page_title: Kit Kat
section_title: Global confection
hierarchical_section_title: Kit Kat / Global confection
caption_attribution_description: English: Countries that has at least one product of KitKat Dark Red: UK (country of origin) Red: Countries with KitKat products owned by Nestlé Light Red: Countries with KitKat products owned by The Hershey Company (US) Source: www.nestle.com and www.kitkat.com
context_page_description: Kit Kat is a chocolate-covered wafer bar confection created by Rowntree's of York, United Kingdom, and is now produced globally by Nestlé, which acquired Rowntree in 1988, with the exception of the United States, where it is made under license by the H. B. Reese Candy Company, a division of The Hershey Company. The standard bars consist of two or four pieces composed of three layers of wafer, separated and covered by an outer layer of chocolate. Each finger can be snapped from the bar separately. There are many different flavours of Kit Kat, including milk, white, and dark chocolate.
  The original four-finger version of the bar was developed after a worker at Rowntree's York factory put a suggestion in the recommendation box for 'a chocolate bar that a man could take to work in his pack up'. It was launched in September 1935 in the UK as Rowntree's Chocolate Crisp, and the later two-finger version was launched in 1936. It was renamed Kit Kat Chocolate Crisp in 1937, and just Kit Kat after World War II. Since 1957, the slogan for the Kit Kat in the UK and elsewhere has been "Have a break... have a Kit Kat".
context_section_description: Kit Kat bars are produced in 16 countries by Nestlé: Brazil, Mexico, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Germany, Russia, Japan, China, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria and Algeria. Kit Kat bars in the United States are produced under licence by The Hershey Company, a Nestlé competitor, due to a prior licensing agreement with Rowntree.
  The year 2003 was a turning point for the Kit Kat bar as well as the confectionery industry in general. The popularity of low carb diets, and the push to healthier eating stifled sales growth in many parts of the world. In addition, fierce competition from Cadbury's newly formed Dairy Milk superbrand also contributed to Kit Kat sales decreasing considerably in its home market of the UK, and threatened to depose it from its No.1 position. The solution adopted by Nestlé and others was to increase dramatically the number of new and unique variations of their confections and market them as limited or special editions, usually only available for a few months at a time so as not lose sales of their standard products. The strategy initially reversed the decline of the Kit Kat and has been adopted worldwide by Nestlé, Hershey, Mars, and others with similar success.
  This has resulted in many new flavours and varieties of the Kit Kat and other confections appearing globally since then. While some flavours succeeded, many failed, alienating some consumers in the process, causing Nestlé to scale back on new releases.
  In September 2006, Nestlé announced that they would be cutting 645 jobs in their York factory and moving all Smarties production to their Hamburg factory, which had already been producing two-thirds. They stated that this move would allow for a £20 million investment to modernise the antiquated York factory and improve Kit Kat production.
  As dark chocolate has seen increased demand and favour worldwide because of its purported health benefits, in September 2006 the four-finger Kit Kat Fine Dark was launched in the United Kingdom as a permanent product, and packaging for the entire brand was changed. Hershey had sold the four-finger Kit Kat Dark in the US several years previously as a limited edition, and began doing so again.
  Nestlé now manufactures two-finger Kit Kats with natural flavourings, and for the first time, Kit Kats in this format are suitable for vegans. It is not known at this date whether or not other varieties will follow suit. In 2014, Kit Kat was ranked the third best selling chocolate bar in the United Kingdom, after Dairy Milk and Galaxy.
caption: Map of countries where Kit Kat is marketed. Dark Red: UK (country of origin). Red: Countries with KitKat products owned by Nestlé. Light Red: Countries with KitKat products manufactured by Hershey (US).
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