Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The hijacking of rare Japanese KitKats

straitstimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 180 posts

Re: The hijacking of rare Japanese KitKats

#21

Post by SECProto »

robotnikman wrote: post #13
lbotos wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

KitKat in the USA is run by Hershey. KitKat globally is run by Nestle. That's one reason why. The second is that in Japan Kit Kat sounds like "good luck" which is why they became popular, and two, why we see such regional variation. (I have 4 Japanese flavors in my NYC fridge right now -- Sweet Potato, Adult Sweetness, Wheat, and Caramel Pudding (which you bake!)

I just ended up ordering some myself after finding out about these lol. Another perk I've found about treats from overseas is they use actual sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.

sugar instead of HFCS, cocoa butter instead of palm oil. There's definitely better quality in some markets and products than others

Re: The hijacking of rare Japanese KitKats

#24

Post by reactordev »

robotnikman wrote: post #13
lbotos wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

KitKat in the USA is run by Hershey. KitKat globally is run by Nestle. That's one reason why. The second is that in Japan Kit Kat sounds like "good luck" which is why they became popular, and two, why we see such regional variation. (I have 4 Japanese flavors in my NYC fridge right now -- Sweet Potato, Adult Sweetness, Wheat, and Caramel Pudding (which you bake!)

I just ended up ordering some myself after finding out about these lol. Another perk I've found about treats from overseas is they use actual sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.

That's pretty much true of most overseas candies and chocolates. Some of the best chocolates from Europe use cocoa butter and real sugar. Not Processed Cocoa Powder, HFCS, additives, colorings, preservatives, and then tempered with plastic.

Re: The hijacking of rare Japanese KitKats

#25

Post by lbotos »

karlshea wrote: post #18
lbotos wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

KitKat in the USA is run by Hershey. KitKat globally is run by Nestle. That's one reason why. The second is that in Japan Kit Kat sounds like "good luck" which is why they became popular, and two, why we see such regional variation. (I have 4 Japanese flavors in my NYC fridge right now -- Sweet Potato, Adult Sweetness, Wheat, and Caramel Pudding (which you bake!)

> Caramel Pudding (which you bake!) Oh my god I have some of these I should have looked at the back of the package more closely!

I'm a cooking nerd so I have a torch which I find works better than the oven and toasting them does actually make them better!!

Re: The hijacking of rare Japanese KitKats

#26

Post by electriclove »

robotnikman wrote: post #13
lbotos wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

KitKat in the USA is run by Hershey. KitKat globally is run by Nestle. That's one reason why. The second is that in Japan Kit Kat sounds like "good luck" which is why they became popular, and two, why we see such regional variation. (I have 4 Japanese flavors in my NYC fridge right now -- Sweet Potato, Adult Sweetness, Wheat, and Caramel Pudding (which you bake!)

I just ended up ordering some myself after finding out about these lol. Another perk I've found about treats from overseas is they use actual sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.

Where did you order from?

Re: The hijacking of rare Japanese KitKats

#27

Post by ChuckMcM »

This reads like there is an opportunity for a YC company to create an authenticated freight dispatching service. Sort of "uber for freight" where you sign up owner/operators and connect them with freight loads that need to move from one place to another. If the company does the vetting and works with an insurance company to cover liabilities both ways (o/o is at fault, shipper is at fault) it seems they could capture some value from creating a safer market.

Re: The hijacking of rare Japanese KitKats

#28

Post by reactordev »

SECProto wrote: post #21
robotnikman wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just ended up ordering some myself after finding out about these lol. Another perk I've found about treats from overseas is they use actual sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.

sugar instead of HFCS, cocoa butter instead of palm oil. There's definitely better quality in some markets and products than others

except they use palm oil in the caramel pudding recipe.

>"Ingredients: Chocolate (Sugar, Lactose, Vegetable Oil(palm)whole milk powder, cocoa butter), wheat flour, vegetable oil, lactose, sugar, caramel powder (skim milk, concentrated milk), yeast extract, cocoa powder, whole milk powder, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, emulsifier(lethal, sucrose fatty acid ester, glycerin fatty acid ester), sodium bicarbonate, flavor, yeast extract,(contains wheat, milk, soybeans)"

Re: The hijacking of rare Japanese KitKats

#29

Post by pbhjpbhj »

projektfu wrote: post #14
twic wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's Nestle in the UK, and they don't sell the Japanese bonus snacks here either.

License it to Mondelez and suddenly it will have lots of flavors you won't likely buy....

KitKat are already full of wafer so Mondelez wouldn't be motivated to 'put anything in the chocolate bar at all so long as it's not chocolate'. What's cheaper than wafer? I guess if they can make more of the inside wafer, so there's less chocolate coating?

Perhaps you can make wafer bubbly, so it's more air? Although it's cheaper to just put it in a plastic wrapper and fill the wrapper with nitrogen...

Re: The hijacking of rare Japanese KitKats

#30

Post by closewith »

mparkms wrote: post #10

So this guy whose job it is to hire truckers to move goods fell for the same scam twice in a row? Fool me once, etc, etc...

There are lots of high-trust interfaces like this in the legacy businesses that make up most of world commerce. It might not be feasible to do much more in the way of background checks.
Post reply on HN