Kit Kat

Rowntree’s Kit Kat was developed after a worker at their York Factory used a recommendation box to suggest a snack that “a man could take to work in his pack”.

The bar launched on 29 August 1935, under the name ‘Rowntree’s Chocolate Crisp’ and priced at 2d. The bar was renamed Kit Kat Chocolate Crisp in 1937. After World War II the name became simply ‘Kit Kat’.

In 1957, the iconic advertising line “Have a Break, Have a Kit Kat” was introduced and the brand was further expanded in the 1970s when Rowntree created a new distribution factory in Germany to meet European demand and established agreements to distribute the brand in the US through the Hershey company, and in Japan through Fujiya.

In June 1988, Swiss company Nestlé acquired Kit Kat through the purchase of Rowntree’s, giving Nestlé global control over the brand.

Kit Kat bars are still around but the foil has disappeared and plastic wrappers have been introduced instead.

Now the joy of embossing the Kit Kat logo into the foil with your thumb before sliding your thumbnail down the crack in the middle to snap the thing in two is consigned to history.