Impressions of a crazy hype in Kilchberg.
Confetti rain in Kilchberg: The chocolate manufacturer Lindt knows how to stage the sale of its Dubai bars.
Matteo is overtired. After all, the 17-year-old didn’t sleep half the night – on a folding camping chair in front of the Lindt shop in Kilchberg. From half past one in the morning he held the fort. The high school student wanted to make sure that he would receive one of the coveted bars called “Dubai Chocolade” that are sold here on Saturday mornings.
He is the first to get a ticket to the store under a shower of golden confetti. The first to be presented with a pistachio green pack in a pistachio green bag. And he is the first to pay 14 francs 95 for 150 grams of Dubai chocolate.
Matteo is the man the media is falling for on this crazy November morning. The SRF television, “20 Minutes”, “Blick”, “Watson”, the photographer from a picture agency, the NZZ: They all want something from him. So he tells his story again and again: The Dubai chocolate is a Christmas present for a good colleague. No, he will not resell the board on the Internet. Yes, he also heard about the trend from Dubai. His mother once brought a similar chocolate from the Netherlands. “That’s when I knew: She’s “huere fine”. I want to buy that.”
Free chestnuts for everyone
But now he has to go. He still has a tennis tournament. Say it and say goodbye politely. Lindt & Sprüngli will thank him. With Matteo, the chocolate producer has gained an influencer who will be known throughout the country for a few hours.
He is the first with the good piece: Zurich high school student Matteo spent the night in front of the Lindt shop.
The PR campaign with “Dubai Chocolade” at the chocolate manufacturer’s headquarters on Lake Zurich is a complete success – and a welcome opportunity to distract from a class action lawsuit in New York. The company is threatened with a lawsuit there because consumer advocates found too much cadmium and lead in two Lindt products.
In Kilchberg, however, the chocolate world is still in order. People stand patiently in the cold. Many people wait for hours until it finally starts at 9:30 a.m. There are 400 panels available, with a maximum of one for each visitor. Families have an advantage.
The host is prepared. There have also been long queues in Düsseldorf, Berlin, Hamburg and other German cities in recent days, where Lindt sold a limited number of its Dubai chocolate for the first time. In Kilchberg, employees in chocolatier costumes distribute Lindor balls, caramel bars, hot chocolate and croissants. And there are chestnuts and popcorn. Children can warm up in a pavilion and play with paper and crayons.
Waiting in the cold: Dubai chocolate lovers are treated to other products from the chocolate manufacturer.
A young couple with two small children takes a sporty approach. They’re way back in line. If they came away empty-handed, they would console themselves with other products in the shop. “And otherwise it was a nice trip here,” says the man. They will also have a chance. But after an hour the waiting area is cordoned off. If you’re late, you’re out of luck. Gone are the chocolates “from Dubai”.
Sweet angel hair
The board doesn’t come from Dubai at all, but from Aachen. The sought-after pieces were handmade at Lindt’s location there. The premium provider did not invent this chocolate. He was simply reacting to a trend that began in Dubai in 2021 and delighted chocolate lovers all over the world: At that time, the British-Egyptian entrepreneur Sarah Hamouda experimented with a new recipe: chocolate, pistachio pulp, finely ground sesame seeds and crunchy kadayif or angel hair: sweet strands of dough, which are also used for Turkish baklava.
Hamouda’s creation hit like a bomb. The trend spread on Tiktok in no time.
Copycats tried to make Dubai chocolate themselves. It’s not that easy. The hype is also a challenge for Lindt. But they are looking into producing the panels by machine in the future, said Lindt Board Chairman Ernst Tanner on the sidelines of the sale in Kilchberg.
And how does the good piece taste?
The Tiktok community at least agrees, as does the assembled Lindt management team, which was also present on Saturday: “Wow!”
