Ghirardelli Chocolate Company](https://www.ghirardelli.com) is moving into the Dubai-style chocolate category with a reformatted SQUARES® product that carries a suggested retail price of $10.99 for a 4.4 oz. bag — positioning the launch as a premium impulse purchase in a segment that has drawn significant consumer attention over the past two years.
The product is available immediately through major retailers nationwide and on Ghirardelli.com. The new square features a taller-profile construction than the brand's standard SQUARES® format, engineered to accommodate a thicker filling of pistachio cream and crispy kataifi pastry sheathed in milk chocolate. Each piece is individually wrapped, targeting both at-home consumption and on-the-go occasions.
The Product Case
"Consumers continue to be drawn to the rich pistachio filling and crispy kataifi texture that define Dubai-style chocolate," said Bobby Oliver, Vice President and Head of Marketing at Ghirardelli Chocolate Company. "With our new Dubai Style Chocolate SQUARES®, we've brought that experience into Ghirardelli's iconic format while delivering the premium quality that consumers expect from our brand." The company frames the launch as a natural extension of its existing exploration of the flavor profile rather than a reactive pivot, citing more than 170 years of chocolate-making heritage and vertically integrated production — from cocoa bean sourcing through finished product — as differentiators.
Market Context
Dubai-style chocolate, characterized by the combination of pistachio paste and shredded kataifi pastry encased in chocolate, emerged as a viral confectionery trend globally before cascading into mainstream U.S. retail in 2025. The format has prompted entries from both artisan makers and large consumer packaged goods players, intensifying competition in the premium confectionery aisle. At $10.99 for 4.4 oz. — roughly $2.50 per ounce — Ghirardelli's price point sits well above mass-market chocolate bars but below imported or specialty-market Dubai-style products, a positioning that could appeal to retailers seeking a recognizable brand anchor in a still-developing category.
The move reflects a broader pattern in the snacking and indulgence segment, where established chocolate brands are adapting trending flavors and textures into familiar, scalable formats to accelerate trial and drive incremental shelf space. Ghirardelli's existing SQUARES® platform — a core retail SKU for the San Leandro-based company — provides built-in distribution leverage, reducing the sell-in burden typically associated with entirely new product lines. For category buyers, the launch arrives ahead of the holiday confectionery planning window, a timing advantage given the seasonal spike in premium chocolate gifting and self-treat purchases. Food & Beverage Magazine has tracked the rapid mainstreaming of Dubai-style formats as a leading indicator of how social-media-driven food trends now compress the innovation cycle for legacy CPG brands.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
