Chocolate has become the latest frontline in Britainās retail crime battle, with supermarkets and convenience stores locking popular bars in security boxes and some even reducing the stock on display amid a surge in thefts linked to organised gangs.
Retailers including Sainsbury's, Tesco and Co-op have begun placing selected confectionery lines, including Ā£2.60 Cadbury Dairy Milk bars, inside transparent anti-theft boxes in high-risk stores. The move follows warnings from the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) that chocolate is increasingly being stolen āto orderā and resold through illicit channels.
According to the ACS, confectionery is now being targeted more frequently by prolific offenders, with some thefts linked to wider organised criminal networks.
In recent months some police forces have posted videos of chocolate being stolen to highlight the issue.
West Midlands Police shared CCTV footage of a man grabbing trays of chocolate from a shop in Stourbridge, while Wiltshire Police shared a video of a man dragging a whole shelving stand of chocolate out of a shop door.
And earlier last year a man was arrested by Cambridgeshire Police with a coat full of Cadbury's Creme eggs. Cambridgeshire Police told BBC that chocolate is one of a number of high-value items thieves often target, along with products such as alcohol, meat and coffee.
For independent retailers, the financial impact is mounting. The Heart of England Co-operative Society said chocolate theft cost the group Ā£250,000 last year, making it its most stolen category in 2024.
Chief executive Steve Browne described the problem as āmassiveā, with some offenders āliterally swiping the whole shelfā in a single visit.
Convenience retailers facing rise in chocolate theft have been tackling the issue by putting less stock on the shelves. Many retailers have invested heavily in CCTV cameras and AI-powered theft detection tools in the stores.
Paul Cheema, who operates convenience stores in Coventry, told BBC that chocolate as āthe new buzzword for organised crimeā, suggesting it has replaced previous high-theft categories such as razors, coffee and cheese.
He said stolen stock is frequently resold through informal networks, sometimes re-entering the retail or hospitality supply chain.
The trend comes against a backdrop of persistently high retail crime. The British Retail Consortiumās latest annual crime survey recorded 5.5 million detected shoplifting incidents last year, alongside 1,600 daily incidents of violence and abuse against retail workers, the second highest level on record.