Dubai Chocolate: How a Viral Dessert Reshaped a Supply Chain

At Frunze bakery in Doha, the most popular sound is not the coffee machine or the cash register. It is the crack of a chocolate bar being broken in half. Inside, thick pistachio cream stretches between two pieces of milk chocolate mixed with crunchy kataifi pastry. Customers usually film it before tasting it.

“It has to break nicely,” said Adele Shaimudin, the owner of Frunze. “People want to see the filling first.”

Frunze introduced its first Dubai-style chocolate in August 2024, when the trend started spreading quickly from the UAE to Qatar. “It came from our neighbors,” Shaimudin said. “We saw it everywhere online and realized it reached us very fast.” She explained that the idea itself was simple. The recipe was easy to find online and there was no special secret behind it. The main problem was not cooking, but ingredients. Kataifi dough, which is thin shredded pastry used in Arabic and Turkish (or Mediterranean) desserts, suddenly became hard to find. “Bakeries don’t usually keep it in large amounts,” Shaimudin said. “When everyone started making Dubai chocolate and similar desserts, many places ran out. Wholesalers raised prices because both bakers and regular people were buying it.”

Dubai chocolate is one of the clearest recent examples of how a viral food trend can move from screens to supply chains. According to The Guardian, TikTok-driven demand contributed to an international pistachio shortage and rising prices, showing how a single dessert trend can affect global ingredient markets. ( Source: https://www.theguardian.com/food/2025/apr/19/tiktok-trend-for-dubai-chocolate-causes-international-shortage-of-pistachios )

At Frunze, the popularity of Dubai chocolate is no longer as extreme as it was in the first months of the trend, from August to December 2024. Still, Shaimudin believes that the flavor itself has become part of regular dessert culture. “It’s not as crazy as before, but it didn’t disappear,” she said. “People are already used to this taste. Some customers order full cakes with this filling, not just small desserts. It feels like this flavor is here to stay, not just as a short trend.”

For food influencer Inkar Toktonalieva, it is easy to understand why Dubai chocolate became popular in Qatar. “First, it comes from nearby countries,” she said. “Second, the flavors are familiar. And third, it became a global trend.” She added that social media is a big reason why the trend spread so fast. “People here really follow what’s happening online. They don’t want to be left behind.” Toktonalieva reviews dessert places around Doha and watches which videos get the most views. She does not name specific businesses because many of her posts are paid promotions, but she sees a clear pattern: places that follow trends and use social media actively usually get more attention. Creativity also helps. Desserts that turn the Dubai filling into something new like chocolate figures or strawberries covered in hot chocolate and kataifi, attract more interest than simple copies. For her, Dubai chocolate works because it combines taste and online appeal. “I would say it’s both,” she said. “Content and trends are very important now, and it’s easier when the product is already good. But this is a rare case where content and taste come together. It will be remembered as part of this time.”

The scale of the trend is clearer outside the Gulf as well. In Kyrgyzstan, kataifi used to be found mostly in Turkish shops and restaurants, but now it is sold in regular grocery stores. Nurbek Samatov, who owns a wholesale shop, said demand increased after Dubai chocolate became popular. “Prices went up, and suppliers started bringing more of it to our country and to neighbors like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan,” he said. For Samatov, the trend works for different sides. Customers get something new and trendy, businesses sell more ingredients, and countries where kataifi is traditionally used see their food culture spread. “It brought an ingredient from one culture into another culture’s kitchen,” he said.

The Dubai chocolate trend also shows how food trends move today. It is both global and culturally specific: based on some cultures’ local desserts but shaped by social media. It gives people choice, but rising prices make it harder for some to take part. Back at Frunze, the bar is broken, filmed, and eaten. What remains is the video, a small moment that shows a bigger change. Dubai chocolate is no longer just a dessert. It shows how taste, culture, and social media now shape each other.