A street in a western German town got a repaving worthy of Willy Wonka when a tonne of chocolate flowed out of a factory and solidified on the pavement.

The German newspaper Soester Anzeiger reported that a “small technical defect” involving a storage tank caused the chocolate to spill out from the DreiMeister chocolate factory in Westönnen.

After hitting the chilly pavement, the milk chocolate quickly hardened.

It took 25 firefighters, using shovels, hot water and torches, to remove the chocolate. Photograph: Social Media/Reuters

About 25 firefighters worked to pry the chocolate off with shovels. They also used hot water and torches to remove remaining bits from cracks and holes.

Company boss Markus Luckey told the Anzeiger the factory would be back in action on Wednesday. Luckey said if the spill had happened closer to Christmas, “that would have been a catastrophe”.