How a $20 Chocolate Bar From Dubai Caused a Global Pistachio Shortage
Fix Dessert Chocolatier's viral "Dubai chocolate" helped push pistachio prices from about $7.65 to $10.30 a pound and drove a 40% surge in UAE pistachio imports from Iran.
TL;DR — A viral pistachio-and-knafeh chocolate bar from Dubai sent pistachio prices from ~$7.65 to ~$10.30 a pound and triggered a worldwide nut shortage.
Every so often a single product reorganizes a global commodity market, and almost never is that product a luxury chocolate bar with shredded pastry inside. But that's exactly what "Dubai chocolate" did. The viral bar — milk chocolate stuffed with crispy kataifi pastry and pistachio cream — didn't just sell out; it bent the world's pistachio supply chain hard enough that bakers from Berlin to California felt it.
The bar that broke the internet's brain
The original is "Can't Get Knafeh Of It," made by Fix Dessert Chocolatier, founded in Dubai in 2021 by British-Egyptian entrepreneur Sarah Hamouda and her husband Yezen Alani. It went supernova after a TikTok video in December 2023 racked up more than 120 million views, Compartés recounted. In the UAE alone, more than 1.2 million Dubai chocolate bars sold in the first three months of 2025.
The format is almost engineered for video: a thick chocolate shell, a satisfying crack, an oozing green pistachio center. Once that visual existed, every chocolatier and supermarket on earth wanted a version.
Then the pistachios ran out
Here's where a dessert fad becomes an economics story. Pistachios were already tight, and a sudden global scramble for kernels tipped the market over.
| Pistachio market signal | Change |
|---|---|
| Price per pound | ~$7.65 → ~$10.30 (year-on-year) |
| UAE imports from Iran | +40% (six months to March 2025) |
| US pistachio supply | –20% (12 months to February) |
Those figures come from FoodNavigator, which got the cleanest explanation from a man who trades the nut for a living. "There wasn't much in supply, so when Dubai chocolate comes along, and chocolatiers are buying up all the kernels they can get their hands on, that leaves the rest of the world short," said Giles Hacking of nut trader CG Hacking, per FoodNavigator. Note the specific pinch point: Dubai chocolate uses peeled, slivered "kernel" pistachios — the same premium grade the rest of the dessert world depends on.
Big Chocolate piled in fast
This wasn't a niche that stayed niche. Lindt rushed out a limited-edition Mediterranean Pistachio bar in December 2024 that sold out in 72 minutes on TikTok Shop, Compartés noted. By spring 2025, Crumbl Cookies had launched a Dubai Chocolate Brownie and a Dubai Chocolate Cheesecake. FoodNavigator counted at least a dozen brands selling their own spin — and, inevitably, a wave of counterfeit and scam "Dubai chocolate" cashing in on the name.
Why this one stuck
Most viral foods burn out in a season. Dubai chocolate has had real staying power because it sits at the intersection of three things that don't usually combine: a genuinely premium product (not a $2 novelty), a built-in luxury origin story, and a texture that performs on camera. It also created a durable second wave — pistachio-flavored everything — that outlived the original bar.
The downside is the one nobody posts about: when a TikTok trend can move a global crop price by a third, the small bakeries and ice-cream makers who quietly relied on affordable pistachios are the ones left paying for the show.
FAQ
What exactly is Dubai chocolate?
A chocolate bar filled with crispy kataifi (kataifi/knafeh) pastry and pistachio cream, originally made by Fix Dessert Chocolatier in Dubai and launched in 2021. It went viral on TikTok in late 2023.
Did Dubai chocolate really cause a pistachio shortage?
It was a major driver. Surging demand for premium kernel pistachios helped push prices from about $7.65 to $10.30 a pound and drove a 40% jump in UAE pistachio imports from Iran, against an already-tight global supply.
How popular did it get?
The launch TikTok video passed 120 million views, more than 1.2 million bars sold in the UAE in early 2025, and Lindt's copycat bar sold out in 72 minutes on TikTok Shop.
Sources: FoodNavigator, Compartés journal, Entrepreneur.
Image: Ionenlaser, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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