What’s Behind Convenience Store’s 'Dubai Chocolate'... Price Doubled and Even on Danggeun

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On the 6th, a craze for secondhand trading erupted over the 'Dubai Style Chocolate' released at convenience stores. All 200,000 prepared stock units were sold out, leading to an increasing number of netizens willing to pay a premium to get their hands on the chocolate. On secondhand trading platforms, scenes of a single chocolate being sold for twice the retail price have been observed.

Dubai chocolate is made by a dessert company in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is filled with a crispy chocolate wafer containing a sticky pistachio (a type of nut) spread mixed with toppings made by baking and finely crushing Kadaif, a thin Middle Eastern noodle. This dessert spread worldwide through short-form streaming platforms like TikTok and has sparked a craze among the MZ generation in Korea.

Used Dubai-style chocolate sold at twice the regular retail price.
[Image source=Captured from Danggeun Market]

Dubai Chocolate Bar.
[Image source: TikTok capture]

The company that created the original Dubai chocolate sells a limited quantity online daily, making it difficult to obtain even locally in Dubai. Accordingly, many dessert shops both domestically and internationally make and sell their own 'handmade Dubai chocolate.'

Amid this explosive popularity, large convenience store chains have recently jumped on the Dubai chocolate craze. One company released Dubai style chocolate on the 6th, which contains filling and baked noodles inside the chocolate to create a similar taste to the original. This chocolate sold out within just one day of release, and now customers have to wait for store restock days, which are every Wednesday and Saturday.

Given this situation, even 'secondhand trading' of the chocolate has become active. On secondhand trading platforms like 'Danggeun Market,' inquiries to buy Dubai style chocolate at a premium price continue to pour in. It is not uncommon to see transactions occurring at around 7,000 to 8,000 KRW, roughly twice the retail price of 4,000 KRW.

On YouTube, a controversy grew after claims surfaced that a part-time worker traded convenience store stock on secondhand markets. On the 8th, a YouTuber posted a video on YouTube Shorts stating, "I saw on the convenience store app that there were 8 chocolates left in stock, but when I went there, the part-time worker said there was no stock," and eventually resorted to secondhand trading.

The YouTuber later claimed to have conducted a chocolate transaction on Danggeun Market very close to the convenience store, with the seller being the same convenience store employee who had earlier said there was no stock. Netizens responded with comments such as "Shouldn't the owner be informed to fire them?", "This should be reported," "It could have been an app error," and "If they bought the chocolate with their own money and then traded it secondhand, there is no way to stop it."