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NESTLE

Norway’s Kvikk Lunsj foils Nestlé’s KitKat plot

Kvikk Lunsj, the chocolate wafer snack beloved by hikers across Norway, has upset a scheme by the Swiss confectionary giant Nestlé to trademark the four-finger bar concept for itself.

Published: 16 June 2015 22:30 CEST
Norway's Kvikk Lunsj foils Nestlé's KitKat plot
A Kvikk Lunsj snack laid out during summer hiking trip. Photo: Kvikk Lunsj/Facebook
Nestlé has been battling to trademark the shape of the KitKat, a bar first produced by Rowntree in 1935 in the UK, against the unyielding opposition of the US food giant Mondelēz International.
 
Mondelēz owns both Cadbury’s, Nestlé’s bitter rival in the UK sweets market, and Freia, the Norwegian confectionary company which launched Kvikk Lunsj in 1937. 
 
In its application, Nestlé argued that since more than 90 percent of British people associated the shape of the bar with the trademark KitKat, it should be allowed to trademark it. 
 
However, Mondelēz successfully argued that since Kvikk Lunsj existed, and was also for sale in some UK shops, Nestlé’s application should be rejected. 
 
Last week, Melchior Wathelet, Advocate-general at the European Courts of Justice, ruled against Nestlé, probably ending its attempt to trademark the shape. 
 
Norwegians consume an average of nine Kvikk Lunsj bars a year, three of which are consumed at Easter, when Norwegians families traditionally go off on cross-country skiing trips fuelled by Kvikk Lunsj calories. 

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NESTLE

‘Unlimited resources’: Switzerland’s Nestle goes vegan

Swiss food giant Nestle, which has made billions with dairy products, said Monday it will host start-ups that want to develop vegetarian alternatives.

Published: 29 September 2020 15:33 CEST
'Unlimited resources': Switzerland's Nestle goes vegan
Photo: SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP

Nestle could thus find itself at the forefront of a sector that has strong growth potential, an analyst commented.

It plans to open its research and development (R&D) centre in Konolfingen, Switzerland to “start-ups, students and scientists” a statement said.

In addition to testing sustainable dairy products, the group plans to encourage work on plant-based dairy alternatives, it added.

Chief executive Mark Schneider was quoted as saying that “innovation in milk products and plant-based dairy alternatives is core to Nestle's portfolio strategy.”

The group unveiled a vegetable-based milk that had already been developed with the process, and technical director Stefan Palzer told AFP it planned to focus on 100-200 such projects a year.

Jon Cox, an analyst at Kepler Cheuvreux, noted that while Nestle had missed some consumer trends in the past, it has now “taken something of a lead in the plant-based alternative market for food”.

And “given its pretty much unlimited resources, Nestle is going to come out one of the winners in the space,” Cox forecast in an e-mail.

Nestle said that “internal, external and mixed teams” would work at the R&D centre over six-month periods.

Nestle would provide “expertise and key equipment such as small to medium-scale production equipment to facilitate the rapid upscaling of products for a test launch in a retail environment,” it added.

The Swiss food giant has long been known for its dairy products, but faced a boycott in the 1970s for allegedly discouraging mothers in developing countries from breastfeeding even though it was cheaper and more nutritious than powdered formula.

On Monday, the group's statement also underscored that the research initiative was part of its commitment to help fight global warming.

“As a company, we have set ambitious climate goals. This is part of our promise to develop products that are good for you and good for the planet,” it said.

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