Wonka Bar facts for kids
The Wonka Bar is a fictional, or make-believe, chocolate bar. It first appeared in the famous 1964 book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. This chocolate bar is a very important part of the story!
You can also see Wonka Bars in the movies based on the book. These include Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (from 1971) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (from 2005). There's even a play called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical (from 2013) where they appear. Each movie and play shows the Wonka Bar with different wrappers.
For a while, real-life Wonka Bars were made and sold! The company that made them was called the Willy Wonka Candy Company, which was part of Nestlé. However, these real Wonka Bars stopped being sold in January 2010 because they weren't selling very well.
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Wonka Bars in Stories and Movies
In Roald Dahl's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its movie versions, the Wonka Bar is Willy Wonka's most famous product. It's described as the "perfect candy bar."
How Wonka Bars Looked in Films
The Wonka Bars in the 1971 movie had brown wrappers with orange and pink edges. They even had a top hat over the "W" in "Wonka," just like the movie's logo! The chocolate bars themselves looked like Cadbury Dairy Milk bars.
In the 2005 movie, the wrappers had different shades of color, depending on the type of chocolate. They were also more detailed. The chocolate bars in this movie looked a lot like king-sized Kit Kat bars, but a bit bigger.
Many Kinds of Wonka Bars
In the book, Grandpa Joe says that Mr. Wonka had invented over 200 different kinds of Wonka Bars. The 2005 movie showed four different flavors.
Real-Life Wonka Bars
The real Wonka Bar was a chocolate bar made to look like the ones from the book and movies. It was inspired by Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
The Quaker Oats Company helped pay for the 1971 movie. They first created a chocolate bar to help promote the film. A producer named David L. Wolper said that this bar was sold in stores but quickly taken off shelves because of a problem during production.
Nestlé's Wonka Bars
Nestlé made and sold Wonka Bars under their Willy Wonka Candy Company brand. These bars were sold in the United States until January 2010. The original Wonka Bars had small graham cracker pieces mixed into milk chocolate.
The brand started in 1976 by Breaker Confections in Chicago. Then, Nestlé bought the company in 1988. Other chocolate bars made by Wonka included Wonka Xploder, Wonkalate, and Wonka Biscuits.
Golden Ticket Promotion
To help promote the 2005 film, five different Wonka products, including a Wonka Bar, had a Golden Ticket inside. Just like in the book and movies! If you found a Golden Ticket in a Wonka Bar, you won a $10,000 cash prize.
International Flavors
A Nestlé factory in Europe started making Wonka Bars with the flavors and wrappers from the 2005 movie. These included Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight, Nutty Crunch Surprise (which didn't actually have nuts), and Triple Dazzle Caramel.
Nestlé Japan also released some Wonka Bars. They had flavors like Whipple Scrumptious Caramel Delight and Mysterious Spit-Spat Bar. These wrappers looked just like the ones in the Tim Burton movie. More flavors came out later, such as Piritto Natty Bur and Edible Garden.
Wonka Exceptionals
In March 2010, Nestlé USA launched a new line of chocolate bars called "Wonka Exceptionals." There were three kinds:
- The Wonka Scrumdiddlyumptious Chocolate Bar had bits of toffee, cookie, and peanuts in milk chocolate. This name came from a bar in the 1971 movie.
- The Wonka Chocolate Waterfall Bar had white chocolate swirled with milk chocolate.
- The Wonka Domed Dark Chocolate Bar was dark chocolate topped with milk chocolate circles.
Wonka also had a Golden Ticket contest for these new bars. Ten Golden Tickets were hidden in the bars and bags of Wonka Exceptionals. Each ticket won a grand prize trip around the world! Later, more Exceptionals flavors were added, like Wonka Triple Dazzle Caramel and Wonka Fantabulous Fudge. These were stopped in 2012.
Wonka Bars Return to the UK
On August 9, 2013, Nestlé UK announced that the Wonka Bar would return to the UK. They hadn't been sold there since 2005. The new Wonka Bars came in small individual bars and larger 100g blocks.
There were three flavors: Millionaire's Shortbread, Crème Brûlée, and Chocolate Nice Cream. Crème Brûlée was only available in the big block bars. The small bars went on sale in September 2013, and the big blocks in October. These bars were not sold in the United States and were later discontinued because sales dropped.
Wonka Bars in Australia and New Zealand
In late 2013, Nestlé Australia and New Zealand also added new Wonka Bar flavors. These were 170g Big Blocks in four flavors: Wonka Triple Chocolate Whipple Bar, Nutty Crunchilicious, Caramel Hat Trick, and Chocolate Tales Bar. Other additions included Cookie Creamery and Mudpuff Caramel Stuff, which also came in smaller sizes. These were also discontinued later on.
