Last month, 12 tons of “Formula 1”- themed KitKat chocolate bars were stolen from a delivery truck, shipping over 400,000 KitKats from Italy to Poland. Somewhere along the route, the thieves struck.The KitKats never made it to their destination, neither did the truck, ultimately disappearing from the public eye.
Although 12 tons of KitKats seems like a lot, Nestlé, the company that manufactures KitKats, didn’t see a major effect on their supply, and there aren’t any concerns for customer safety. This was announced in KitKat’s official statement regarding the thievery.
Rather than thinking of this situation as a concern, many people find it laughable. After all, it’s not every day you see cargo theft for something like KitKats. In fact, numerous brands including Domino’s Pizza, and Ryanair, a British airline company, seem to find the theft particularly amusing.
The KitKat heist has triggered multiple conspicuous statements on social media from brands hinting that they might have something to do with the mysterious disappearance of the KitKats. For example, DoorDash encouraged customers to order “like 500-600 KitKats” from their DashMarts, as this would help them out due to a “completely random packaging error.”(https://www.instagram.com/p/DWhSDGcks3S)
Domino’s Pizza was quick to express concern for Nestlé but “on a completely unrelated note,” they now sell KitKat pizza. 7-Eleven Mexico posted a photo of a KitKat topped drink, as well as hinting at a new “limited-time” KitKat flavored drink.
Denny’s took a more direct approach, joking that whatever had happened to the missing KitKats happened between 1:30 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. “We were very busy. No further questions.”
Though it is easy to guess that none of these companies actually had anything to do with the heist. But there are some wild theories out through social media that, while unproven, actually make sense.
There’s been a great deal of speculation about Nestlé’s involvement and that they might not be the victim in this situation. One theory is that the heist is completely staged. The collaboration between F1 and KitKat is fairly new, and for the heist to happen right as the F1 KitKats were beginning to be marketed is quite convenient for Nestlé. This heist has made global news, ultimately informing everyone of these new F1 KitKats. As the heist is fresh in many customers’ minds, so are the F1 KitKats.
“It’s like Willy Wonka and the golden ticket,” says Ken Muraoka, the business teacher at Ida B. Wells. “Maybe I could go buy one of the stolen ones.”
Muroaka believes Nestlé will benefit from this no matter what. “It saved them from paying a PR firm to hype up the F1 KitKats, because the thieves did it for them.” Muroaka says. “If you’re Nestlé, you gotta make it look like you’re upset. But behind closed doors you’re like, ‘Oh my god, this is great.’”
“Somewhere in there, somebody’s making more profit by being sold. It’s just who?” Muroaka says. But regardless of who the thieves are, Nestlé will probably be benefitting from the heist.
If the theory about Nestlé’s involvement is incorrect, we are left wondering what the true thieves are doing with 400,000 F1 KitKats. Unless they can eat all 413,793 of them, they’re probably profiting off selling them.
“I would eat a bunch, I would stockpile a percentage of them, and I would sell a percentage of them,” says Muroaka in regard to what he would do with the stolen KitKats. “But I would sell them in two waves. The first one to people who want to buy them now, and then I would wait to sell the second ones near the end of the promotion when everyone’s stock is running out.”
While we don’t know exactly what the thieves are doing with the stolen KitKats, we know they didn’t pay anything for them. Therefore, any money they make from the stolen Kit Kats is profit. However, KitKat was quick to release a Stolen KitKat tracker.(https://nestletest.qualifioapp.com)
The tracker encourages customers to find the batch number on the back of their purchased KitKats, and input them into the tracker. The tracker will then tell you if your KitKat is one of the stolen ones. This helps the company to tell where the thieves are distributing the KitKats, and could potentially lead authorities in the right direction.
“To really get away with it, you would have to distribute them in random global locations, so there is no clear pattern.” Muroaka says.
In contrast to the business-like approach of Muroaka, we know exactly what IBW freshman Emma Radosta would do with all 400,000 KitKats.
“I’d eat them,” says Radosta. Much like the brands responding to the heist, Radosta seems pretty unbothered by the crime itself. She even believes congratulations are in order. “Honestly, I’m pretty proud of them,” says Radosta. “You pull off a big heist, and it’s for KitKats, that’s awesome.”
Muroaka feels similarly. “Good job,” he says. “To make off with 12 tons of KitKat bars and not really leave a trail? Pretty impressive.”
If you’re interested in staying updated about the heist, check out KitKat’s social media, and if you purchase any KitKats, be sure to enter the code on the back into the stolen KitKat tracker.
