Kit Kat History

1866

Kit Kat history begins back in 1866, when the first European condensed milk factory was opened in Cham, Switzerland, by the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company.

1867

In Vevey, Switzerland, our founder Henri Nestlé, a German pharmacist, launched his Farine lactée, a combination of cow’s milk, wheat flour and sugar, saving the life of a neighbour’s child. Nutrition has been the cornerstone of our company ever since.

“Henri Nestlé, himself an immigrant from Germany, was instrumental in turning his Company towards international expansion from the very start. We owe more than our name, our logo and our first infant-food product to our founder. Henri Nestlé embodied many of the key attitudes and values that form part and parcel of our corporate

It became KitKat after the Second World War. No one is sure where the name KitKat came from but it’s thought the famous KitKat Club of the 1920s had some influence.

Within two years of launch, KitKat was established as Rowntree’s leading product, a position that it has maintained ever since. During the war, KitKat was portrayed as a valuable wartime food and advertising described the brand as “What active people need”. KitKat 4 Finger

For most of its life, KitKat has appeared in a red and white wrapper. It did, however, change to a blue wrapper in 1945, when it was produced with a plain chocolate covering due to shortages of milk after the war. This blue livery was withdrawn in 1947 when the standard milk chocolate KitKat was reintroduced.

KitKat was first advertised on TV back in 1957 and had its first colour advert in 1967. Famous adverts include the ‘Dancing Panda’ in 1987 and the ‘Have a Break’ adverts in the 90’s. KitKat is produced at the Nestlé Rowntree Factory and in 2004 a massive 39,000 tonnes of KitKat were sold - that's 107 tonnes a

A Caramac variant was launched in 2005 and has proved to be our most successful variant to date.

New KitKat 4 Finger Fine Dark

For the dark chocolate lovers, new KitKat 4 Finger Fine Dark uses the finest Cocoa beans to coat each bar in an intensely rich bittersweet dark chocolate. KitKat Fine Dark will also feature the new Foil Fresh packaging. This is a permanent edition to the KitKat range and taps into the growing consumer trend towards dark chocolate.

The 2 Finger KitKat is the top selling biscuit in the UK

2 FINGER RANGE

2 Finger KitKat is the UK's number one biscuit. The 2 Finger KitKat was launched in the 1930s alongside the 4 Finger variant, and has remained the best-selling biscuit brand ever since. In the beginning, the 2 Finger KitKat was only produced as a milk variant, but is now available in Milk, Mint, Orange and since 2004, premium variants of Dark and White chocolate.

In 2005 there were over 800 million 2 Finger KitKats sold in the UK. That's over 2 million EVERY day!

KITKAT