No longer will Queensland choccie lovers need to fly interstate or buy their favourite sweet treats online. Australia’s favourite family-owned chocolate company is coming to Brisbane. 18% of Haigh’s Chocolates’ annual online sales come from Queensland. This insight is why the company fast-tracked a decision to establish a physical retail presence in Brisbane. Three new stores will open before Christmas, with the first at Westfield Mt Gravatt opening this Friday, August 28th.
Chermside and Carindale will follow before Christmas. These new stores expand the company’s national footprint from 23 to 26 across Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide. For a business that has operated since 1915, this is a major step.
One hundred and eleven years ago, Alfred E Haigh opened the original shop at Beehive Corner on Adelaide’s King William Street.
THE STATS
- The company has survived two world wars, the Great Depression, Covid and every food trend from nouvelle cuisine to keto. Haigh’s Chocolate remains the largest importer of raw cocoa beans in the country.
- Haigh’s employs over 900 people across its retail stores, three factories, administration and corporate services, and online.
- In September 2025, Haigh’s opened an 18,000 m2 state-of-the-art production, warehouse and online facility in South Australia.
- Haigh’s produces 126 tonnes of Chocolate Speckles annually; that’s 25 million individual drops of crunchy chocolate happiness.
- The new facility has boosted their annual chocolate production capacity to 1,100 tonnes, with capacity to increase to 2,000 tonnes.
- 8 shipping containers worth of cocoa beans are used to make Haigh’s chocolates each year, including ethically and sustainably farmed Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa beans sourced from plantations around the world.
- Haigh’s Chocolate Frog has become synonymous with the brand. Each year, 6 million Chocolate Frogs in three sizes and four flavours are produced.
- Haigh’s produces 20 million milk and dark chocolate Scorched Almonds each year.
What sets Haigh’s apart is attention to detail: despite large-scale manufacturing, Haigh’s still hand-finishes and hand-foils much of the range.
When Haigh’s recently invited us to an event billed as “A Taste of Haigh’s”, it was an offer we couldn’t refuse. Fourth-generation family member and brand ambassador Alister Haigh, CEO Peter Millard and Head Chocolatier Ben Kolly ventured to the Sunshine State to share a few family stories.
Alfred’s grandson John was such a passionate chocolatier he travelled to Switzerland to learn the craft from the world’s best. Working at Lindt & Sprüngli may have allowed him to smuggle secret recipes into Australia.
BEATING THE HEAT
Coming to Queensland means beating the heat. Chocolate is unforgiving, and Brisbane’s humidity isn’t ideal for premium confectionery. Every Brisbane store will be fully air-conditioned with an air curtain at the entrance. Haigh’s is introducing dehumidified display cabinets across the entire store network.
SOURCING
Haigh’s produces more than 250 chocolate varieties, and the company uses locally grown ingredients wherever possible. Milk powder and sugar come from Australian producers. Macadamias and apricots are local. Almonds are supplied by the SA Riverland’s Nut Producers Australia and are roasted in-house at the Salisbury South facility.
And the mango used in Haigh’s Milk Mango chocolates and Dark Mango Chilli Truffle comes from Gin Gin & Dry in the Wide Bay-Burnett. And now, hazelnuts come from Victoria’s Carboor Harvest, not Turkey.
South Australians are rightly proud of their wine pioneers: the families who proved a hot, dry state could produce something that made the world pay attention. But this not-so-little chocolate story has all of that and more. The Haigh’s family has persisted for 110 years with the same family ownership, the same bean-to-bar discipline, and the same quiet refusal to compromise. Let’s raise a glass (or maybe a Speckle) to that.
