The Wall Street Journal recently published a story about how Nestle is experiencing a decline in sales for the revered KitKat bar. Part of this may be due to the dilution of the brand with all the limited edition flavors and shapes.
Flavor experiment for KitKat leaves Nestl? with a bad taste by Deborah Ball, Wall Street Journal
Sales for 2005 were down over 16% from 2004 while Cadbury and Masterfoods bars have been gaining marketshare. What plays in the UK may not hold true with other markets, however.
Personally, I enjoy the limited edition flavored bars, but I wish they were seasonal - you know, that there were a dependable schedule so that I could get them every year, even if the strawberry was only a summertime thing.
Along that note, watch the New York Times Magazine this weekend ... I have it on good authority that there will be an article about limited edition candy bars there, too.
SUPERB
YUMMY 
TASTY 
WORTH IT 
TEMPTING 
PLEASANT 
BENIGN 
UNAPPEALING 
APPALLING 
INEDIBLE 
I’m so sad to hear this! KitKat is my favorite, especially the Limited Editions that I cam lucky enough to get from a few friends in Japan. :(
Thanks for the heads up on the NYTimes Mag article! I will keep an eye out for it! :D
Although the new packaging keeps them fresher, I wish they’d considered how the ritual of eating a Kit Kat bar was tied to its old foil/wraparound packaging as part of the Kit Kat experience!
I enjoyed reading the NYT article—congrats on another great mention!
I was researching Japanese Candy Packaging and came upon this awesome website of yours. Since you seem to have quite a collection of Kit-Kat taste test articles, I thought you might be interested in knowing that Mitsuwa (Bay Area anyway) now carries Kit-Kat Bars in Green Tea Flavor. A bit pricey…almost $6 for a small bag.
I LOVE Kit-Kats, and I don’t eat anything but gourmet chocolate these days. I thought the dark chocolate Kit-Kats were great. I was sad to see them go.
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