Luke Charters, Member of Parliament for York Outer, visited the Nestlé York campus, the home of KitKat, for the first time since his election in July 2024. Mr Charters was hosted at the site on Haxby Road by Scott Coles, head of Nestlé’s Confectionery business in the UK, and the leadership teams at the R&D centre, factory and distribution centre.
The visit coincided with the official 90th birthday of the KitKat brand and follows Nestlé’s recent launch of the ‘Good for Britain, Good for the Future’ campaign to celebrate its British heritage and local pride – with KitKat still made on site today.
After learning about the R&D activities that take place in York to create new products, Mr Charters was guided on a tour of the KitKat manufacturing lines and upgraded packaging machinery, during which he was able to talk to factory employees and learn about how the company cares for its staff and the investment made into its York site.
The MP also saw first-hand how KitKat products are made in York using milk from family farms in Scotland, and learnt that it is British wheat that helps to give the wafer its snap. The fresh milk comes from farmers in Ayrshire, Scotland and is sourced via the Nestlé Milk Plan partnership with British dairy cooperative, First Milk, which supports farmers to take practical measures that protect and enhance the natural assets on their land.
The visit concluded with a ride in an all-electric HGV, driven by Stacey Kelly, who retrained as an HGV driver through a Nestlé apprenticeship scheme, and walkaround of the recently upgraded distribution centre which supplies Nestlé products to locations across the UK.
Scott Coles, Managing Director for Confectionery at Nestlé UK&I, said: “It was a pleasure to welcome Mr Charters to our York campus. The visit was a great opportunity to highlight Nestlé’s commitment to excellence in manufacturing and showcase our local colleagues’ expertise across all parts of our business.”
Luke Charters, Member of Parliament for York Outer, said: “Visiting Nestlé here in York was an absolute delight – this site has been a cornerstone of our city’s economy and community for generations. I have fond memories of the smell of KitKat filling the air when I was at Huntington School, so it’s wonderful to see how that legacy continues today. Nestlé stands as one of our largest local employers, and I’m genuinely proud to witness the skill, innovation, and dedication of the people who bring confectionery to life. York’s rich history as a centre of chocolate-making is alive and well, with a bright and ambitious future on the horizon. It’s also heartening to hear how Nestlé treats its staff with respect and care, including enhanced parental leave – a fantastic example of supporting its workforce just as I returned from paternity leave myself.”
Nestlé York is the home of KitKat. It was invented in York in 1935 thanks to an employee suggestion to make a chocolate bar that could fit in a lunch box. 90 years later, the Nestlé York factory makes 4 million KitKat bars a day – one and a half billion a year – all made and designed by our team of chocolate experts right here in the city.
Nowadays, the York site is a multifaceted campus housing a 24/7, 364 days a year operations confectionery factory, offices, a distribution centre for the north of the UK, Cereal Partners Worldwide Research and Development Centre, and the Nestlé Product Technology Centre (NPTC) - Nestlé’s global centre of excellence for R&D in KitKat, chocolate and biscuits. Nestlé is one of the biggest employers in York and we have 2000 people on this site working across manufacturing, distribution, head office and research and development.
Nestlé also recently invested £5.2 million into its York distribution centre, building on more than £85 million investment in the Nestlé York campus in the past decade and highlighting Nestlé’s commitment to improving efficiency and modernising its facilities as the company celebrates the 40th anniversary of its York Distribution Centre site this year.
