Twelve tons of KitKat bars went missing in Europe last week after thieves seized and made off with the truck transporting them, Swiss food giant Nestlé, the manufacturer of the chocolate bars, said in a statement on Friday, March 27.
The organization said the truck, carrying 413,793 bars of its new Formula One range — designed in the shape of race cars — set off from central Italy for distribution across Europe but never reached its scheduled final destination in Poland.
The vehicle remains missing, and the conspirators are still at large, per Nestlé. It did not reveal where exactly the truck was lost.
Image credits: KITKAT
The brand also emphasized in its statement that “cargo theft is escalating across businesses of all sizes.”
“With more sophisticated schemes being deployed on a regular basis, we have chosen to go public with our own experience in the hope that it raises awareness of an increasingly common criminal trend,” Nestlé said.
The same communication also appreciated the criminals for displaying their “exceptional taste” by choosing to steal KitKat, of all chocolates.
Concerns are rife about the heist creating a shortage of the chocolate for consumers, especially around Easter festivities, when the masses indulge in sweet treats more than usual.
However, Nestlé has maintained that supply won’t be affected.
In a separate note, Nestlé warned that the missing bars could make their way into markets through unauthorized channels.
If that happens, the company has implemented a tracking strategy.
Each batch of KitKat comes with unique codes on every single bar. Nestlé stated that if these codes are scanned by customers, it will show them “instructions to alert KitKat.”
Image credits: KITKAT
The unusual chocolate heist has sparked a meme fest online, with one netizen expressing that it would have been fun to “be a fly on the wall in the room where they planned that KitKat heist,” and another riffing on the chocolate’s slogan, “Have a break, have a KitKat,” writing the heist is “Not about the chocolate, it’s about sending a message: Nobody gets a break.”
A different user pointed out how America and the Middle East are busy in hostile combat, but Europe’s problems, once again, are as laid-back as dealing with a chocolate heist.
Multiple businesses, including Domino’s Pizza, aviation giant Ryanair, and Runable AI, have also reacted to the matter, with all of them pledging they had nothing to do with the heist while making fun of the situation.
The heist also drew attention from countries and states on social media, with the Republic of Kiribati and Montreal, the capital of Canada’s Québec province, reacting.
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