Planet A Foods Strips Out Cocoa and Sugar
in a Single Chocolate Alternative
ChoViva No Added Sugar pairs the German food-tech firm's cocoa-free base with a maltitol-driven formulation — a bet that reformulation, not restriction, is what will win over sugar-wary consumers.
Two Ingredients, One Launch
Munich-based Planet A Foods has widened its cocoa-free ingredient line with ChoViva No Added Sugar, a formulation built for confectionery and bakery manufacturers chasing "healthier indulgence" without sacrificing taste or texture. The product layers a no-added-sugar recipe onto ChoViva, the company's existing cocoa-free chocolate alternative, making it — by the company's account — the first chocolate innovation to remove both cocoa and sugar at once.
The formulation replaces sucrose with maltitol, a lower-glycemic-index polyol carrying roughly half the calories of sugar. Company representatives say the goal was to preserve the melt and mouthfeel manufacturers expect, rather than deliver a compromised "diet" substitute.
Key Takeaways
- ChoViva No Added Sugar combines Planet A Foods' cocoa-free base with maltitol, targeting bakery and confectionery reformulation without cocoa or added sugar.
- The launch lands amid climate-driven cocoa price volatility and a global sugar-reduction market projected to grow from $9.45 billion in 2024 to $16.9 billion by 2033.
- Planet A Foods already supplies Barry Callebaut and has piloted with Mars via Rewe supermarkets — signaling mainstream chocolate industry acceptance of cocoa-free platforms.
- Saudi Arabia and the UAE moved to tiered, sugar-content-based excise taxation in January 2026, directly rewarding reformulated low- and no-sugar products entering the GCC market.
- The company has raised roughly $73 million to date and is scaling production capacity toward 15,000 tonnes annually.
Riding Two Structural Pressures at Once
The timing reflects two converging pressures on the confectionery sector. Cocoa prices have remained elevated as climate stress cuts yields in West Africa, pushing even Planet A Foods' largest partner, Barry Callebaut — the world's biggest chocolate supplier — to report a near-7% drop in sales volume for its last fiscal year despite a 49% jump in revenue. At the same time, sugar reduction has become one of the food industry's most durable reformulation themes, with roughly 64% of consumers now actively cutting sugar intake.
"-Demand for sugar-reduced products is accelerating rapidly as consumers become increasingly mindful of their nutrition. Historically, cutting out sugar often meant sacrificing taste. Our formulation successfully retains the familiar, smooth melt and indulgent experience while eliminating added sugar."
A Platform, Not a Product
Founded in 2021, Planet A Foods has built ChoViva into a genuine ingredient platform rather than a single retail product — more than 70 launches across eight-plus countries, a $30 million Series B closed in late 2024, and a long-term partnership signed with Barry Callebaut in November 2025 to scale distribution globally. Mars piloted a ChoViva-based product exclusively through Rewe supermarkets from April to October 2026, testing consumer response before any permanent listing decision.
"This shift is also backed by recent market studies. The launch is a response to accelerating demand from both consumers and customers, who are increasingly seeking high-quality confectionery options with reduced sugar."
Jessica Karch — Senior Marketing Manager, Planet A FoodsThat roster of relationships matters more than the product itself. Big Chocolate's willingness to route commercial volume through a five-year-old start-up signals that cocoa-free platforms have moved from novelty to genuine risk-management tool — a hedge against both commodity volatility and reformulation pressure, deployed through existing global supply networks rather than around them.
Why It Matters for Saudi Arabia and the GCC
The launch arrives just as Gulf regulation shifts to reward exactly this kind of reformulation. Since January 2026, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have replaced their flat 50% excise tax on sweetened products with tiered, sugar-content-based volumetric systems — meaning manufacturers now pay materially less tax the further they reduce sugar content, rather than facing a single blanket rate regardless of formulation.
That policy shift sits on top of a public-health backdrop that has driven Gulf reformulation for nearly a decade: roughly two-thirds of GCC adults are overweight and a third are classified as obese, prevalence that first prompted Saudi Arabia's original 2017 sugar tax and has only intensified regional appetite for sugar-reduced reformulation across bakery, confectionery, and dairy categories.
For Saudi and regional confectionery manufacturers, ingredients like ChoViva No Added Sugar offer a formulation shortcut into both trends at once — a cocoa hedge and a tax-advantaged reformulation, bundled into a single ingredient swap rather than two separate R&D projects.
