Iconic Australian chocolate bar finds new life in an unexpected place

Violet Crumble sales in the US have surged ten-fold since 2018.

Nestle sold the chocolate bar brand to Australian company, Robern Menz, in 2018.

At the time, Violet Crumble wasn’t being exported by the company, but was being traded in the grey market.

“It’s been in the US since the late 60s and it had been launched at some point in time, we think back in the 1990s, but then the brand was sort of taken out of export markets … by the previous brand owner,” CEO of Robern Menz, Phil Sims, told Stephen Quartermain and Emily Power, filling in for Ross and Russel.

“What happens then is grey markets … importers in the United States then go to wholesalers in Australia.”

Responding to demand for the product in the US, Robern Menz, has set up a US arm of its business.

The number of Violet Crumble bars shipped into the US has grown to a million bars this year.

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Image: Robern Menz