If you happened to have been sitting at your computer all day last Thursday, constantly refreshing our site (and I’m sure many of you do), you would have noticed something odd. On Breanna’s Japanese KitKat review, the spelling of KitKat kept changing between Kit Kat and KitKat. What you couldn’t see was a feverish effort behind the scenes to research which way was actually correct. Unfortunately, it just isn’t a clear cut matter.
You see, in the United States, Hershey obtained a special licensing agreement in 1969 which allows it to manufacture and distribute Kit Kats. According to the Hershey Kit Kat page, the proper form is, in fact, the split form of Kit Kat.
However, Hershey’s arch competitor Nestle manufactures and distributes KitKat in pretty much the rest of the world. While their website isn’t terribly consistent, for the most part, and especially on their history of KitKat page, the one word form is used.
After much discussion and wrangling, we finally decided to go with whichever form is used in the country in which the bar in question is produced – in the case of Japan, KitKat. It wasn’t easy, but we think we’ve finally come to a suitable compromise. Oh, the stress of a Candy Addict’s life!
Buy Japanese KitKats Online:
- at Jbox.com
Buy U.S. Kit Kats Online:
- at Amazon.com
- at Candy Direct
- at Old Time Candy Co
No wonder I’ve been spelling it as one word…I’ve only been eating the foreign versions as of late! :P
Thanks for the link about the history of Kit Kat bars! I never had a clue that it was originally a British candy. Fascinating, the trivia bits about the Kit Kat Club, the low ceilings, and the need for pictures that were wide and short…
You just have to love Kit Kats – no matter which way it is spelled.