Is Dubai Chocolate the Next Pumpkin Spice?

At Crumbl's Utah headquarters, employees are working on a new dessert with a chocolate and pistachio flavor that has set the internet on fire.

- Owen Tucker-Smith

Enter the Dubai Chocolate Brownie, the cookie maker's attempt to cash in on a trend that has sent food companies racing to catch up. The new offering, with ingredients that have proven to be expensive and sometimes difficult to source, will hit stores in the coming months, Crumbl said.

The confection known as Dubai chocolate, legendary across the internet and a recent hit with many Americans, typically involves a shell of rich chocolate filled with pistachio cream and a shredded dough known as kataifi.

Like many other recent food fads, it took off after an influencer promoted it on TikTok. Unlike others, it has triggered supply-chain squeezes, shaken up German courts and caused a run on U.K. grocery stores, forcing them to impose purchasing limits.

It has also spurred some of the biggest food companies in America to consider whether the Dubai chocolate flavor might endure as a future classic, like a pumpkin spice or salted caramel.

The internet's acceleration of flavor trends is forcing brands to become more nimble and adventurous. Grocery stores and restaurants say they're focused on "social listening"—corporate-speak for keeping a close eye on Instagram. The art, Crumbl's co-founder Sawyer Hemsley says, is distinguishing a true underlying shift in consumer taste from a short-lived trend.

"It's undeniable that the internet has accelerated the pace at which flavor profiles emerge, spread and evolve," Hemsley says. "We've seen firsthand how what might've once taken years to catch on, can now reach global audiences in a matter of weeks."