AFP, Inashiki :
Cough-medicine-flavoured KitKat anyone It may not be to everyone’s taste, but this is just one of 300 weird and wonderful flavours flying off the shelves in Japan, which has become the world’s biggest market for the four-fingered snack. In true Japanese style, human workers are a rare sight at one KitKat factory in Kasumigaura, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of Tokyo. Instead, dozens of robots manufacture four million bars a day at breakneck speed, from mixing the chocolate paste to wrapping them ready for sale. KitKats have been around in Britain since 1935 and only arrived in Japan in 1973. But the Japanese market has a crucial unique selling point-a huge variety of different flavours.
It all started with a strawberry flavoured KitKat in 2000 and the range expanded quickly-from flavours aimed at local taste buds such as sake, green tea and wasabi-to more exotic combinations like melon and mascarpone.
Access to KitKat factories is strictly limited and photos are kept to a minimum in a bid to preserve the secrets of the recipe. And it appears to be a recipe for success. Without publishing an exact turnover figure for Japan, KitKat manufacturer Nestle says sales have grown 50 percent in the country since 2010, making it the biggest market ahead of Britain-although second-biggest in terms of volume. And in a sign of the success, a new production site was opened only last month in the western region of Kobe.
Why such success in Japan? One reason, according to Cedric Lacroix, managing executive officer of Nestle Japan’s confectionery business, is that Japanese consumers appreciate the variety of flavours on offer.
Cough-medicine-flavoured KitKat anyone It may not be to everyone’s taste, but this is just one of 300 weird and wonderful flavours flying off the shelves in Japan, which has become the world’s biggest market for the four-fingered snack. In true Japanese style, human workers are a rare sight at one KitKat factory in Kasumigaura, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) east of Tokyo. Instead, dozens of robots manufacture four million bars a day at breakneck speed, from mixing the chocolate paste to wrapping them ready for sale. KitKats have been around in Britain since 1935 and only arrived in Japan in 1973. But the Japanese market has a crucial unique selling point-a huge variety of different flavours.
It all started with a strawberry flavoured KitKat in 2000 and the range expanded quickly-from flavours aimed at local taste buds such as sake, green tea and wasabi-to more exotic combinations like melon and mascarpone.
Access to KitKat factories is strictly limited and photos are kept to a minimum in a bid to preserve the secrets of the recipe. And it appears to be a recipe for success. Without publishing an exact turnover figure for Japan, KitKat manufacturer Nestle says sales have grown 50 percent in the country since 2010, making it the biggest market ahead of Britain-although second-biggest in terms of volume. And in a sign of the success, a new production site was opened only last month in the western region of Kobe.
Why such success in Japan? One reason, according to Cedric Lacroix, managing executive officer of Nestle Japan’s confectionery business, is that Japanese consumers appreciate the variety of flavours on offer.
