Novi chocolate, cream and bars gain market share

"Dubai chocolate? No, Novi chocolate!". Thus, paraphrasing its historic advertising slogan, the Elah Dufour Group presented itself some time ago at the Tuttofood fair, riding the 'case' of the moment but, at the same time, marking its distance as a company that shuns fashions but observes them (also with irony) and grasps their scope. "That of the Dubai chocolate is an extraordinary and transnational phenomenon, which shows the power of the web but which I believe will last for a short time because it is crazy and inedible. But it has also triggered an explosion in demand for the Novi pistachio bar, which we have been producing for years," says Guido Repetto, president and CEO of the Elah Dufour Novi Group, which generates most of the 141.6 million euro turnover of the parent company with chocolate, all of which is developed with company-branded products.

Thanks to the two brands Novi and Baratti & Milano, it is market leader in bars (25.7% volume share, source: Niq) but also in gianduiotti and cremini, and fourth competitor in pralines. But also co-leader in cake preparations with Elah, and fourth competitor in sweets (and number one in toffees) with Dufour, which will be 100 years old in 2026.

2024 was an annus horribilis for the chocolate world, due to the record high cocoa prices, which quadrupled. Last year the company absorbed most of the increases, but at the beginning of 2025 it changed its price lists and it is not excluded that it will revise them again by the end of the year. But replacing cocoa with cheaper ingredients or substitutes at Novi is out of the question. And consumers appreciate this, since in 2024 sales of Novi bars grew by 10.3% compared to the previous year.

That the Piedmontese group continues to believe in chocolate is confirmed by the start of work in the factory in Baratti & Milano, which has just been rebuilt and will be doubled in size by the end of the year. "In 1999, when we took it over, this brand was practically zero because it had died out, but in style. We have put it back on its feet, positioned it at the top end of the market and brought it to around 40 million in sales by 2024,' Repetto emphasises.

Today, Baratti & Milano has a precise philosophy: only candy and chocolate, only duty free and specialised retail (such as grocery stores, coffee roasters and wine shops), served with a dedicated sales network. "This shows that we have the possibility to grow with our brands without shopping fever," Repetto adds.