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Shopkeepers in the UK are to go to extreme lengths to shoplifters from stealing chocolate. The candy is locked in plastic security boxes. Customers wishing to a chocolate bar must ask a member of staff to the box. One leading supermarket chain said it has using "boxes on products which are regularly " by thieves. A spokesperson for another popular store, the Co-op, told the BBC that chocolate theft was a "massive issue". He said: "In a particular shop, one individual could us thousands of pounds in a week." He added that some people would a store and "literally the whole shelf" of chocolate.

Chocolate is the latest target of criminal gangs. The UK's Association of Convenience Stores said the candy is stolen by "prolific offenders" and then on the black market. The Co-op spokesman said chocolate was the product most often from its stores in 2024, and only second to alcohol in 2025. Another retail association said: "Chocolate is now a target, to 'high value,' so retailers have anti-theft devices to it from being stolen." There were 5.5 million reported incidents of shop theft in the UK last year. In London, only five per cent of these up in the courts. Disturbingly, there 1,600 daily incidents of violence against shop workers.