15 Popular Chocolate Bar Brands From Around The World

If there is one universally beloved snack, it's a chocolate bar. In the U.S., we squeeze roasted marshmallows between Hershey bars and devour Reese's peanut butter cups whole. We have silly debates over the proper way to eat a KitKat. That said, America isn't the only maker of delicious chocolate confections. For example, Japan puts a cultural spin on a beloved classic, while the United Arab Emirates is reimagining the luxury chocolate bar. There are even countries with brands that are over a century old and still have a devoted following.

As it turns out, whether you prefer bitter or sweet, or creamy over complex, the world has plenty of crave-worthy chocolate bars to experience. From the company that invented the method for mass-producing candy bars to a cult classic from the Philippines, here are 15 popular chocolate bar brands from around the world.

Some call Cadbury the Hershey of the U.K. The comparison isn't far-fetched, as the latter manufactures and sells Cadbury products in the U.S. and internationally. Founded in 1866 by brothers George and Richard Cadbury, it was one of the first companies to make 100% pure cocoa. It went on to survive both World War I and World War II, during which time parts of its factory were dedicated to war work. Today, it's the best-selling candy bar brand in the U.K., as per Statista. 

Cadbury's flagship product is the Dairy Milk chocolate bar, which we gave the top spot in our ranking of the best Cadbury products. The creamy, mouth-melty confection was first introduced in 1905 and was made with 1 ½ glasses of milk in every ½ pound of chocolate. Nowadays, it's available in a variety of flavors, including fruit and nut, caramel, iced latte, and Lotus Biscoff, to name a few. Cadbury also owns other confectionery labels, ranging from Bournville – a line of dark chocolate named after the village built by Cadbury — to the honeycomb and chocolate candy bar Crunchie.

The viral Dubai chocolate bar – created by Fix Dessert Chocolatier and cheekily titled "Can't Get Knafeh Of It" — first began appearing on TikTok feeds in late 2023, capturing likes with its nutty pistachio cream, crunchy phyllo dough (known as kataifi), tahini paste, and cinnamon encased in premium milk chocolate. As its name suggests, the combination was inspired by the traditional Middle Eastern dessert knafeh. For an idea of what it tastes like, imagine biting into velvety milk chocolate and buttery pistachio cream with a shredded wheat consistency.

Fix Dessert Chocolatier offers a dark chocolate variety, along with other specialty chocolate bar flavors like Mind Your Own Buiscoff (stuffed with creamy Lotus Biscoff), Catch Me If Pecan (premium pecans wrapped in milk chocolate), and Cereously Chewsy (which contains crunchy cereal), among others. Since going viral, companies such as Trader Joe's, Lindt, and several others have all hopped on the Dubai chocolate bandwagon, which has also inspired ice cream bars, lattes, and milkshakes – a sign that it may be more than a passing trend.

Known as the inventor of the first-ever candy bar, J.S. Fry & Sons released its staple product, Fry's Chocolate Cream, in 1866. It originally featured a plain fondant filling covered in plain chocolate. The "J" stands for Joseph Fry, a Quaker who invented the method allowing chocolate to be molded into a shape and mass-produced in a factory. At the time, people primarily blended cocoa with water. However, Fry used cocoa butter, which was considered waste. The swap resulted in chocolate with a doughy, moldable consistency.

Launched in 1953, the Cream Stick was the first chocolate candy produced using this method. This ultimately led to the creation of Fry's Chocolate Cream, which later expanded into a line that includes orange cream, strawberry cream, raspberry cream, and peppermint cream flavors. Cadbury eventually took over production and continues to manufacture the candy bars today. Fry's Chocolate Cream is now made with sugar, cocoa mass, glucose syrup, glycerol, palm oil, cocoa butter, emulsifiers, flavorings, and skimmed milk powder.

Wrapped in its iconic gold, silver, and red foil wrapper, King Choc Nut Milk Chocolate is produced by Annie's Sweet Manufacturing and Packaging Corporation. Aside from the fact that Choc Nut has existed since the 1970s, little information is available about how it came to be and who created it. Nonetheless, this powdery, crumbly treat has a cult following of candy lovers who swear by it.

Made in the Philippines, the candy bar is so iconic that it has even featured in TV shows such as "Trese." It contains ground roasted peanuts, sugar, powdered milk, cocoa powder, vanilla flavor, and distilled monoglycerides, and has an indulgent taste similar to Reese's peanut butter cups, just with a crumblier texture. U.S. grocery and convenience stores don't typically carry the candy bar, but you can order it online from Amazon, Walmart, and eBay. In sad news for dark chocolate lovers, King Choc Nut unfortunately only comes in milk chocolate. However, the company also makes a Choc Nut spread similar to Nutella.

