The Kit Kat Konspiracy
Welcome to the Kit Kat Konspiracy! Here you shall find my amazing chronicle into the world of Kit Kat which includes suspense, deception, profiteering, and overall bad taste.
06/07/2000:
I had known for awhile that foods which I am accustomed to in the United States taste slightly different elsewhere in the world. Truely the meatless Big Macs you can find in India are a testament to this. However, nothing was to prepare me for the shock I received in Japan, when I found amongst the wasabi flavored potato chips and daifuku a simple Kit Kat; ah, but this was no ordinary Kit Kat: this was chocolate heaven!
You see, this Kat Kat was like no other I had had before. So rich, so smooth, so crunchy. I had felt deceived, indeed: all other Kit Kats I had had growing up as a child had now seemed like chewing on low quality candle wax! Why the difference? I had to know!
Listed upon the high quality red wrapper of the Japanese Kit Kat was the address of the Nestle website. Upon arriving with Mozilla, I promptly found the consumer inquiries area and wrote them an e-mail inquiring about the taste difference in Internationally born vs. domestic Kit Kats. Here was their reply:
Thank you for contacting us.
Kit Kat Information: Kit Kat bars sold outside of the United States are
manufactured by Nestle. All Kit Kat bars sold in the United States are
manufactured by Hershey. Kit Kat is a Nestle brand marketed by Nestle outside the United States. It is not imported into the United States by Nestle.
The product is licensed to Hershey's for sale in the United States and, per the agreement, only Hershey's can sell it here. For questions or comments, please contact Hershey's: (800) 468-1714
Once again, we thank you for thinking of us and look forward to serving you in the future.
Agast! So it is Hersey's to blame!! I must write them a letter!
06/09/2000:
Upon arriving at my chocolatey mortal enemy's webpage, I try desperately to find the consumer complaints page...However, my efforts were in vain. They must receive too many complaints! I was not to be so easily dissuaded!
I proceeded to find their business-to-business sales division, which of course has an e-mail form eager to receive orders from the cheap chocolate retailers of America. I pounded out a serious letter asking why, pray tell, their chocolate tastes like candle wax. How dare they disgrace the Kit Kat name I had grown to love as a small child.
Of course, their reply was all too predictable:
We appreciate your interest in Hershey's products. You requested
information from the Hershey's Food Service site for restaurants and
foodservice operators. The type of information you are requesting is
retail product based and not foodservice related. Please call the
Hershey's consumer hotline between the ho.urs of 8-5pm EST at
1-800-468-1714 and they will answer your questions. Or try our
website!
I have replied twice, informing them that their website does not have a consumer complaint e-mail address or form. I have yet to receive a reply.
06/19/2000:
Finally! A reply! This e-mail I received from the Hershey's PR department just reeks of corporate filtering:
Thank you for your recent contact.
Our goal is to manufacture products with widespread consumer appeal. Because
consumers' preferences vary, we may not always succeed. We are disappointed
when that happens. Since we work closely with our Brands
Managers to keep them informed of what consumers like and dislike about our
products.
The KIT KAT wafer bar is manufactured under license from Nestles of
Europe and we are required to follow specific specification for the
manufacturing of this product. However, we will share your feedback with
the Marketing Department.
We appreciate your interest in our product.
Ahh, how easily they evade the issue! Do they not have an explanation as to why their product tastes like candle-wax domestically? I will reply and be more direct.
06/20/2000:
In the interest of the public, I have made the following reply. I offer them no escape from my hard-driving questions!
Dear Hershey's PR,
What I am concerned with is that I feel as though the American
taste profile is being grossly under-estimated in comparison with
their European and Asian counterparts. I am not sure of the exact
details of the licensing agreement with Nestle's; however if
offered a choice between the two tastes offered by the different
Kit Kat products I would choose the Nestle's product every time.
However, there is another issue I would like to raise. As a
small child I remember distinctly the taste of Kit Kat products
being more "chocolatey" than they are currently. This change has
been verified by several of friends, family, and co-workers. Has
the cocoa supplier changed? Has ratio of cocoa to fat changed?
Does this change track well with changes in the American taste
profile? Do you then assume that the American taste profile
prefers candle wax to chocolate?
Thank you and Best Regards,
A.P.
Food Consumer
As you can see, I have left them no option but to answer me directly! Please reply to this node if there is some hard line of questioning I have overlooked, or if there is any other Kit Kat issue you would like me to raise!
06/20/2000 (
Updated):
A swift reply from Hershey's! I can tell now that I am moving up the scale of corporate priorties! I think they can tell I am a PR disaster waiting to happen; indeed a powder-keg of bad press! Take a read of this reply:
Mr. A.P.,
As previously stated, this product is under license. There has been no
formula change to the product. However, the basic ingredients are
agricultural products, therefore, sometimes subtle changes may be detected
by consumers.
I will forward your comments to our Brands Manager for the KIT KAT wafer
bar.
Consumer Relations
Hershey Foods Corporation
06/22/2000:
Please find below my carefully calculated reply. I want to know the truth, but I fear I can't handle the truth! Something is different between Kit Kat bars found in the United States and those found Internationally...I just want to know what they won't tell us...
Here is my reply:
Dear Hershey's Consumer Relations,
You have stated that this product is under license. However,
you have not stated specifically which part of this product is
under license. Do you just license the name or the entire wafer
bar product? If you import or use domestically produced, "KIT KAT
wafer bar," products fron Nestles, how do you account for the
taste difference?
I plan on purchasing an adequate amount of, "KIT KAT," product
while I am here in Japan to run double-blind taste trials when I
return to US, as I have done with some European and Canadian product
in the past. I will inform you of the results of these trials.
A.P.
Food Consumer
01/17/2002:
On January 14th, 2002 I returned with a shopping bag full of Kit Kat Bar's I purchased on a trip to Hong Kong. When I was there I found them to be absolutely delicious: so rich and chocolatey. Again, not at all what the American version tastes like.
I purchased a number of the American bars at my local grocery and ran a blind taste test with the Asian bars on my family. I had to make my test subjects close their eyes because even the color of the bars is dramatically different. I am now confident that the foreign bars contain much more cocoa content. Everyone in my family was able to identify the foreign bar.
I would like to compare these Hong Kong bars now to their Japanese and Canadian peers, but unfortunately I do not have any ready supplies.
In addition to my more conclusive findings I am finding evidence of a larger, more complex, international chocolate conspiracy. Along with the Kit Kats from Honks, I also brought back a number of bags of M&Ms that also taste quite different from their domestic counterparts. The shells were crisper and again, the chocolate was darker and of higher quality.
Enough evidence! I want answers!!
This node shall be
updated with
more information as it becomes
available!
That's all for now!
A.P.
Food Consumer