🍫Crunching KitKat

KitKat has so fascinating stories that will blow your mind off when you explore them.

Well, KitKat being one of my all-time favourite chocolates, I made quite intensive research on them to understand their strategy. But guess what, I discovered some interesting stories actually which I thought would be great to share.

To give an intro - Kitkat was launched on August 29 in 1935 by Rowntree's as a confectionery business based in York, United Kingdom, and Kit Kat, now owned by Nestlé, is one of the world's leading brands in the FMCG industry.

Chocolate or Wafer?

Enough of the intro about KitKat and let's dive into some interesting stories behind them. So I had this one evident question while eating KitKat - Is KitKat a chocolate or a wafer?

Well, it turns out to be that, there is actually an interesting story behind this question. This was taken to the court to decide whether KitKat was a wafer or chocolate. Nestle argued that “KitKat was a wafer with chocolate coating” whereas the government argued that “KitKat was a chocolate with wafers inside”

So why is this argument and what difference does it gonna make? Well, the difference is that - if KitKat is classified as a wafer, then the tax rate is 10% and if KitKat is classified as chocolate then the tax rate is 20% (FYI, the Wafer tax rate in India is 10% and the chocolate tax rate is 20%). However, finally, after a lot of arguments, it was decided that KitKat is a wafer made up of chocolate since KitKat is made up of 70% of wafer and 30% of chocolate. So technically you are eating a wafer and not a bar of chocolate.

Secret Ingredient

Another fascinating fact about KitKat is the secret ingredient that they use and bet that you didn’t know.

So the secret ingredient in KitKat is KitKat.

Psst, Don’t re-read it. You actually read it right.

Most of us thought (including me) when we eat a KitKat, the layer between the wafers in the centre of the KitKat was chocolate or Hazelnut cream. But it isn’t. It’s another crushed KitKats.

So when KitKat goes through quality control or the final quality check in the assembly line, anything that is not a little bit smooth enough or any wafer that is off-centred or if it has too much content of air bubbles, all of them is separated from the good ones and they are crushed and the mixture goes between the wafers again. Sounds insane right?

Usually, other chocolate or FMCG industries would pick those that aren't good from the quality check and discard them which causes a ton of waste of money, time, and resources. But KitKat cleverly recycles them, puts them back into the layers of a new KitKat making them much crunchier, and at the same time, they save huge million of dollars from the waste.

Also, KitKat has a super framework of marketing campaigns like the "Have a break, Have a KitKat" or the KitKat chairs. Explore more about KitKat chairs and you will be more hyped about this wafer.

So the next time you have a bite of KitKat, I hope that my blog will remind you about their fascinating stories. Thank me later :P