News & Analysis on Chocolate, Candy and Cocoa
The multinational candy maker aligns with shoppers’ interest in value-oriented products reflected through its Reese’s and Kit Kat brands, while Jolly Ranchers' brand refresh features new textures and formats.
New Product Development
From Cadbury’s ‘fast start’ on Christmas to a pop-up return of the Caramac, meet the latest confectionery launches disrupting the industry
Discover how Nestlé's secret weapon is transforming cocoa farming, with an innovative approach to incentivising sustainable practices
Most cocoa farmers don’t earn a living income. Why not? And should they all?
Smart technology
With AI at the helm, the confectionery industry is entering a new era of innovation and efficiency, transforming everything from product creation to personalized marketing strategies. Here's how
As consumers’ ethical values become ever more baked into their confectionery choices, from Hershey to Mondelez and Nestle, we explore the ways brands are pivoting to more sustainable practises
Marketing
Nestlé’s Aero has launched a new ‘ShAero’ marketing campaign in the UK and Ireland, with an on-pack promotion that will see more than 33,000 sharing bars of Aero Peppermint up for grabs.
World Cocoa Conference 2024
Against a backdrop of cocoa topping $11,000 per metric ton on the futures market for the first time last week, Oxfam says its experts will be highlighting the discrepancies in farmgate price at this week’s World Cocoa Conference (WCC) in Brussels (21-24...
Company news
Nestlé shareholders rejected a resolution at its annual general meeting (AGM) on Thursday (19 April) demanding the KitKat maker reduce its reliance on unhealthy products.
sustainability
Nestlé has announced it is launching two new projects to help address the impact of climate change on cocoa and reduce and remove carbon emissions from its supply chains—as part of its commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Easter 2024
Nestlé Confectionery shares its 2024 Easter line-up, bringing egg-citing new products and popular classics to shop shelves across the UK & Ireland.
Retail
Nestlé International Travel Retail is launching its new sustainable KitKat to connect European travelling consumers with farmers and raise awareness about the cocoa used in the iconic bars.
Financial Results
KitKat, once again, proved to be Nestlé’s most resilient confectionery treat recording strong growth across all regions in what was otherwise a disappointing full-year results report for 2023 with lower than expected sales due to high inflation and lower...
Sustainability
KitKat, one of Nestlé’s most popular and innovative confectionery brands, will now become its most sustainable after the company announced the snack bar will be made with 100% chocolate sourced from the Income Accelerator Programme (IAP)
NPD
In a first for both KitKat and Nestlé Confectionery in the UK and Ireland, the dark chocolate bar is made with cocoa mass sourced from farmers and their families enrolled in Nestlé’s cocoa income accelerator programme.
Nestlé Professional tapped into UK social networks and found that branded confectionery can play a significant role in boosting the enjoyment of sweet bakery.
Manufacturing
The former Nestlé factory at Fawdon, Newcastle, due to shut at the end of December, has been bought by British baker Country Style Foods, which makes bread, cakes and baked goods, it has been revealed.
M&As
Mars has bought ailing UK business Hotel Chocolat for approximately £534 million ($662.25 million) in a deal announced to the London stock market this morning.
Confectionery
As if the news that Nestlé is discontinuing the decades-old favourite Caramac bar had left a bad taste in the mouth for some, UK consumers have been equally left devastated by the announcement from Mars that it is ending production of the Milkyway Crispy...
Special report
Consumer Reports (CR), a US independent, non-profit member organisation, has doubled down on its campaign against lead and cadmium in chocolate and urges changes after a new survey finds a third of products contain ‘concerning’ levels of heavy metals.
Financial results
In a market statement relating to its nine-month sales for 2023, Nestlé said growth was broad-based across most geographies and categories.
The project will see Cargill supply cocoa shells to CCm Technologies, who in turn will manufacture fertiliser for two farms supplying Nestlé UK & Ireland.
M&As
Nestlé has announced an agreement with Advent International to acquire a majority stake in Grupo CRM, which owns more than 1,000 chocolate boutiques under the Kopenhagen and Brasil Cacau brands across the county, along with a strong and growing online...
Production
The Swiss company said it is tripling the amount invested in the last four years in its chocolate and biscuit operations in Brazil to 2.7bn reais ($550.8 million) for the next three years.
Sustainability
Nestlé has published a progress report on its Income Accelerator Program, launched at the beginning of 2022 in Cote d’Ivoire, to support cocoa farmers in Côte d'Ivoire and incentivise them into greater productivity.
