Norwegians Don't Like Nutella

Norwegians are loyal... At least to their local chocolate spread. While Nutella pretty much reigns supreme in every country across the world, it doesn't capture market share in Norway.

"The name Nugatti was created by the first plant manager Wilhelm Snartland, inspired by the word nougat," Johanne Kjuus, sustainability manager at Nugatti tells us. "Nougat is the term for a mixture of chocolate and nut mass, but because we wanted a more original name it was decided that the name would be Nugatti."

Nugatti was launched in 1969 by Sunda AS, but since the 1970's Nugatti has been produced by Orkla Foods Norway in Tveita, Oslo.

Each year, about 7 million tubs of Nugatti are sold in Norway.

"We estimate a serving size of 15 grams, so approximately 400,000 slices of bread with chocolate spread are consumed every day in Norway," she continues.

Chocolate spread sales are stagnating in the Norwegian market. But Nugatti is the biggest brand with a marketshare of 73 percent that still shows a growth in value by 1 percent. The estimates for this year looks even better, Kjuus tells us.

"The exact recipe is secret, but Nugatti today consists mainly of sugar, sunflower oil, hazelnut kernels, milk and cocoa," she continues.

In 2012, they removed palm oil from all Nugatti ranges, the first in the market to do so. Since then several other manufacturers have followed suit, while some competitors still have palm oil in their products. Palm oil was replaced with sunflower oil after many wishes from consumers about a chocolate spread that could help save the rainforest, she explains.

The whole process included three years of product development and cost approximately 10 million NOK.

"It is a time consuming process because we needed to make sure that the recipe change didn't reduce the quality or alter the texture or taste of the end product too much," she continues.

Norway is their biggest market, as they don't export and they don't consider their product seasonal.

"There are certain times where we see an increase in sales (Christmas/easter/end of summer), though we do not consider it a seasonal product as volumes remain quite high throughout the year," Kjuus says.

So, what are the main differences between Nugatti and Nutella? 

Type of oil used: Nutella contains palm oil, while Nugatti Original contains no palm oil and intead uses sunflower oil.

Amount of hazelnuts: Nutella contains 13 percent, while Nugatti Original contains 9 percent.

Amount of cocoa: Nutella contains 7 percent, while Nugatti Original contains 4 percent.

Amount of fat: Nutella contains 32 percent, while Nugatti Original contains 28 percent.

Texture and mouthfeel: Nutella is soft(er) and smooth (small particles), while Nugatti Original is firm(er) and more coarse (bigger particles). The size of the particles affects the mouthfeel.

We asked Johanna for her opinion on the David and Goliath battle of the chocolate spreads and she told us: "Nugatti is by far the market leader within sweet spreads in Norway. Nugatti is a well established brand that most Norwegians grew up with, and sets the standard for how chocolate spreads should taste here in Norway. Many of our consumers also feel it is important that the products they use do not contain palm oil."

Sunflower oil is generally considered to be more environmentally friendly than palm oil; these other supermarket finds are the most eco-friendly things you can buy.