Chief executive of Cadbury's parent company, Mondelez International, Dirk Van de Put, has said consumers are the reason chocolate bars in the UK are getting smaller.
Often referred to as 'shrinkflation', shoppers have watched chocolate bars decrease in size but increase in price in recent years.
Factors behind the change include rising production and supply costs, cocoa shortages caused by climate issues, and the need to protect profit margins.
Cadbury boss explains why chocolate bars are getting smaller
Mr Van de Put, speaking on BBC Radio 4’s The Big Boss podcast, said Cadbury tried to keep prices relatively the same for consumers, which meant they had to reduce the size instead.
He explained: "Most consumers love their Cadbury.
"They want to have their daily Cadbury, but when they were paying £1, they don’t want to then pay £1.50 or £2 for the same quantity.
"They would like to continue to buy something at £1.
"So what do we do? Yes, we reduce sometimes the size.
"We don’t do that in a malicious way.
"But if we look at how consumers make their decisions, the price point at which they can buy is very important to them."
"It's not like we're trying to fool the consumer in any way."
Dirk Van de Put, CEO of Mondelez International - the company who own Cadbury - tells @Leanna_Byrne how the brand wants to keep consumers happy with a familiar price point but that this can result in smaller products. pic.twitter.com/hPni848PYl— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) June 17, 2026
Mr Van de Put said the decision is guided by research into what customers are willing to pay.
He added: "People call it shrinkflation, and so on, but it’s not that we’re trying to fool the consumer in any way.
"But it is, to our opinion, the best way to make sure people can keep on enjoying their Cadbury."
Cadbury "don't change recipes"
When asked if the company had considered altering recipes to save money, Mr Van de Put said "that was not an option".
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He continued: "We don’t change recipes.
"Of course, that discussion came up, but we feel that we don’t want to bring down the quality of our products.
"If you have a Cadbury bar, you want it to be real chocolate."
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