Best bar: Callum Clogher with one of his Choca-latte treats. Picture: PA

AN IRISH teenager is set to become a real life Willy Wonka after beating thousands of hopefuls to create Cadbury's newest chocolate bar.

Callum Clogher (17), who is from Ballygar in Co Roscommon, has thanked the public for their support after winning the Cadbury Inventor competition, which called on chocolate lovers in the UK and Ireland last year to try their hand in creating the new Cadbury’s chocolate bar.

Around 220,000 hopefuls initially entered the competition, which was whittled down to three contenders and Callum was the only Irish finalist.

Callum's creation - a chocolate, vanilla and biscuit bar dubbed the ‘Choca-latte’ - came out racked up the most sales and online votes after being on the shelves for several months.

The delighted chocolatier told Independent.ie that he is enjoying his sweet success.

“I’m delighted, absolutely over the moon,” he said.

“I was keeping an eye on the polls so I kind of suspected I was going to win but I wasn’t sure.

“I was on holidays in Vancouver in Canada a few weeks ago and on my second day, they rang me and told me,” the teenager explained.

Expand Close Louis Walsh surprises Callum Callum Clogher at home in Roscommon, Ireland. Credit: Brian Farrell/PA Wire PA / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Louis Walsh surprises Callum Callum Clogher at home in Roscommon, Ireland. Credit: Brian Farrell/PA Wire

Callum credited Irish spirit and support for helping him win.

“Thanks to everyone for voting for me in the competition and I won off the back of Irish support,” he said.

“There was even so much support locally, when the news broke that I was one of the finalists and that my bar would be in the shops, my school put up a post on social media and it got over 10,000 shares, it spread like wildfire,” he remembered.

“I’m very grateful for all the support, definitely.”

Read More

His Choca-latte bar will now be on sale for the next year.

“The plan is that the bar will go on shelves for a year and if it does well, they might keep it longer.

“But they will change the packaging to show that I’m the winner and advertise it as a new flavour,” he said.

As he prepares to head into sixth year of school, Callum isn’t sure yet if he will be a chocolatier.

“I don’t really know yet,” he laughed.

“I have college forms to fill out now ahead of the new year.

“I’m not really sure what I want to study but I think I want to do business as I enjoyed the marketing part of working on the bar- discussing what we’ll put on the packaging and the posters.

“I would love to work with Cadbury’s so I might send in my CV in the future,” he said.

His family, both in Canada and Ireland, are delighted with his win.

“My family were really happy and proud of me and we brought a few bars over to Canada too.

“They liked the bar over there too because they’re all coffee drinkers, with Starbucks around every corner,” he added.

Online Editors