Picnic has been rattling around lunchboxes and pick 'n' mix bags since 1958, and it's one of the few Cadbury bars from that era still sitting on shop shelves largely unchanged.
A 1958 Launch From Cadbury
Cadbury introduced Picnic in 1958, at a time when the company was expanding its range of textured, multi-ingredient bars beyond straightforward moulded chocolate. Rather than following the smooth-bar formula of Dairy Milk, Picnic was built around contrast: crunchy peanuts, chewy raisins, a crisp wafer and soft caramel, all held together under a milk chocolate coating.
What's Actually Inside It
- Peanuts — whole peanuts running through the bar for crunch.
- Raisins — added for chewiness and a hit of sweetness against the nuts.
- Wafer — a crisp biscuit wafer layer for structure.
- Caramel — binds the other ingredients and softens the bite.
- Milk chocolate — the outer coating, made by Cadbury.
That combination made Picnic one of the more unusual bars in the Cadbury range — closer in spirit to a snack bar than a straightforward chocolate bar, which is part of why it built such a loyal following.
How It Has Changed Over The Decades
Picnic's core recipe has stayed remarkably consistent since the 1950s, though Cadbury has tweaked the format over the years — including king-size and multipack versions, and periodic recipe adjustments to peanut and raisin ratios. It has also occasionally appeared in seasonal and limited variations, but the standard bar has never been discontinued in the UK, making it one of the longest-running bars of its type still on sale.
Picnic Today
Picnic is still manufactured by Cadbury, now part of Mondelez International, and remains widely available in UK supermarkets, newsagents and chocolate aisles. It's a rare survivor from the same era as several bars that didn't make it to today — a good reminder that not every retro chocolate bar disappeared.
Frequently asked questions
When was the Picnic bar launched?
Cadbury launched the Picnic bar in 1958. It combines peanuts, raisins, a biscuit wafer and caramel, all coated in milk chocolate, and it has remained on UK shelves in some form ever since.
What is inside a Picnic bar?
A Picnic bar layers a biscuit wafer, caramel, peanuts and raisins inside a milk chocolate coating, giving it a crunchier, more textured bite than a standard chocolate bar.
Is Picnic still made today?
Yes. Picnic remains in production by Cadbury (part of Mondelez International) and is still widely sold in the UK, more than 65 years after it launched.