Kit Kat Chocolatory, London

Kit Kat Chocolatory is a pop up concept from Nestle, which launched at Westfield Stratford shopping centre in London during October 2016.

The Chocolatory is actually a new name for the Kit Kat Studio pop ups, which launched in Sydney and Melbourne in 2015.

A permanent Kit Kat Chocolatory has now also opened back in Melbourne.

Nestle has used pop ups both as a marketing tool, but also as a way to experiment with bringing a permanent format to market. This is where pop ups are a great tool to play with new ideas.

The Kit Kat Chocolatory offers two Kit Kat ‘experiences’ – four new ‘special edition’ Kit Kats feature each week during the pop up, with gourmet flavours such as Rose and Hibiscus on white chocolate, Chilli and Mint, and Rich cherry and bakewell tart. These sell at £3.50.

The heart of the concept is ‘create your own Kit Kat’. This is really what makes it special.

Using the touchscreen iPads you can customise your own Kit Kat with a choice of dark, white or milk chocolate and three toppings.

You can also design your own packaging.

Your Kit Kat is made fresh, ready to collect within 90 minutes. Customers pay using mobile units and receive a text message when it’s ready to collect.

Like the Sydney and Melbourne pop ups before, the London Chocolatory was an immediate hit – queues stretched out of the door during busy times – to such an extent Kit Kat stopped taking orders two hours before closing.

For developers such as Westfield, doing deals on pop up stores is a no brainer; they get to fill empty space with a destination concept that draws extra customers.

And they also get guaranteed 90 minutes of extra footfall around the centre whilst customers wait to pick up their Kit Kats.

From a retail perspective, pop ups like this demonstrate a powerful truth – nothing need be ordinary; by making the product specially, with theatre, fun and unique elements, you transform a simple commodity into something precious and premium.