The viral “Dubai chocolate” trend, which has been spreading on social media for more than a year, has reached the American big-box freezer aisle. American warehouse chain Costco is now selling a new limited-edition dessert: Häagen-Dazs Dubai Style Chocolate Mini Ice Cream Bars, developed exclusively for Costco. The new product is the latest example of a major brand chasing the viral pistachio-and-kataifi flavor profile, and Costco hopes the launch will draw additional foot traffic into stores.
The strategy has a long lineage at Costco and elsewhere in U.S. retail. Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte, introduced in 2003, defined “pumpkin spice” as a signature fall flavor and pulled the entire food industry into a long pumpkin-themed product cycle. “Dubai chocolate” is now on a similar trajectory, and Costco is putting itself in front of it.
How the Dubai chocolate bar went from a pregnancy craving to a global phenomenon
The original Dubai chocolate bar was the work of Sarah Hamouda, a British-Egyptian woman living in Dubai, who founded the company Fix Dessert Chocolatier in 2021 while pregnant with her second child. According to The Guardian, Hamouda’s pregnancy cravings led her to design a chocolate bar combining pistachio cream, tahini, and the crisp texture of knafeh, the traditional Middle Eastern dessert made from fine shredded phyllo dough, soft cheese, and syrup. The result, officially named “Can’t Get Knafeh of It,” debuted in 2022 and went viral after a TikTok influencer’s video of herself eating the bar caught fire on the platform.
The bar combines strong pistachio flavor, a flowing filling, and a crisp shredded-pastry texture, and that combination has proven unusually exportable. Cafés, dessert shops, and supermarkets across the world have offered their own versions, and the “Dubai-style” label has now been attached to chocolates, lattes, ice creams, and pastries from Tokyo to London to Los Angeles.
What’s in the new Costco bars?
Häagen-Dazs’s Dubai Style Chocolate Mini Bars, developed exclusively for Costco members, take the trend into the premium ice cream category. According to All Recipes, the bars use pistachio ice cream as the base, wrap it in milk chocolate, and embed pieces of toasted kataifi, the shredded phyllo strands that give the original Dubai chocolate its signature crunch.
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The product is sold only in 20-bar mini packs. Pricing varies by region, but USA Today reported the boxes will retail between $15.49 and $15.99 depending on the market. The bars began arriving at select Costco locations the week of April 27, 2026, with a wider U.S. rollout to follow. Häagen-Dazs has confirmed the bars will not be sold at Costco locations in Texas or in the Southeastern United States.
Industry analysts see a familiar traffic-driving strategy
Retail analysts read the move as part of Costco’s long-established approach of using high-buzz items to pull members into stores. Costco rotates its merchandise aggressively, and a viral product line gives shoppers a fresh reason to walk through the door.
Dominick Miserandino, retail analyst at TheStreet and CEO of RTMNexus, told the publication that Costco has long excelled at using popular items to drive store visits. “The Costco strategy is to give the people what they want, and that could be a $1.50 hot dog, making the people happy,” he said. The combination of Dubai chocolate and Häagen-Dazs, in his view, will pull enough attention to lift store traffic, and Costco can monetize that traffic through the rest of the basket.
Tastewise CEO Alon Chen flagged Dubai chocolate as a global food trend as early as January 2024. By Chen’s measure, Costco is arriving at the trend more than a year late. “Usually by the time a product hits supermarket shelves, the trend has actually been around for 12 to 18 months,” he said.
Costco is also testing a new $6.99 chicken tender meal
The Dubai chocolate launch is not the only new food item Costco is testing. The chain has begun selling a new chicken tender meal at the prepared-food counter in select stores. According to TastingTable, Costco began testing the new chicken tenders in May 2026 at a suburban Chicago store. The meal includes five breaded chicken tenders with a dipping sauce, priced at $6.99.
The price is higher than most other items in Costco’s food court, but early customer interest has been positive.
Costco Chief Financial Officer Gary Millerchip said on a recent earnings call that members continue to prioritize “quality, value, and freshness,” and that continuously rolling out exciting new items remains essential to the business. As long as Costco keeps meeting those expectations, he said, members continue to spend.
April sales jumped 13 percent to $23.92 billion
According to Costco’s April sales release, the company posted net sales of $23.92 billion for the four-week retail month ended May 3, 2026, up 13 percent from $21.18 billion a year earlier. The Easter calendar shift added an additional shopping day to the April 2026 period compared with April 2025, which Costco said boosted total and comparable sales by roughly 1.5 to 2 percent.
Comparable sales for April rose 11.7 percent in the U.S. market, 11.5 percent in Canada, and 11.5 percent in other international markets, for a total company comparable sales increase of 11.6 percent. Excluding gasoline price swings and foreign exchange effects, total comparable sales still rose 7.8 percent. Costco’s global store traffic was up 4.2 percent year-over-year, with U.S. traffic up 3.8 percent.
