Sound the alarm, we have a new mass food heist on our hands! Few will forget mysterious thieves absconding with 22 tons of artisanal cheddar cheese in late 2024, or the 2,500 savory Christmas pies that went missing months later. Both those culinary calamities went down in England, while last year the food crime wave hit stateside when $1 million in product was stolen from Guy Fieri’s tequila company. For this latest installment, we’re back in Europe, specifically Italy, where a delivery truck bound for Poland went on a felonious detour to parts still unknown. And what food was taken this time? KitKats! Seriously?? Give me a break! Or, more accurately, it’s the thieves who now have 413,793 KitKat bars — 12 tons!! — from which to break themselves off a piece. This is such an egregious case of grant theft choco that parent company Nestle issued a warning of a European KitKat shortage:
Swiss food giant Nestle said on Saturday a huge shipment of KitKat chocolate, weighing around 12 tons, had been stolen last week.
The company said the truck carrying 413,793 bars of its new chocolate range set off from its production facility in central Italy and was on its way to Poland when it disappeared.
Nestle did not reveal where exactly the truck was lost.
As of afternoon Saturday, the whereabouts of the vehicle and the merchandise remain unknown.
“We’ve always encouraged people to have a break with KitKat,” a spokesperson for the brand said, referring to the product’s advertising slogan.
“But it seems thieves have taken the message too literally and made a break with more than 12 tons of our chocolate.”
The firm said the heist could result in shortages of the crunchy bars — made of wafer covered with chocolate — on supermarket shelves in some European countries.
It also warned that the missing chocolate bars “could enter unofficial sales channels.” But Nestle said if that happens, it would be possible to trace the stolen goods by scanning the unique batch codes found on each bar.
“If a match is found, the scanner will be given clear instructions on how to alert KitKat who will then share the evidence appropriately,” it said.
The company also sounded the alarm over the rise in cargo theft incidents.
“Whilst we appreciate the criminals’ exceptional taste, the fact remains that cargo theft is an escalating issue for businesses of all sizes,” KitKat said.
“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.”
Well this is an unwanted sour note to a sweet treat! We should note that since Nestle revealed the heist and caused mass panic issued the European KitKat shortage warning, KitKat itself has come out and denied any shortage fears. KitKat insists “there are no concerns for consumer safety, and supply is not affected,” although their statement confirmed the stolen goods amounted to 12 tons. Does that sound reasonable? That they could lose 12 tons worth of stock and it wouldn’t disrupt supply? I’m not a sizeologist (except when it comes to jewelry), but that sounds fishy to me, like it’s just KitKat PR’s wishful spin on it all. Not to knock their spox — the way they weaved the brand’s classic slogan into their official comments of having been robbed was PR perfection.
Now, if I may, a maternal interlude: my mother has been obsessed with KitKats for years. For a while she had an automatic delivery set up to receive six boxes, each filled with 24 bars, every four months. These boxes would then be kept in the refrigerator, except for a few loose bars in the freezer that she referred to as the “active supply,” the stash ready for consumption. This highly regulated system broke down when my mother decided that the milk chocolate was too sweet and she switched to — and I’m clutching my own pearls at saying this — DARK chocolate KitKats. I never thought this would happen in our family. I’m not anti-dark chocolate writ large, but KitKats and Reese’s demand milk, in my humble (and correct) opinion. And because they’re not the way god intended for KitKats to be made, the supply of the dark chocolate kind is less reliable. As you can imagine, this has caused an undue amount of havoc in my mother’s life. So yes, reader, upon learning this late breaking news, I made immediate contact with my mother to verify her whereabouts and/or chocolate candy purchases over the past week, illicit or otherwise. She denies any and all wrongdoing… yet has no alibi to back up her claims. Did mama mia steal 12 tons of Italian KitKats??
Regarding recent press coverage pic.twitter.com/Huh4EnFV2J
— KITKAT (@KITKAT) March 29, 2026
My sons always said Kit Kat is the best candy bar there is, thankfully they weren’t anywhere near there or I might suspect them.. but seriously are Kit Kats that in demand for people to steal all of that much?
I am also Kit Kat obsessed. When I visited Japan in 2018 I was in Kit Kat heaven 🙂 They offer a huge number of varieties compared to the US. They even have Kit Kat stores.
I went to Don Quixote’s the other day, it’s a Japanese-owned store here in Honolulu, and I noticed they had bags of strawberry KitKats & matcha KitKats. That was their pink & green Easter collection, I’m guessing.
Kismet, your story of your mom and the issues with supply of dark chocolate KitKats made me think of my own chocolate obsession: dark chocolate squares from Nespresso. They’re the perfect size, 2-3 satisfy my craving without me having a full size chocolate bar in my house, open and calling my name
They stop shipping in the summer months, and your story reminded me I need to go stock up.
But uh oh! I just checked their website and I’m too late – dark chocolate is gone already, though the milk chocolate ones are still in stock. They’ll do in a pinch so I’d better order today.
I so enjoy your writing style. Loved the bit about your mom.
Nestle is almost comic book evil, and are responsible for millions of deaths. I’m one of the many many people who have been boycotting Nestle for years, and everyone should be boycotting them.
KitKat is the ONLY candy bar from Nestle worth the wrapper but I still will not support their tyranny.
Well it makes zero difference to me, Kitkats aren’t a patch on what they were tears ago when they were still in the paper & foil packaging (am I showing my age here?). We bought a 6 pack last month and there’s still a couple left. It’s almost like I can be arsed eating them they’re so bad now. The days of sooking tea or coffee up through a finger is gone, they disintegrate into nothingness now.
All chocolate candies that I used to love (Kit Kats, M&M’s, Reeses) are inedible now.
Same. The ingredients changed. High-fructose corn syrup instead of cane sugar, the ‘milk’ is some weird processed stuff, the chocolate’s coming from some different suppliers, etc.
And I thought it was just my old lady taste. I use to love just about every chocolate bar under the sun….now it’s just Kinder for me.
The best KitKats are the Japanese editions like matcha. OG flavor nope.
“Grant Theft Choco”
Now I want THAT video game. Stealing cars and illegal activity to score some delicious chocolate.
Uh oh, I agree with your mother. Dark chocolate KitKats are divine. 🤤. But my goodness, six boxes of 24 every four months?!?!?! Although, come to think of it, I tend to keep chocolate in my fridge for daily consumption, but usually individually wrapped Lindt truffles (assorted dark chocolate!) or something like that.