Who owns KitKat (United States)?
KitKat (United States) is made and sold by Hershey (the United States, NYSE: HSY) under licence; Hershey does not own the name.[1] The KitKat name is owned by Nestlé.
Evidence: The Hershey Company Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-02-17, SEC EDGAR, 17 February 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
Key facts
- Licensed to
- The Hershey Company verified
- Headquarters
- 🇺🇸 United States, Hershey, Pennsylvania
- Origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Founded
- 1935
- Category
- Food › Confectionery › Chocolate
- Parent ticker
- NYSE: HSY
- Trademark registrant
- SOCIETE DES PRODUITS NESTLE S.A. (USPTO)
- Last verified
- · 2 sources
About KitKat (United States)
Hershey makes and sells KitKat in the United States under a perpetual licence it inherited in 1970 from an agreement with Rowntree. Nestlé owns the brand everywhere else. The American bars are made to a different recipe, which is why imported British KitKats taste noticeably different.
Trademark record for KitKat (United States)
The USPTO record for the KitKat (United States) mark lists SOCIETE DES PRODUITS NESTLE S.A. as the owner of record (serial number 73044306). A trademark is often held by a group company rather than the listed parent, so the registrant's name can differ from the owner named above.[2]
Ownership timeline of KitKat (United States)
Where KitKat (United States) sits in Hershey
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Hershey ownership tree →
See the full Hershey brand portfolio (12) →
Other brands owned by Hershey
Hershey controls 13 brands on Brandtree, 13 of them in food.
Also in food
- Almond Joy (1946)
- Dot's Homestyle Pretzels (2011)
- Heath (1928)
- Hershey's (1900)
- Hershey's Kisses (1907)
- Ice Breakers (1996)
- Jolly Rancher (1949)
- PayDay (1932)
- Reese's (1928)
- SkinnyPop (2010)
- Twizzlers (1929)
- York (1940)
Other brands in chocolate, and who owns them
The 131 brands in chocolate on Brandtree belong to 45 owners. The largest is Mars, with 9; Hershey has 6.
About the owner: Hershey
Hershey is a publicly listed company headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States, founded in 1894.
The Hershey Company was founded by Milton Hershey in 1894 and is controlled by the Hershey Trust, which funds a school for disadvantaged children and holds the majority of voting power. Hershey makes Cadbury and KitKat under licence for the United States market.
🇬🇧 KitKat (United States) and other British brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 552 brands that began in the United Kingdom. 291 of them (53%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, KitKat (United States) among them.
Frequently asked questions
Who makes KitKat (United States)?
Hershey makes and sells KitKat (United States) under a licensing agreement.
Does Hershey own KitKat (United States)?
No. Hershey holds a licence to make and sell KitKat (United States), which is not the same as owning it.
Where did KitKat (United States) come from?
KitKat (United States) originated in the United Kingdom in 1935.
Sources (2) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] The Hershey Company Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-02-17 — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 10-K, published 17 February 2026; retrieved 16 September 2026.
- [2] USPTO: KIT KAT, serial 73044306 — United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark registry; retrieved 23 October 2026.
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