In January, a chocolate Formula 1 car rolled off the line at our San Sisto factory in Italy. Weeks later, KitKat was trackside at the Grand Prix season opener in Melbourne - a signal of our brand's ambition and the scale at which we are now playing.
KitKat has been on our shelves for more than 90 years. Across generations and continents, families have reached for the same break. A ritual shared by parents, children and grandparents alike.
I can't recall the first time I had a KitKat, but I can say it's been my snack of choice for years. And this enduring popularity creates a challenge: how do you simultaneously please people seeking a familiar favorite, as well as those looking for something different?
On top of that, our habits are changing. KitKat has long owned the idea of having a break, but our always-on world means the nature of the break is shifting.
Here's how we have set KitKat up for growth and how it ties in with the broader evolution of our strategy at Nestlé.
- 827m global fans
- 12% Y-o-Y growth
- 43% Gen Z demographic
Expanding into new occasions and growth segments
The global treat market is growing - reaching $679 billion in 2024, up 2.4% year-on-year - and it's also evolving. Consumers today switch fluidly between formats, from chocolate to ice cream, biscuits, cereal bars and drinks. Creating a unified brand across these formats allows us to meet consumers where they are.
We are growing KitKat's portfolio across the snacking spectrum - including tablets, which are outperforming expectations, and bolder combinations like the KitKat Nescafé Latte in the UK. This creates multiple touchpoints for our brand across different moments in people's days.
Changes in habits are particularly noticeable for younger generations. For them, breaks are becoming intentional micro-pauses in an always-on world. It was this insight that inspired our 'Break Better' concept, which encourages genuine, uninterrupted moments while reinforcing the timeless 'Have a break' positioning.
Accelerating the fan experience - KitKat trackside in Melbourne to launch the 2026 Grand Prix season.
Driving growth through unified global marketing
Our latest marketing campaign 'KitKat Break Better' launched late 2024, was KitKat's first truly global campaign, proving that one human insight can resonate across more than 60 countries and across generations to drive brand growth.
We sold 5 billion KitKat bars in 85 countries that year, and in 2025, the brand's 90th anniversary, KitKat achieved 13.8% three-year average organic growth.
Now we've taken our campaigns up a gear, teaming up with Formula 1 for Nestlé's first-ever global partnership with the racing brand. This shift from independent local partnerships to a single global platform is enabling us to reach new audiences at scale.
In a world where consumers are more intentional about their time, selling a better break is a powerful place to be.Liberato Milo Head of Confectionery & Snacking Strategic Business Unit, Nestlé
F1 now counts 827 million fans, almost half of whom are Gen Z. We are amplifying KitKat's reach through F1's growth, across in‑store activations, TikTok fan content, fan‑zone experiences and advertising linked to the Netflix series Drive to Survive.
Even before we launched the first F1‑branded chocolate car in January, early results showed the partnership was resonating with consumers. We first promoted the partnership in Latin America, and KitKat has since become Ecuador's top-selling chocolate bar.
Engineering change at speed
Staying fresh and relevant means having the agility across manufacturing and operations to bring innovations to life at pace. We were able to engineer and launch the first-ever F1 chocolate car in record time at our San Sisto factory in Italy, and the 2026 rollout will follow the global race calendar across 30 countries.
We continue to strengthen our footprint with significant investment in our European hubs and capacity expansions in Brazil, India and Australia. This enables us to respond faster to emerging trends while maintaining the high quality consumers expect from KitKat.
Redefining the pit stop for a new generation of fans.
Creating momentum: the road ahead for KitKat
KitKat isn't coasting on its legacy; it's accelerating. The foundations we have built - a unified global brand, a portfolio that stretches across different occasions, and the operational muscle to move fast - give us a platform few confectionery brands can match. And that F1 car rolling off the line was more than just a product launch; it is a signal of how we intend to keep growing and innovating.
The next 90 years won't look like the first, but the underlying concept behind KitKat - that everyone deserves a good break - remains as relevant today as it was in 1935. And in a world where consumers are both time-pressed and more intentional about how they spend their time, selling a better break is a powerful place to be.
