Toffee Crisp

Not to be confused with Coffee Crisp.
Toffee Crisp
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy2,166 kJ (518 kcal)
61.5 g
Sugars49.9 g
Dietary fiber1.4 g
28.2 g
Saturated18.0 g
3.8 g
[1]
†Percentages estimated using US recommendations for adults.[2]

Toffee Crisp is a British crisped-cereal and caramel confection with a chocolate-flavoured coating. Created in 1963 and manufactured by Nestlé, the bars were produced in England until moving to Poland in the early 2020s and contained chocolate until 2025. The brand has been advertised using the slogan "somebody somewhere is having a Toffee Crisp" and has spawned multiple derivatives and tie-ins.

History

The Toffee Crisp was invented in 1963 by John Henderson, the great-nephew of Mackintosh's founder John Mackintosh.[3][4] Inspired by a cake his wife made for their children, early versions featured puffed rice and chocolate cake; subsequent versions comprised caramel, crisped cereal, and chocolate.[5] First made at a factory in Halifax,[5] the brand had moved to Castleford in West Yorkshire by 2010[6] before moving to Fawdon[7] and then to Poland in the early 2020s.[7] In 2025, following a round of skimpflation caused by poor cocoa harvests,[8] Nestlé replaced some of the bar's cocoa solids and milk solids with vegetable fat, which meant neither met the 20% figure required to call itself chocolate under UK law.[9]

Early advertising used the line "somebody somewhere is having a Toffee Crisp";[5][10] Richard Osman investigated the claim for his 2017 book The World Cup of Everything and found it was likely correct.[10] A 1995 advert featuring the product being transformed into several cartoon-style objects including a pistol and a noose spawned thirty complaints to the Independent Television Commission, who declined to investigate.[11] The brand subsequently made adverts comprising angry people being placated after eating a Toffee Crisp,[12][13] an advert involving a spoof of the Japanese game show Endurance.[14]

The brand launched clusters and biscuit versions in 1999,[15][12] ice cream bars in 2004,[16] cereal in 2014,[17] and limited edition coconut, honeycomb, and orange flavour derivatives in 2001, 2015, and 2021.[15][18][19] Biscuit bars began being sold in 2024 as part of Big Biscuit Boxes, which contained 69 bars of Kit Kat, Blue Riband, and Toffee Crisp,[20] while the brand's coconut derivative was advertised using a combover in the shape of a coconut husk.[15] The brand was also used as a Burger King ice cream Fusion in 2015[21] and in Krispy Kreme doughnuts in 2021.[22] McDonald's brought out lines of McFlurries featuring the brand in 2017,[23][24] 2025,[25] and again in 2025 as an emergency replacement following quality control failures with the Caramel Loaded McFlurry.[26]

In 2011, the South African newspaper Pretoria News reported that the bars could be found on local supermarket shelves despite not being intended for that market.[27] Two years later, Jim'll Paint It featured a three-legged Toffee Crisp holding a mushroom and half a wasp[28][29] and Nestlé's Fawdon factory celebrated the brand's 50th birthday by raffling a 10-kilogram (22 lb) version for Action for Children.[30] In 2015, following a lawsuit by The Hershey Company, the US importer Let's Buy British announced that it would no longer import several lines of British chocolate and that this included Toffee Crisps due to its packaging being similar to Hershey's peanut butter cups; the lawsuit sparked a boycott and a MoveOn petition.[31] A 2018 episode of The Jeremy Kyle Show featured a guest unsuccessfully trying to prove his ex-girlfriend used a Toffee Crisp wrapper as a condom.[32]

