KitKat has ‘good news’ for its customers — Despite the theft of 12 tonnes of chocolate bars in transit through Europe, sparking fears of a possible shortage ahead of the peak Easter season, Nestlé has assured fans that supplies of the chocolate wafers remain intact.
On Friday, the Swiss food giant said: “A truck carrying 413,793 units of its new chocolate range was stolen while in transit in Europe.” The KitKat chocolate bars were stolen shortly after they left their production facility in Italy for Poland earlier this week, Nestlé said.
KitKat did not say where specifically the goods went missing, but said “the vehicle and its contents remain unaccounted for”.
The ‘good news’: KitKat
In a post, X KitKat confirmed the theft report and said the company is actively investigating the matter.
“We can confirm that 12T of KitKat products were stolen during transit between our factory in central Italy and their destination in Poland. We are working closely with local authorities and supply chain partners to investigate,” KitKat said in a statement.
But KitKat dismissed fears of a supply shortage just before Easter, saying: “The good news: there are no concerns about consumer safety and supply is not affected.”
It comes a day after the company warned that “the theft could lead to a shortage of KitKats hitting the shelves”, adding that “unfortunately, consumers may struggle to find their favorite chocolates before Easter”.
The company also warned that the missing bars could find their way into unofficial sales channels in European markets. However, he said that if this happens, all products can be traced using a unique batch code assigned to individual bars.
A KitKat spokesperson said that as a result, consumers, retailers and wholesalers will be able to identify if a product is part of a stolen shipment by scanning the lot numbers on the packaging.
If a match is found, the scanner is given clear instructions on how to alert the company, who will then share the evidence accordingly.
KitKat went public with its cargo theft because…
In a previous statement, KitKat said it was publishing reports of its cargo being stolen in the hope of raising awareness of this “increasingly common criminal trend”.
“While we appreciate the exceptional taste of criminals, the fact remains that cargo theft is an escalating problem for businesses of all sizes,” it said. “As more sophisticated schemes are regularly introduced, we have decided to publish our own experiences in the hope of raising awareness of an increasingly common criminal trend.”
“We’ve always encouraged people to take a break with KitKat,” said a spokesperson for the brand, referring to its slogan. “But it seems the thieves took the message too literally and made off with more than 12 tonnes of our chocolate.