Inspired by a trip taken by its founders, Helen and Simon Pattinson, to South America in the late 1990s, Montezuma's Chocolate is a palm oil-free, all-natural chocolate maker based in the United Kingdom. The brand offers dark, milk, and white chocolate bars in a variety of flavors, such as peanut butter, cherry, peppermint, butterscotch, ginger, and more. Truffles and vegan chocolate are also available.

Some of Montezuma's Chocolate's most popular picks include the Butter Nutter, a milk chocolate bar with a truffle peanut butter center, as well as the Absolute Black line, which uses 100% cocoa and is free of soy, gluten, and milk. Committed to ethical cocoa sourcing, the brand uses only certified ingredients from reputable organizations, including the Rainforest Alliance, UTZ, Soil Association, and Cocoa Horizons. While it's up to you which flavor to try first, Montezuma's Black Forest — which uses 70% cocoa dark chocolate and cherries — landed at number three in our ranking of the best British chocolate candies.

KitKat Japan might as well be a separate chocolate bar brand. It's one of the country's most popular sweet treats and even earned a spot on our best international candies list. In Japan, the many varieties of KitKat are inspired by local ingredients and cultural heritage, resulting in flavor profiles that would stand out on the American market. These range from a sake-inspired flavor that contains 0.8% alcohol, to green tea, hojicha tea, and even wasabi. In comparison, KitKats on grocery store shelves in the U.S. tend to favor sweeter flavors. 

The country's regional palate undoubtedly plays a major part in the unique offerings. Japanese sweet treats tend to be less sweet than those in the U.S. Nestlé, which makes KitKats in Japan, seems to manufacture KitKats with more creative freedom than Hershey, which produces KitKat in the U.S. Some argue that Japan's KitKat flavors are superior to those found in the U.S. Fortunately, you can find out for yourself. In the U.S., they are available at Japanese grocers, specialty candy shops, and through online retailers such as Amazon.

Lindt began in a small Zurich-based confectionery in the middle of the 1800s. Created by father-and-son duo David Sprüngli and Rudolf Sprüngli-Ammann, the company predates Hershey by nearly 50 years. The brand lives up to Switzerland's reputation as a maker of premium chocolate, offering full-bodied flavor and creamy consistency. That's what made it so difficult to rank Lindt's signature Lindor truffles, consisting of over 25 indulgent flavors. That said, the chocolatier offers much more than bite-sized morsels.

The Lindt Excellence line includes numerous chocolate varieties and flavors, with bars of dark chocolate from 70% to 100% cocoa, as well as milk and white chocolate, and various fruit-infused options. The line also features more unique chocolate bars, such as the spicy chili dark chocolate. Lindt is a bean-to-bar company that traces every step of its cocoa production, and is widely available at candy retailers nationwide.

Along the coast of the Pacific Ocean sits Byron Bay Shire, New South Wales. This is the home of Wallaby Foods, a company that makes Wallaby Bites, all-natural mini candy bars that are vegan and free of both gluten and peanuts. In our book, Wallaby Bites falls under the category of Australian candies we wish we had in the U.S. These nibbles of sweetness come in several flavors, including both milk chocolate and dark chocolate fruit and nut, and dark chocolate orange almond coconut. 

Loaded with crunchy, nutritious ingredients, Wallaby's iconic fruit and nut bites enrobe brown rice syrup, cashews, cranberries, currants, pepita, rice puffs, and soy pieces in decadent milk or dark chocolate. The Australian brand also makes keto-friendly, chocolate-covered cookie dough bites and chocolate-dipped trail mix bites. Sadly, you'll need to travel to try them for yourself, as you can only find Wallaby treats Down Under.

Japanese brand Royce' Chocolate entered the scene in 1983 with the goal of crafting the finest-quality confections. Manufactured in Hokkaido, a resource-rich region with the ideal climate for manufacturing chocolate, Royce' makes the sort of candy bars worth savoring. Fan favorites include an almond bar, which contains 66% cacao bitter chocolate, a milk chocolate bar with 45% cacao content, and a dark chocolate containing candied and fried cacao nibs — three of several sweet-tooth solutions.

The brand's Nama chocolate line is its bestseller. This is an indulgent treat made with fresh cream that requires refrigeration at 50 degrees Fahrenheit or below, and is also available in liquor and matcha-inspired flavors. Other offerings include chocolate-covered wafers, cookies, and even chocolate-dipped potato chips. Trying these out for yourself doesn't necessarily require a long-haul flight. In 2012, Royce' Chocolates opened its first U.S. boutique on Madison Avenue in New York City, and today has locations throughout the country.