References

  1. ^ "Toffee Crisp Bar 38g". Nestlé UK. Retrieved 20 January 2026.
  2. ^ United States Food and Drug Administration (2024). "Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels". FDA. Archived from the original on 27 March 2024. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  3. ^ Badshah, Nadeem (10 December 2025). "Toffee Crisp and Blue Riband no longer called 'chocolate' after recipe change". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  4. ^ Morley, Paul (6 June 2013). The North: (And Almost Everything In It). Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4088-3400-8.
  5. ^ a b c "Toffee Crisp® | Crispy, Chewy, & Satisfying". www.nestle-confectionery.co.uk. Archived from the original on 27 October 2025. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  6. ^ "Nestle factory closure plan 'body blow' for Castleford". BBC News. 10 December 2010. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  7. ^ a b Davies, Rob (2 February 2022). "Nestlé confirms Fawdon sweets factory closure in move to EU production". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  8. ^ McShane, Asher (11 December 2025). "Toffee Crisp and Blue Riband banned from describing themselves as chocolate". LBC. Archived from the original on 11 December 2025. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  9. ^ Uddin, Shaheena; Boucher, Harriette (11 December 2025). "The popular treats no longer allowed to be called 'chocolate'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 December 2025. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  10. ^ a b Osman, Richard (5 October 2017). The World Cup Of Everything: Bringing the fun home. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-1-4736-6728-0.
  11. ^ "NEWS: ITC rejects viewers' claims of violence in Nissan Micra ad". Campaign. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  12. ^ a b "Concord and Media Vehicle use trolley sites for Toffee Crisp". Campaign. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  13. ^ "Roose's Toffee Crisp ad spoofs television detective stereotype". Campaign. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  14. ^ Trickett, Eleanor (27 August 1999). "Roose makes TV spoof for Toffee Crisp". Campaign. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  15. ^ a b c "Roose produces ad for Nestle's Coconut Toffee Crisp launch". Campaign. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  16. ^ "Richmond has the opposition licked". The Northern Echo. 1 December 2004. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  17. ^ "Nestlé unveils Toffee Crisp cereal aimed at grown-ups". The Grocer. 19 January 2014. Archived from the original on 23 January 2025. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  18. ^ "New Toffee Crisp Honeycomb bar launched by Nestlé". Convenience Store. 20 February 2015. Archived from the original on 8 December 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  19. ^ Myers, Anthony (7 October 2021). "Nestlé introduces an orange twist for its popular Toffee Crisp bar". ConfectioneryNews.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  20. ^ Jones, S. P. (27 March 2024). "Nestle's new Big Biscuit Box of 69 KitKat and Toffee Crisp costs less than a Freddo". Edinburgh Live. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  21. ^ "Burger King rolls out summer BBQ menu for second year". Campaign. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  22. ^ North, Amy. "Krispy Kreme launches limited-edition Toffee Crisp doughnuts". British Baker. Archived from the original on 20 January 2025. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  23. ^ Pak, Elliott (21 May 2023). "Retired McFlurry Flavors We'll Never Eat Again". Mashed. Archived from the original on 14 August 2025. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  24. ^ "McDonald's Launches Toffee Crisp McFlurry". 98fm.com. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  25. ^ "McDonald's reveals menu for June 2025 with 3 new items including 'unreal' burger". News Shopper. 7 June 2025. Archived from the original on 20 July 2025. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  26. ^ "McDonald's pulls McFlurry from menu after just days due to 'quality control issue'". Wandsworth Times. 23 September 2025. Archived from the original on 5 December 2025. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  27. ^ Knowler, Wendy (13 June 2011). "Grey goods shake, rattle, roll competitors". IOL. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  28. ^ White, Alan (19 November 2014). "This Artist Takes Extremely Random MS Paint Requests And The End Results Are Quite Something". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on 10 August 2023. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  29. ^ McSharry, Louise (1 March 2013). "This is literally the best thing we've ever seen, literally". The Daily Edge. Archived from the original on 20 October 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  30. ^ "Toffee Crisp chocolate bar turns fifty". York Press. 23 November 2013. Archived from the original on 18 April 2023. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  31. ^ Ellyatt, Holly (28 January 2015). "Sticky situation: Outrage as Cadbury banned in US". CNBC. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  32. ^ "Kyle guest denies using Toffee Crisp wrapper as condom". Digital Spy. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2026.
  • Media related to Toffee Crisp at Wikimedia Commons
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