Chocolate aromas from Nestlé’s York factory now tracked on Twitter

Nestlé UK has launched a new Twitter account to provide visitors and residents in York with regular updates on the best locations to smell the chocolate aroma emanating from the Company’s York factory.

York, also known as Chocolate City, has been processing cocoa since at least 1785. Once home to four sizeable confectionery factories; Nestlé York is now the last major producer in the City and still remains one of the World’s largest confectionery factories producing around 7 million bars a day including Kit Kat, Aero, Yorkie, Milky Bar and Polo.

Nestlé plan to continue to improve and add to their @YorkChocAroma updates

Nestlé’s @YorkChocAroma twitter account has been trialled since March of this year. The service works by gathering data from weather stations and then generating an update telling followers where the wind is blowing, what speed, and in which area of the city they might smell cocoa from the Nestlé factory. Updates include a map of the city with a cloud shape emanating from the factory over the relevant area. The service also posts updates from the factory giving an even more detailed breakdown of smells when they think there will be an exciting aroma alteration.

The smell of the factory has several notes, all with different carrying properties (cocoa roasting from the cocoa processing plant; volatiles and sugar from the factory that makes the chocolate; to the peppermint from Polo). The service aims to use crowd-sourced data to fine-tune the account and give an accurate map of where the smells are moving to.

A Nestlé spokesperson said, “The response has been brilliant and we will continue to improve and add to it.  Anyone who has brought up in York or visited the City remembers the smell from the chocolate factory and if we’re able to help a few people to move into the right part of the city to enjoy this aroma, then it’s done its job.”