The Dubai chocolate bar is the internet’s latest food craze, and Philly-area sellers are seeing high demand

When Justin West began hearing from customers about a gooey, green, “almost gross looking” new chocolate bar going viral on TikTok, he rushed to find as much of them as he could.

“I love that kind of stuff, finding things that people can’t get their hands on and being able to provide it,” said West, who owns the Collingdale-based Bulk Foods Delco.

But with the Dubai chocolate bar — a creamy, pistachio butter-filled treat made social-media-famous by an Emirates-based chocolatier — West had no idea that his buzzy business idea would turn into a full-blown frenzy.

Bulk Foods Delco received more than $2,000 worth of preorders of the lavish Dubai bar in just a matter of days, a feat made possible by collaborating with New Jersey baker who is crafting as many of the buttery bars as her shop can muster.

It’s a sign that Philadelphians are riding the Dubai chocolate bar craze, which cranked up this summer. That’s in part thanks to an Emirates-based TikToker known for her ASMR-style dessert content, whose December video chowing down on one of the treats has since racked up a whopping 70 million views.

The treats, crafted by a small Dubai chocolatier, launched a viral scramble that’s seen demand far outpace supply — leading home bakers and small shops like The Cake Boutique in Mullica Hill, Gloucester County, to whip up their own Dubai chocolate bars.

“We had a customer who was literally in Dubai for three months and could not get his hands on this candy bar,” said Alexandra Benas, owner of The Cake Boutique. “He came home, saw we had one, and picked it up.”

What makes the bars such a sensation?

Benas believes it’s the “crunch effect,” thanks to the toasted, shredded phyllo that fills the bars alongside the pistachio butter. Those who are turned off by nuts should be pleasantly surprised, the baker added, due to the creamy nature of the pistachio butter that she compares to Nutella, sans the chocolate. And in a luxurious finish, the bars are often drizzled with green or orange melted chocolate.

“It’s so delicious,” Benas said. “It’s not super sweet, so when you eat it, you don’t know what to expect. It’s sweet, you have that crunch, there’s a little bit of salt as well. It’s just one of the most lovely flavor combinations.”

Benas, who has helmed The Cake Boutique since it opened in 2012, said she made her first Dubai chocolate bar earlier this summer for her brother’s birthday after the online hype piqued his curiosity.

Benas posted a video of her creation on the shop’s Instagram in mid-July, and “it just took off” from there, she said with disbelief.

Benas has since fulfilled 800 to 1,000 bars, and has even created a modified version with peanuts instead of pistachios for those with tree nut allergies.

West, meanwhile, has become one of Benas’s top customers, ordering boxes of bars for Bulk Foods Delco to ship locally and nationwide. Customers on the company’s Facebook page are eager to inquire about their availability, exclaiming with glee when they’ve been able to secure an order online.

At around $50 per bar from some sellers, Dubai chocolate bars don’t come cheap. Pistachio butter makes up a bulk of the cost, West said, though Amazon users can find a range of suppliers selling them from $12 to around $40. West’s sell for $15.

Short supply has led some home bakers to craft and sell their own bars on Etsy. Fix Dessert Chocolatier, the Dubai shop that created the bar, has seen sales skyrocket to around 500 a day for its $20, 70-ounce bars, and often sells out within minutes.

West’s customers have yet to try one of Benas’s New Jersey-baked bars. Purchases are still under preorder, he said, and are expected to arrive in mid-August.

And the hype is showing no sign of slowing.

Benas said that the Cake Boutique is closed this week for its annual vacation, but also because it was a convenient time to help fulfill orders and wait for more product to arrive. (Benas orders the pistachio butter from an outside seller.)

“We took time to settle down, get as much inventory as we could,” Benas said. “It’s just been getting so crazy.”