How Dubai chocolate became Utah's hottest new cottage industry
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Desperate requests for Dubai chocolate on Utah community Facebook groups. Photo courtesy of Emilee Citte
Around Utah, small businesses are popping up and expanding thanks to one highly addictive food craze: Dubai chocolate.
The intrigue: The pistachio-filled treats are in such overwhelming demand that tiny in-home confectioners have managed to seize on the trend without being eclipsed by bigger businesses.
What they're saying: "I'm having to restock every other day," said Bayleigh Farris, who launched Enchanted Delights in Ogden last year to sell mini-cakes.
- "My cake business has turned into a chocolate bar business with how often I'm getting Dubai orders," Farris told Axios.
Catch up quick: Dubai chocolate — milk chocolate filled with pistachio butter and crunchy phyllo dough — vaulted to culinary stardom in December 2023, when a UAE-based food influencer took to TikTok with an experimental candy bar she'd bought from a Dubai chocolatier.
- By fall 2024, the trend had captivated the sweet teeth of the world, spawning dupes and warnings of scams.
State of play: That's when the mom-and-pops stepped in, learning recipes and advertising small batches online. Now customers are swarming them like sharks in a blood frenzy.
- "If I post that I have 60 chocolate bars, they're gone in 2-4 hours," said Emilee Citte, who plans to expand her Forbidden Fruits candies in Willard to meet the Dubai demand. "I honestly don't see an end of it any time soon. The hype just grows. It's been one of the longest trends I've seen."
The big picture: Utah's famous taste for sugar supports a lot of small, by-the-order dessert shops, overwhelmingly founded by women who operate out of home kitchens and hustle between personal deliveries and farmers markets.
The fine print: Utah has relatively flexible licensing for homemade food sales, allowing those businesses to pivot to the trendy new product.
- Meanwhile, some home cooks have gone into business precisely because their experiments with Dubai chocolate were so successful.
Case in point: "It was the moment I tasted my first Dubai chocolate bar that something truly sparked," said Christine Rizzo-Thompson, who founded North Ogden's Chocobai in February, specializing in the pistachio candy after months of recipe-tinkering.
- "The Dubai chocolate bar is all about luxury, and that's exactly what I aim to provide — luxury chocolate right here in Utah," Rizzo-Thompson told Axios.
Caveat: Many businesses with established storefronts — and some chains — are also selling the chocolate bars and strawberry cups.
Yes, but: Tiny startups are still getting more orders than they can fill as chocoholics declare their loyalties to their hometown dealers, Citte said.
- Small vendors' ability to customize and field creative requests has further driven sales and attention, she noted.
- Forbidden Fruits, for example, has added Biscoff cookie variations.
Zoom in: Small Mexican bakeries have brought some particularly fun fusion treats to the Wasatch Front.
- Check out Dubai fresas con crema, churros, churro cheesecakes and tres leches.
The latest: Others are offering Dubai crepes, donuts, mini-donuts, brownies and cookies.