Mondelez World Travel Retail (WTR) has introduced Toblerone’s latest innovation, Toblerone Crunchy Popcorn, in a world-exclusive launch at Athens International Airport in partnership with travel retailer Avolta.
The new variety blends golden caramel chocolate with caramelized popcorn, toasted corn, and salted caramel pieces to deliver a distinctly crunchy texture. Available only in Athens and limited to 2,000 units, this debut is positioned as both a novelty for travelers and a signal of Toblerone’s wider innovation pipeline within the confectionery travel retail channel.
This exclusive launch marks a strategic milestone for Toblerone, underscoring its emphasis on premium, differentiated products designed to surprise and delight international travelers. Mondelez WTR has highlighted the Athens-only rollout as part of its commitment to drive excitement in duty-free spaces with limited editions and exclusives.
The innovation arrives against a backdrop of significant changes in Toblerone’s wider portfolio. Earlier this year, Mondelez announced the discontinuation of Toblerone Dark, a long-running variant that had been part of the range since 1969.
Crunch: A Battleground In Chocolate Innovation
Toblerone’s Crunchy Popcorn launches at a moment when texture is shaping much of the competitive landscape in chocolate. Crunch in particular has emerged as a shorthand for novelty, an ongoing trend that has been gathering momentum. Its appeal is not only sensory but also cultural: the audible “snap” of a bite has become a feature of social media, where ASMR-style crunch content drives virality and visibility.
Nuts and nut brittles
Whole, chopped or praline nuts create a dense, weighty crunch that reads as craft and quality. Examples from recent launches include Patchi’s chocolate bars that combine chocolate with crunchy hazelnuts and crisped rice, Läderach’s FrischSchoggi slabs featuring crunchy walnut and nut brittle elements, Venchi’s Pistachio Gran Gourmet, and ROYCE’ pistachio baton releases. Nut inclusions support gifting positioning, justify premium price points and reinforce provenance narratives.
Cereal and biscuit fragments
Puffed grains, crisped rice and biscuit shards provide a lighter, nostalgic snap. Nestlé’s biscuit-studded Yorkie variants and Milkybar Chokito/Crunch formats, Tony’s Chocolonely’s rice-crisp caramel bar, and Whittaker’s shortbread-and-fruit blocks are examples that aim for everyday snackability and impulse purchase.
Pastry and regional dessert elements
One of the most visible sparks for the current wave of crunchy innovation came from Dubai, where the viral “Dubai chocolate bar” — typically layered with kunafa or kataifi pastry — became a breakout hit on social media. The shredded pastry delivers a fibrous, layered crunch that films well and creates instant novelty, making it a natural candidate for replication. Established brands have been quick to follow: Lindt with their Dubai Style chocolate bar, Godiva with its Pistachio-Kunafa chocolate bar, and Mr. Bucket Chocolaterie in Singapore with Pistachio Kataifi bonbons among numerous others. What began as a local indulgence has translated into a regional and increasingly global mechanic, showing how virality can accelerate a texture from niche to mainstream in premium and travel-retail channels.
Brittles, toffee and caramel shards
Hard, glassy shards of caramel or nut brittle create theatrical contrast and a luxury cue. Recent examples include Läderach’s salted-caramel brittle inclusions, Stone Grindz’s toffee and sea-salt bars, Mirzam’s creations with crunchy cashew honeycomb, and Wellington Chocolate Factory’s 70% dark chocolate Easter egg with crunchy, golden salted caramel brittle. Brittle elements are especially popular in premium assortments and seasonal gifting ranges.
Popcorn and corn
Popcorn and corn-based inclusions remain one of the least explored directions in chocolate innovation, which makes Toblerone’s Crunchy Popcorn particularly significant. Beyond niche entries such as Nona’s Hudons Crafted Confectionery’s Corn Flake Crunch and Lulubee’s Caramel Popcorn bonbons, few brands have ventured into this space. That rarity amplifies the impact of Toblerone’s Athens-exclusive release, positioning it as a distinctive and attention-grabbing expression of the wider crunch trend.