Mounds, Almond Joy, and Bounty all share something in common: A delicious mix of chocolate and coconut. Created by Mars Inc., Bounty Chocolate Bars hit the U.K. in 1951, five years after the debut of Almond Joy. Made with ingredients such as sugar, cocoa butter, desiccated coconut, cocoa mass, and skimmed milk powder, each bar wraps soft coconut with milk chocolate. On the bar's wrapper, the Bounty logo sits in white against a tropical backdrop with coconut trees. 

Mars Inc. produces a dark chocolate variety with a reddish-orange wrapper resembling a sunset version of the flagship bar. You can also find mini versions in Celebrations, which combines several kinds of chocolate in one tub. Today, the candy bar is primarily sold in the U.K., but it's also available to purchase in the U.S. via Amazon, Walmart, and numerous online retailers.

In 1962, Schogetten released its first chocolate bar in Germany. This took the unique approach of segmenting and packaging each bar in individual pieces, allowing customers to control their portions. Today, the time-tested chocolatier offers a wide selection of flavors with its flagship Alpine milk chocolate bar — made with ingredients such as sugar, cocoa butter, cream powder, cocoa mass, and vanilla extract — including a minimum of 30% cocoa solids. 

Aldi sells Schogetten in the U.S., including the dark chocolate flavor, which we found to carry notes of coconut in our ranking of grocery store dark chocolate bars. Milk chocolate varieties with flavors such as hazelnut, yogurt-strawberry, stracciatella, caramel brownie, and more round out the brand's offerings, some of which can also be found on Amazon and at Walmart.

The checkered yellow and brown "KEX" logo printed across the wrapper of Kexchoklad chocolate bars is iconic. Launched in 1930 by Swedish confectionery Cloetta, it's made of rich milk chocolate layered between and covering crunchy wafer stacks. KitKat is probably the closest American equivalent, texture and taste-wise. Considering KitKat's popularity in the U.S., it's no surprise that Kexchoklad is Sweden's most popular confection. 

Unlike its American counterpart, Kex is branded as the perfect snack for active lifestyles, a decades-long association it still maintains to this day. The brand also makes a vegan version with dark chocolate and coconut oil. Unfortunately, this is harder to find in the U.S. than its non-vegan counterpart. If you're interested in trying one of our favorite Swedish candies, the milk chocolate is available on Amazon, Ikea, and various online candy retailers.

Adelaide, Australia, was the location of the first Haigh's Chocolates, opened in 1915 by Albert Ernest Haigh. His family is still involved with the company today, with his great-grandsons, Alister and Simon, both sitting on the board. Haigh's offers a broad selection for chocolate lovers, covering everything from truffles to chocolate frogs and candy bars, made and sold exclusively in Australia. Fun fact: It was also among the first chocolatiers to sell chocolate easter eggs.

There are plenty of options for a top-tier sweet treat at Haigh's Chocolates. Its milk caramel, made with 40% milk chocolate, has a velvety creaminess, while the milk neapolitan wafer bar combines milk, dark, and white chocolates into one crave-worthy sweet. Around 80% of the cocoa beans Haigh's uses are Rainforest Alliance certified, which helps to ensure transparency throughout its supply chain.

Before becoming a globally recognized chocolate brand, Godiva was a humble chocolatier in Brussels, Belgium. Founded in 1926 by Pierre Draps Sr., who started out making pralines from home, it now sells a broad assortment of chocolate bars and confections. While there's something for everyone in this lineup, the Godiva Signature Salted Caramel Milk Chocolate Mini Bars — which are made with premium Belgian chocolate — were our top pick of Godiva chocolate bar flavors for its mindful blend of sweet and salty with toffee bits.

Of course, the Godiva lineup isn't without its flaws. The Godiva Signature Milk Chocolate Mini Bars may, unfortunately, be the worst Godiva chocolate bar in our eyes. Fortunately, it's easy to try each flavor and find a favorite. Godiva is sold at most grocery stores and candy shops, and is also available online.

J.H. Whittaker launched his chocolate company in 1896 in Christchurch, New Zealand. Whittaker's Chocolate is as premium as they come. The family-owned company primarily sources beans from Ghana, where it works with several cocoa bean cooperatives. Its chocolate uses cocoa butter and half cocoa, which the company grinds and refines together until it becomes cocoa liquor. This is then blended with pure New Zealand milk. 

Whittaker makes milk, dark, and white chocolate bars, all free of palm oil. While these bars may come with a surprisingly hefty price tag, the quality makes them worth the occasional splurge. You'll have to order them online from Amazon or another online store, as they aren't particularly easy to find in the U.S.