Freddo Chocolate Bar Creator’s Daughter Slams Price Hike: ‘He’d Be Rolling in His Grave’

The daughter of Freddo chocolate bar creator Harry Melbourne says her father would be “rolling in his grave” if he saw the prices charged for his iconic frog-shaped treat today.

Leonie Wadin, 74, recalled the bar’s 1990s heyday when it cost just 10p, compared to around 30p–35p today, with some shops charging as much as £1. Speaking to Sky News from her home in Melbourne, she said her father would have been “disgusted” at the price and shrinking size of the bar. “It was a penny chocolate. Since Dad died, I haven’t bought a Freddo,” she said.

Melbourne first created the Freddo at just 14 years old in 1930, convincing his boss to make a frog instead of a mouse because “children are scared of mice” but love catching tadpoles. Named after his best friend “Fred,” the chocolate debuted in Australia a year later, before finding huge popularity in the UK after a 1990s relaunch.

While some see the price hike as a sign of Britain’s rising cost of living, Sky News analysis suggests a Freddo may actually be more affordable now relative to minimum wage earnings than in the 1990s.

Wadin hopes her father’s creation will remain part of family heritage: “The Freddo is never going to die… I just want the frog to always be in our lives.”

Cadbury’s parent company, Mondelēz International, stated that it does not set retail prices and has absorbed rising manufacturing and supply chain costs where possible, but occasional price adjustments have been necessary to maintain quality.

Source: The Guardian