Lindt Launches Vegan Milk Chocolate in the UK

Lindt’s vegan milk chocolate bars have arrived in the UK.

Back in August, the popular Swiss chocolatier and confectionery company Lindt & Sprüngli (commonly referred to as simply Lindt), announced three oat-based vegan milk chocolate bars would be launching in Germany in time for Christmas.

Now, Brits can also get their hands on the vegan-certified bars ahead of the holidays. But only if they move fast enough.

A week ago, The Conscious Candy Co—a brand dedicated to “finding exciting new and old-time favorite” vegan-friendly pick and mix sweets—became the very first retailer in the UK to stock Lindt’s dairy-free bars.

“We were very excited when we managed to secure some stock of the new Lindt bars,” The Conscious Candy Co’s general manager Craig Smith told LIVEKINDLY. “We were also overwhelmed with the amount of orders that came through on the evening that we launched them.”

The two flavors it was offering, Cookie and Hazelnut, sold out on the first night of availability.“We were pretty sure they would be popular but the demand surpassed even our expectations,” said Smith.

He confirmed that The Conscious Candy Co has ordered more stock of the vegan milk chocolate. However, he’s anticipating that the high level of demand will continue.

“We have received a lot of interest through both social media and direct email, with people wanting to sign up to the waitlists,” he added.

“We are expecting another surge in orders when we have restocked. As an independent vegan business, it’s great for us to be able to give customers the chance to purchase and try them before they start appearing in some of the bigger high street chains or supermarkets.”

Vegan Milk Chocolate

Lindt isn’t the only company to launch vegan oat-based milk chocolate in the UK. Earlier this year, James Cadbury (the great-great-great-grandson of Cadbury founder John Cadbury), launched the new dairy-free chocolate brand Happiness in Plants.

Its chocolate bars, available for preorder, feature an oat milk base. There are four flavors: Salty Pretzel, Salted Caramel, Smooth & Creamy, and Cookies & Cream.

Lindt may also soon have competition from Cadbury’s great-great-great grandfather’s original company.

Earlier this year, a spokesperson for Cadbury-owner Mondelēz, told the Telegraph: “We’re always listening to our consumers. So we can develop and provide people with greater choice.” They added: “This includes looking at a plant-based Cadbury Dairy Milk bar.”

Rival company Mars is ahead of the game. In 2019, it launched three vegan Galaxy milk chocolate bars, in flavors Smooth Orange, Caramel & Sea Salt, and Caramelized Hazelnut.

In a statement at the time, Mars’ unit director of chocolate Kerry Cavanaugh, said: “We think that by introducing Galaxy, one of the UK’s best-known brands, there is a huge opportunity for the [vegan chocolate] category to grow.”