Kvikk Lunsj is the name of a chocolate bar by the Norwegian chocolate sweets manufacturing company Freia, launched in 1937[1] and sold ever since, except for a period during and after WWII. Between 1941 and 1949, its production was halted due to a sugar shortage and the lack of quality flour. The chocolate consists of four rectangular wafers covered in milk chocolate, with thinner layers of filler made from ground-up discarded wafers and bars mixed with chocolate that is put between wafers to break the chocolate into pieces more easily. The chocolate has been advertised as a "hiking chocolate", and it is often associated with skiing trips in Norwegian culture, especially during Easter vacation, where chocolate is usually eaten to provide extra energy in packed lunches. Kvikk Lunsj is owned and produced by Mondelez International and sold in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.
In one year, the average Norwegian eats nine Kvikk Lunsj chocolates.[2] On average, four are consumed during Easter. Fifty million bars are produced each year, of which between 400 and 500 tons are sold during Easter. A sizable proportion of sales come from duty-free shops in Sweden and Denmark.
For many, Kvikk Lunsj has become a symbol of Norwegian culture, and there were strong reactions when Freia replaced foil with airtight packaging in 2005, in line with Freia's other chocolates. Facebook groups were created to oppose the change in packaging, which had been mostly unchanged since 1938. In the 1960s, Freia began printing the well-known on the back of the packaging.[3]
The chocolate is also sold in larger chocolate bars as Kvikk Lunsj XXL. Kvikk Lunsj has also been sold in blueberry and orange flavours. The chocolate has otherwise remained unchanged from the original. The first chocolates produced were covered in dark chocolate, which performed poorly in the market. The product was almost entirely removed from the market until it was reintroduced with milk chocolate.
Kit Kat is similar to Kvikk Lunsj. Kit Kat is a chocolate product sold internationally and was introduced in English markets by Rowntree Limited as "Rowntree's Chocolate Crisp" as early as 1935.[4] This company was bought by Nestlé in 1988. In 2006, Nestlé was granted a trademark on the "four-fingered wafer shape" by the European Union Intellectual Property Office.[5] However, in July 2018, the trademark was determined inadmissible by the Court of Justice of the European Union.[6]