Twelve tonnes of KitKat, totaling 413,793 bars, went missing in Europe last week after thieves hijacked the truck transporting them, according to Nestlé, the manufacturer.
In a statement issued on Friday, March 27, the company said the consignment, which carried its new Formula One range — designed in the shape of race cars — was stolen between its “factory in Central Italy and its destination in Poland.”
The statement added that the company was working closely with local authorities and maintained that there would be no shortage of the product in the market.
In an update in the case shared on Wednesday, April 1, KitKat said it has launched a “Stolen KitKat Tracker” to help consumers determine if they have been sold one of the missing bars.
KitKat has urged consumers to help it find the lost shipment
Image credits: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Taking to its social media account earlier today, the chocolate brand said, “We really want to know” where the stolen shipment has gone.
“So we’ve created a Stolen KitKat Tracker,” the announcement added.
The link for the tracker was placed in the bio of KitKat’s social media pages.
Image credits: Ioannis Alexopoulos/Anadolu/Getty Images
Upon clicking on it, an interface appears that directs users to find an 8-digit batch number on the back of the KitKat packaging.
The code needs to be entered into the tracker, after which consumers can expect to be notified if they are eating one of the stolen KitKats.
“This is not a stunt or an April Fool’s joke,” KitKat clarified in its statement, addressing netizens’ skepticism about the heist story.
Image credits: Ioannis Alexopoulos/Anadolu/Getty Images
“Did they really cook this up for April Fool’s?” one had asked, while another hypothesized that the tracker is meant to bait people into buying KitKats just so they can enter the code, which would “drive up sales.”
A third agreed, saying KitKat’s “marketing team needs a raise.”
A good portion of social media users refused to take part in the investigation for personal reasons.
“They are not even offering a reward for the help,” one stated, while another expressed they would only help if KitKat ensured “a lifetime free supply of the chocolates.”
“I have no time to be a KitKat detective,” a third said.
“Imagine finding out your snack is evidence. I’m good without it,” remarked a fourth.
The heist of KitKat bars has also been mocked by fellow businesses
Image credits: KITKAT
DoorDash recently issued an “unofficial statement” saying, “Due to a completely random packaging error, we have 12 tonnes of KitKats in our DashMarts that we can’t sell.”
“The good news: all you have to do is go to your DoorDash app and add like 500–600 KitKats to your cart, and this should resolve itself quickly.”
Charlotte Football Club played along by sending “sincere thoughts and condolences to KitKat after the news of 12 tons of KitKats being stolen.”
“On an unrelated note, we are happy to share we will be offering roughly 413,000 KitKats at this Saturday’s match against Philadelphia at Bank of America Stadium,” it further shared.
Image credits: KITKAT
Pizza Hut said, “Just got back from Italy, where we attended a very serious innovation conference regarding stuffed-crust pizza. Hot dogs only. Relax.”
Ryanair depicted one of their planes with a mouth full of KitKat bars.
Picsart said that while it can do everything from removing backgrounds, restoring photos, generating AI images, and designing posters and memes, “it cannot hijack trucks. Yet.”
Cineplex invited viewers to indulge in their “ample supply of KitKat Pops” without the fear of getting caught, because the darkness in the theater would prevent it.
The KitKat heist is not the first recorded instance of consumables being stolen
Image credits: RationalAvocado
“This is the Quebec maple syrup heist all over again,” a social media user wrote.
The Quebec Maple Syrup Heist, also known as the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist, occurred between 2011 and 2012, when thieves stole 3,330 tonnes of maple syrup from a facility in Saint-Louis-de-Blandford, Quebec.
Image credits: TheLOSTworld_
The theft came to light in July 2012, when inspector Michel Gauvreau conducted a routine check at the reserve.
To his horror, he found that some of the barrels were empty, while others had been drained of syrup and replaced with water.
Richard Vallières was identified as the leader of the heist in subsequent investigations.
Image credits: FrontCnot
He was known in syrup circles as a “barrel roller” and admitted to police in 2014 that he had been active in the maple syrup black market for a decade before the heist.
According to reporting from the Montreal Gazette in 2022, a man named Avik Caron, whose spouse co-owned the warehouse where the syrup barrels were stored, first suggested stealing them.
Image credits: NestléUKI
Caron was sentenced to five years in prison and fined 1.2 million for his role in the heist, while Vallières was sentenced to eight years in prison and fined 9.1 million.
Three other men — Raymond Vallières (Richard’s father, who provided his farm to store the stolen syrup), Étienne St-Pierre (a New Brunswick-based reseller), and Jutras (a trucker who transported barrels from the warehouse) — received sentences ranging from two years of community service to eight months of prison term.
“Europe, please solve this case fast, and Americans, please make a decent movie on this,” a netizen said about the KitKat heist
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