Shrinkflation: Cadbury and Doritos cut portion sizes as inflation bites

30 Mar 2022 --- Cadbury’s Dairy Milk bars and Frito-Lay’s Doritos are among the snacks hit by the UK’s ongoing “shrinkflation,” in which shelf stable food brands are downsizing the size or quantity of their products while keeping them at the same price.

The knock-on effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, global inflation and Brexit have each dealt a significant blow to British consumers’ purchasing power, to whom the weight of rising costs have been passed on.

Over recent months, British manufacturers have been wary about this risk. According to the Food & Drink Federation (FDF), all F&B categories are more expensive compared to a year ago and are now at a ten-year high – prices of oils and fats have risen by 15.9%; fruit by 6.9%; and coffee, tea and cocoa by 4.9%.

Dairy Milk scales down family bar
Cadbury confirms it will be shrinking the size of its “family” bar by 10%. The brand’s parent company, US-based Mondelēz, flagged global inflation among the factors prompting this decision.

Cadbury is cutting down the size of its Dairy Milk family bar by 10% (Credit: Cadbury).Despite scaling down from 200 g to 180 g, the Dairy Milk “sharing bar” will maintain its price of £2 (US$2.63) as the brand plans to shoulder the weight of rising manufacturing costs while keeping profits buoyant.

“We’re facing the same challenges that so many other food companies have already reported when it comes to significantly increased production costs – whether it’s ingredients, energy or packaging – and rising inflation,” remarks a Mondelēz spokesperson.

“This means that our products are much more expensive to make,” they stress.

“We understand that consumers are faced with rising costs too, which is why we look to absorb costs wherever we can, but, in this difficult environment, we’ve had to make the decision to slightly reduce the weight of our medium Cadbury Dairy Milk bars for the first time since 2012, so that we can keep them competitive and ensure the great taste and quality our fans enjoy.”

This is the first time in a decade that Cadbury has decided to scale down its product. In 2012, a 49 g Dairy Milk bar shrunk to 45 g but maintained a price of £0.59 (US$0.78). In the prior year, the 140 g chocolate bar was cut down in size to 120 g.

In other moves, potato chip brand Walkers’ multipacks will comprise fewer bags, while Tesco has decided to cut the weight of its mozzarella cheese.

Meanwhile, UK retailer Iceland is reversing its ban on using palm oil in some of it’s own-label products amid a shortage of other vegetable oils caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Inflation surges this spring
The Bank of England anticipates that inflation may continue to balloon up to 8% this springtime period, warning about compounded economic repercussions from COVID-19 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has led to a drastic increase in energy prices.

The Bank of England anticipates that inflation may continue to balloon up to 8% this springtime period (Credit: Frito-Lays).Shrinkflation has been a phenomenon in the UK developing over the last decade. Analysis from the Office for National Statistics reveals that 206 products shrank in size between September 2015 and June 2017.

For instance, Wispa Duo bars were slimmed down by nearly 4 g (7%), while still costing £0.85 in January. Meanwhile, the brand’s 10-packs were reduced by 18 g overall, with 4-packs losing 8.4g. 

Slimming down US snacks
In the US, snack giant Frito-Lay announced earlier this month that it scaled down the amount of chips within its bags of Doritos, shrinking 9.75 oz bags of the cheesy corn chips to 9.25 oz.

Meanwhile, Cadbury’s large Crunchie and Creme Egg Easter eggs dropped in weight by almost 10% last year – from 258 g in 2019 to 233 g and its Heroes egg by 7% from 254 g to 236 g. 

Nutella was scaled down from 400 g to 350 g last year – with no change in price. 

Mirroring this trend, Snickers, Maltesers, Toblerones and Chocolate Orange have also lost weight over the last ten years.

The Bank of England forecasts that inflation rates will drop by an estimated 2% in two to three years, but is warning that prices of favorite food products could remain at “a high level compared with the past.”

“The rate of inflation went up quickly in 2021 and it has continued to rise this year. We expect it to reach around 8% this spring,” the bank states.

“We think it could go even higher later this year.”

By Benjamin Ferrer