Chocolate Fish stocks dwindling as Cadbury cuts the Kiwi classic

Cadbury says it made the decision last year to end production of its beloved Chocolate Fish. Photo / Woolworths

A Kiwi classic is disappearing from supermarket shelves. Cadbury has confirmed that its famous Chocolate Fish are coming to an end.

“Bigger size (20g) Chocolate Fish from Cadbury are no longer being distributed,” said Craig Dowling, spokesman for Cadbury, in a statement. “The decision to end their run was made last year, and stock has been depleting since.”

While it didn’t pinpoint any particular consumer groups, with people’s palettes, shopping habits and discretionary spending changing, the company’s move reflected that.

Cadbury cites lack of demand as the reasoning behind the move, explaining the decision as a response to changing customer preferences.

“They just haven’t been as popular with Kiwi consumers over recent years as they had been in the past,” Dowling said. “Ironically it is not a case of overfishing that led to the demise of the bigger member of the species, but the opposite.”

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Chocolate Fish are, it says, a “victim” of choice and competition.

“It became harder to secure shelf-space alongside other bars and snacking innovations in stores and harder for them to find their place on the production runs.”

Pricing was an issue. “There became a point we no longer had the ‘scale’ to continue with them a price that we thought would work in quite a tough environment for consumers.”

It’s a bittersweet decision.

Dowling said Cadbury “loved the love shown for this iconic product”, and says it’s proud the product has become embedded in the Kiwi lexicon.

“There are still a lot of Kiwis who love nostalgia, and we acknowledge and respect that,” he told NZ Herald. “In a way, Chocolate Fish are linked to good memories of treats from our past. I understand that can lead to feelings of loss.”

Is there a generational shift behind it? “Younger consumers, and changing demographics perhaps have less strong nostalgic connection to products like Chocolate Fish.”

For New Zealanders mourning the loss of this famous treat, is it worth a run to the shops?

“As for stock, and or stocking up, I suspect the fishing boat has largely sailed,” Dowling said. “Marshmallow products tend to have shorter shelf life than some other bars so harder to stock up on anyway unfortunately.”

But while the big fish are ending their run, their guppy-sized siblings remain on shelves, with the mini-size chocolate fish still available as part of the Cadbury Kiwi Favourites range.

Last year Cadbury made changes to its Favourites range, axing “two past favourites”, Dream and Flake, from its miniatures box, replacing them with the “very popular” Caramilk and Twirl.

In March 2024 competitors Whittaker’s broke the “difficult” news that its classic Toffee Milk bars were ceasing production.

“Unfortunately, production constraints have meant we’ve been unable to consistently make Toffee Milks for some time now, as the popularity of some of our chocolate block variants compete with Toffee Milk production.”

Globally the cocoa market has had a challenging year, with record prices (exacerbated by speculative traders) and supply challenges flowing on to consumers’ pockets.

Chocolate lovers aren’t the only shoppers to face the loss of a favourite product. Earlier this year Sanitarium announced it was discontinuing Sanitarium Muesli, Granola, Light ‘n’ Tasty, Honey Puffs, Weeties, Weet-Bix Clusters, Cluster Crisp and Puffed Wheat from June 2025.

Emma Gleason is the New Zealand Herald’s lifestyle and entertainment deputy editor. Based in Auckland, she covers entertainment and culture.