Can You Really Buy Willy Wonka Chocolate Bars?

Since 1964, the fantastic story of Willy Wonka, Charlie Bucket, and the incredible land of candy dreamt up by Roald Dahl have mesmerized readers with visions of chocolate rivers, lollipop trees, and elusive Golden Tickets (via Roald Dahl). While Gobstoppers, Laffy Taffy, and Nerds Ropes continue to grace grocery store shelves, few can figure out what happened to the classic Wonka bar (via Candy Store).

It feels like this confection, which featured bits of graham crackers coated in milk chocolate, disappeared overnight, but the demise of this iconic candy took years to come to fruition. According to The New York Times, business transitions, poor product development, and slow sales kept the chocolate bar from truly competing against larger, more established candies. As a result, the task of getting your hands on a physical Wonka Bar in this day and age proves harder than ever.

At this point in time, you'd be hard-pressed to find a Wonka Bar anywhere. According to Chicago Tribune, Quaker Oats developed the original Wonka Bars, in addition to sponsoring the iconic 1973 film. While the movie eventually found its way into the hearts of moviegoers everywhere, the original Quaker Wonka Bars couldn't quite live up to customer's expectations, never finding an audience due in part to their very low melting point (via The New York Times). For years, the candy bar jumped from company to company until Nestlé purchased the Wonka name and the affiliated candies in 1993.

While Laffy Taffy, SweeTarts, and other Wonka-affiliated candies continue to win over fans, don't expect to come across a Wonka Bar anytime soon. Nestlé underwent corporate restructuring, causing executives to sell off some of the firm's brands. According to The Motley Fool, the company ended up liquidating most of its candy-based companies, including the former Wonka brand, back in 2018 as part of a downsizing effort, partially due to the fact that American candy sales have steadily dropped over the years (via Confectionary News). If you have memories of this iconic chocolate bar brightening up a bad day, keep your fingers crossed that one day it might return to store shelves. In the meantime, hold out hope that a new competitor will discover the magic of Wonka and bring back this one-of-a-kind chocolate bar.