Nestlé discontinues vegan KitKat

After four years, Nestlé is discontinuing the production and marketing of its plant-based KitKat bars. The manufacturer is seeing sales decline while production costs remain high.

Too expensive?

Nestlé launched KitKat V in 2021 as a plant-based alternative to the classic chocolate bar. The product was developed at Nestlé’s confectionery research and development centre in the United Kingdom. After a successful trial, production was scaled up in 2022 at a factory in Hamburg and the vegan variant was rolled out to 15 additional European countries. The product was marketed as a sustainable alternative, with an 18% lower carbon footprint than the dairy version.

But now Nestlé is halting production, the multinational confirmed to Reuters. The production of the plant-based variant entails higher costs and therefore a significantly higher retail price, which proved to be a brake on sales. Observers note that demand for plant-based products is declining worldwide. Many consumers are questioning whether plant-based options – often considered ultra-processed foods – are actually healthier than traditional products.