Jim’ll Fix it star wows Nestlé with new Treasure bar

03-Jan-2012 - Last updated on 06-Jan-2012 at 10:32 GMT

The Treasure bar was designed by an eight-year-old, real life Willy Wonka

Confectionery giant Nestlé has confirmed that a new chocolate bar, designed by a talented youngster as part of a Jim’ll Fix It Christmas special, could hit UK stores this year.

Nestlé told FoodManufacture.co.uk that the new Treasure bar could be rolled out nationally in 2012 and confirmed it was “looking at ways in which we can make the product”.

The bar was designed by budding product designer, eight-year-old Joshua Greenwood from West Yorkshire for the Shane Richie-hosted Jim’ll Fix It Boxing Day special.

The show was made to honour the recent passing of much-loved media personality, Jimmy Saville and saw Joshua write to the BBC hoping to fulfil his dream of manufacturing a real chocolate bar from one of his designs.

Innovation

A Nestlé spokesman said: “It was a pleasure to welcome Joshua to our York site. He really is a budding confectioner of the future and in a few years' time, if he still shows the same innovation and passion for confectionery, we would love him to get back in contact.

“The Treasure bar is such a fantastic product with a very different look and feel to anything else out there. We know our consumers would love to taste it and we are looking to see how we can make it available in shops in 2012.”

The youngster, who was inspired by the Roald Dahl classic, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, was given the chance to be Willy Wonka for the day and invited to the Nestlé factory as part of the show.

While there he worked with staff at Nestle’s innovation kitchen along with its branding partner Anthem, which has designed iconic classics such as KitKat and Milkybar, to bring his design to life and given a tour of the factory.

Pirate treasure

The chocolate is based on a design that includes edible pirate “treasure” which is hidden in the bar in the form of caramel, fudge and honeycomb pieces.

Ant Cruice, senior designer at Anthem’s York office said the packaging “builds up the story” of Joshua's idea and that he was able to add texture to the design with the use of distinctive typography.

He added: “This was such a fun thing to take part in on many levels. I loved watching Jim’ll Fix It as a kid so being able to get involved in making Joshua’s dream come true was amazing. It was also great to see the passion he had for his idea and his real excitement at seeing it come to life before his eyes.”

Nestlé has so far created a limited edition of 50 Treasure bars which were given to Greenwood following the show.