Oh, honey! Tony’s Chocolonely debuts two new flavors, including first nougat and permanent white chocolate

As limited edition varietals in 2011 and 2012, respectively, both flavors won over Dutch consumers, Tony’s told ConfectioneryNews, and they fit nicely into the brand’s color rainbow.

The nougat – a first for Tony’s – combines honey and almonds with 32% milk chocolate, wrapped in yellow paper.

The 28% white chocolate bar features freeze-dried raspberries and ‘a generous scoop’ of popping candy (essentially an uncolored Pop Rock that looks like a big chunk of white sugar, the company said), aptly wrapped in bubble-gum pink paper. It offers “so many flavor and textural contrasts,”​ from the creamy white chocolate to the sour, crunchy raspberries – ending with a ‘bubbly champagne’ burst, courtesy of the popping candy.

How exactly does Tony's conjure new flavors?

“When we start a new project we always want to surprise the consumer,” ​the company told us. “Sometimes we start with a theme, like a season, holiday or special occasion (like birthdays!). Other times we find inspiration in desserts, drinks, ice creams or other products/colors/textures.​

“The best thing is that there are no rules where you has to start but it always has to be surprising.​ ​Ingredients have to be chunky, authentic, made of clean ingredients, free flowing, the right size for production, and of course really tasty.”​

Tony’s develops limited-edition flavors every year, packaging about 500k in freshly designed wrappers that still highlight the brand’s brightly colored theme.

In 2018, for instance, it went all-in on caramel: a blonde chocolate (white chocolate with a hint of cocoa) joined caramelized pecans; a milk chocolate played with caramel and shortbread cookie bites; and a dark chocolate met a cocoa cookie caramel.

To really seal the deal, the wrappers boasted a one-off African print designed by Afriek​​, a Dutch fashion brand working with craftsmen and women in Africa, and made possible by Hewlett Packard. The technology company built an algorithm that randomly generated more than 50k unique prints​​.

Sustainable white chocolate

Tony’s flagship lineup did not previously include white chocolate, as it searched for a reliable source of fully traceable cocoa butter. Most cocoa butter was only available generically, according to the brand.

In 2016, Tony’s started working with Barry Callebaut, which ‘made major changes in the chocolate factory to traceably process Tony’s cocoa butter.’

For its milk and dark chocolate, Tony’s has always sourced fully traceable beans from partner cooperatives in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.

These ‘new, crazy flavors’ bring Tony’s flagship US lineup to nine, each wrapped in different colored paper. Its core products mostly stick to the basics – dark chocolate with almonds and sea salt, milk chocolate with hazelnuts.

Consumers can find both new bars at stores across the US, including Whole Foods, Stop and Shop, Natural Grocers and New Seasons, as well as on Amazon and through the company’s website (RRP $5.49).