The daughter of the man who created the Freddo chocolate bar has revealed the reason why she hasn’t bought one since he died.
Leonie Wadin’s father Harry Melbourne first crafted the frog-shaped bar around a century ago in Australia, naming it after his friend Fred. When it was first introduced to the market, it cost just a penny.
But Ms Wadin, 74, said her dad “was disgusted with how small it is now and how much they charge for it,” adding: "He'd roll over in his grave if he could see it now; he'd be disgusted. It was a penny chocolate.
"Since Dad died, I haven't bought a Freddo," she told Sky News.
The bar has become a symbol of ‘shrinkflation’ in the UK – a phenomenon that sees food products both increase in size whilst subtly becoming smaller.
This has been particularly pronounced in chocolate products in recent years, as weather conditions affecting global cocoa production make the cost of producing them more expensive.
Relaunched on the UK market in the 1990s costing just 10p, the Freddo remained at this price until 2005, when it was re-priced at 15p. But this year, it was spotted selling in supermarkets for £1, prompting outcry from fans.
Some now also hold the sweet treat as an ironic barometer of the rising cost of living in the UK, which economists say continues to sit at unsustainable levels far past the peak of the Covid pandemic and cost of living crisis.
Fluctuating interest rates and inflation over the past three decades makes it difficult to verify conclusively just how pronounced the ‘shrinkflation’ of the Freddo is.
According to the Bank of England’s official inflation calculator, a product worth 10p in 1990 should only cost 24.8p in 2025.
While most Freddo bars in the UK sell for around 36p, that price is still higher than the amount at which it should stand when accounting for inflationary rises.
This country is finished. pic.twitter.com/ASWIniQFPd
— No Context Brits (@NoContextBrits) February 8, 2025
The bar has also got noticibly smaller, remaining around 18g in the UK, but shrinking to 12g in Australia.
Mondelez International, owners of Cadbury, told Sky News: “Whilst it's important to stress that as a manufacturer we do not set the retail prices for products sold in shops, our manufacturing and supply chain costs have increased significantly over the past 50 years, and Freddo has become more expensive to make.
“We have absorbed these increased costs wherever possible, however on occasion we have made changes to our list prices or multipack sizes to ensure that we can continue to provide consumers with the Freddo that they love, without compromising on the great taste and quality they expect.”
