, while chocolate-specific inflation reached nearly 17%.

These prices surges are forcing difficult decisions in procurement and production. For manufacturers, it becomes a balance between ingredient costs and product classification. For consumers, everyday snacks become noticeably more expensive or smaller, with the trend of "shrinkflation" drawing criticism in high-profile products like Toblerone.

Though Club and Penguin bars still look familiar and, according to Pladis, still taste the same, their new label reveals a shift beneath the surface.

For procurement teams working within volatile supply networks and with tight margins, the change reflects a wider pattern – one where adaptation, not tradition, shapes the final product.