Financial results
Nestlé has reported better-than-expected first-half organic sales in its half-year results for 2023 and said it improved its full-year organic sales outlook after raising prices to cope with higher production costs.
News
Food and drink processor Nestle has rolled out a new technology which its claims can reduce the sugar content of ingredients.
Sustaiability
Nestlé is driving a fresh incentive to protect the Cavally Forest, which lies adjacent to cocoa production areas in western Cote d'Ivoire, and is one of the last remaining dense forests and a primary biodiversity spot threatened by deforestation.
Sustainability
Charity calls for ‘Big Chocolate’ to pay more to Ghana’s cocoa farmers after it revealed that their net incomes have fallen on average by 16% since 2020, with women’s incomes falling by nearly 22%.
Nestlé officially inaugurated its Lausanne, Switzerland-based research institute, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, to improve agricultural sustainability throughout its supply chain.
Nestle’s near double-digit price hike across its portfolio of coffee and confections over the past three months helped buoy sales and offset a notable jump in costs without significantly dragging down volumes, prompting executives and analysts to...
NPDs
Nestlé has announced six new variations of some of its most iconic UK brands including Aero, Milkybar, Munchies and Smarties.
Sustainability
The long-term agreement with Nestlé will include payments for ecosystem services (PES) to more than 6,000 farmers covering 11,500 hectares of agroforestry in Côte d’Ivoire. The implementation of the project is already underway, with three cooperatives in...
Sustainability
Alongside its 2022 Annual Report, Nestlé has published its Creating Shared Value and Sustainability (CSV) Report, with details on its supply chain transparency commitments and progress on its ‘Good for the Planet' initiative as well as the company’s...
Appointments
Nestlé has announced it has appointed Mark Davies as Managing Director for Nestlé Confectionery in the UK & Ireland, effective from 1 March.
Financial results
Nestlé has reported its net profit fell to CHF 16.9 billion ($18.33 billion) in its full year results for 2022, with sales increasing to CHF 94.4 billion ($102.38 billion), missing forecasts for CHF 95.02 billion ($103.05 billion), despite price...
NPD
Nestlé's confectionery team is kicking off 2023 by introducing a non-HFSS range of sharing gummy sweets for its historic Rowntree’s brand.
Appointments
Watson, who has been managing director for the past six years and in his 27th year at Nestlé, will take up his new role on 1 March 2023.
No longer a lumbering giant when it comes to R&D, Nestlé significantly increased its number of new product launches and number of patents in priority areas by simplifying its innovation process, fostering an entrepreneurial culture and collaborating with...
Nestlé is strengthening its policy on responsible marketing to children by voluntarily banning the direct marketing of products that don’t meet the Nestlé Policy Nutrition Criteria to audiences under 16-years-old.
The multinational breakfast cereal and confectionery giant has announced a ban on advertising high sugar products targeted at kids, tweens and teens.
Packaging
Nestlé UK has rushed to calm Christmas nerves over a packaging issue with its popular Quality Street selection box, which saw a limited run that included the famous hazelnut noisette (green) triangle wrapped in an unfamiliar gold colour - while some fans...
The Cheerios and Shreddies maker has contributed CFH 100,000 ($101,647) to the Africa Food Prize to unearth the bold initiatives and technical innovations that will create a new era of food security and build great climate change resilience on the continent.
By 2025, Nestlé expects to be a few percentage points off its goal of achieving 100% packaging designed for recycling. Jodie Roussell, Public Affairs Lead, Packaging & Sustainability, explains what’s gone right, and where its focus now lies.
Financial results
Nestlé has announced its strongest nine-month sales growth in 14 years with organic sales rising by 8.5% in the nine months to end-September.
Environment
Nestlé Confectionery’s ongoing mission to use paper packaging on its products has taken a new twist with innovations for its Quality Street and KitKat brands.
Sustainability
Nestlé’s ‘innovative income accelerator programme’ to increase cocoa farmer income and achieve full traceability in its cocoa supply chain was the subject of an informative webinar between the Rainforest Alliance and Nestlé on the importance of...
Appointments
Nestlé has announced that Lisa Gibby has been appointed as Deputy Executive Vice President and Chief Communications Officer, effective 1 January 2023.
Free-from
After a successful launch in the UK, Nestlé's has confirmed that KitKat V, the vegan version of the iconic wafer snack, will soon roll out in 15 European countries.
R&D
The Swiss multi-national has announced details of a new Youth Entrepreneurship Platform (YEP) for young innovators and entrepreneurs in the food industry.