Since May, Cadbury Fingers have no longer been sold in France. Mondelez, owner of Cadbury since 2010, struggles to provide an explanation.
For several months now, it's been impossible to get my hands on Fingers. The famous British biscuit from the Cadbury brand has deserted the shelves of French supermarkets. Fans must therefore fall back on the multitude of equivalent private label products such as Stick & Choc from Carrefour, Sticks from E.Leclerc or Choco Stick from Auchan.
The owner of the Finger brand, the global giant Mondelez which bought the British Cadbury, has not made an announcement concerning this marketing cessation. But according to Carrefour, questioned by LiberationFingers have no longer been on shelves in France since last May.
For a reason that remains quite mysterious until now. Contacted by BFM Business, the Mondelez group confirms that the product is no longer sold in France, but seems not to be able to say more.
“They have been available via an intermediary distributor. This reference has been absent from the French market since May 2024, specifies the manufacturer. We inform you that Finger biscuits are neither manufactured nor directly distributed by Mondelez International in France.”
But who makes Fingers?
Distributed here by Lightbody Europe, an import-export company based in Rennes, the Fingers are produced by Cadbury in the United Kingdom which, although manufactured by Mondelez, remains a subsidiary of the multinational. The importer also assures that it is not his fault if the product is no longer on the shelves, but it is a decision of the manufacturer.
Asked by BFM Business, Cadbury in the United Kingdom did not respond. It remains to be seen who really makes the Fingers. Because it was not directly Cadbury which subcontracted the production of its biscuits to another British company Burton's Biscuit Company which has three factories in the country, in England, Scotland and Wales. Until 2016, this group even still owned the Cadbury biscuit brands, before Mondelez bought the licenses from it.
The matter was therefore complex. Cadbury Fingers were owned by both Mondelez (which bought Cadbury) and Burton's (manufacturer and owner of the Finger brand). The latter appears to have continued to produce the Fingers for all global markets as provided for in the 2016 licensing agreement with Mondelez.
But is this still the case? On the Burton's website there is no mention of Cadbury biscuits in the “our brands” section in which we find Paterson's shortbreads or Mars Maltesers. Furthermore, this British company was in turn swallowed up by a food industry giant.
Ferrero buys the Finger factory
In 2021, a subsidiary of the Italian Ferrero, CTH Invest, the personal holding company of Giovanni Ferrero, bought Burton's for an amount estimated at more than 400 million euros. The company has thus joined a portfolio of brands which includes the Belgian Delacre acquired in 2016 by the Italian holding company. It is therefore unlikely that Mondelez would have continued to subcontract the production of its Cadbury biscuits to Burton's, which is owned by its great rival Ferrero.
However, all this does not explain why Fingers are no longer sold in France. Competition from private label (MDD) products sold much cheaper than “real” Fingers is a reason given by industry experts. With inflation, French consumers have in fact turned to private labels to limit the increase in the prices of their shopping carts. The share of “unbranded” products has thus reached record levels in 2023 and particularly in the biscuit section with 33% of products sold in private label, i.e. 2.5 points more in one year.
Concerning the possible return of Finger to France, again Mondelez remains silent. The fact remains that this is not the first time that the American company has removed a product from the shelves for poor sales. In 2015, Figolu biscuits disappeared before returning five years later and enjoying great success.
