‘The chocolate is much glossier’: M&S reissue retro 80s chocolate bar and we taste test it vs KitKats

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A retro chocolate bar walks back into the snack aisle

There are two kinds of people in this world: people who calmly eat a chocolate wafer bar, and people who immediately compare it to a KitKat while pretending they are conducting serious culinary research. Today, we are proudly in the second group.

M&S has brought back a retro St Michael chocolate wafer bar called Take 4, a four-finger snack with crispy wafer, cocoa filling, and a thick milk chocolate coating. It has the sort of packaging that looks like it should be sitting next to a rotary phone, a cassette player, and someone’s aggressively floral 1980s wallpaper. Naturally, it has sparked the big snack question: is this simply an M&S KitKat alternative, or does it have enough personality to snap off a place of its own?

The comparison is unavoidable. KitKat is the chocolate-wafer benchmark: light, crisp, easy to snap, and so culturally tied to “taking a break” that even looking at one makes you feel like you should stop answering emails. M&S Take 4 follows the same basic architecture: four fingers, wafer layers, chocolate coating, and a breakable format made for sharing, dunking, or eating in secret while standing near the kitchen counter like a raccoon with good taste.

But the first visual difference is immediate: the M&S chocolate looks glossier. It has a smoother, richer surface, and the coating appears thicker and more polished than a standard KitKat. That glossy finish matters because chocolate is judged before it even reaches the mouth. Shine suggests careful tempering, good fat crystallization, and a more premium feel. In simpler snack language: it looks fancier.

What exactly is M&S Take 4?

Take 4 is a revived St Michael-branded four-finger wafer bar from M&S, presented in vintage-inspired packaging. The single bar weighs 45 grams, while the multipack version comes in at 180 grams. According to M&S product details, the bar layers delicate crispy wafers with a rich cocoa paste filling and coats them in smooth Fairtrade milk chocolate. The chocolate coating makes up a generous 66% of the product, which helps explain why the bar looks and tastes more chocolate-forward than many wafer snacks.

That number is important. A wafer bar can lean two ways: crisp and airy, or creamy and chocolate-heavy. KitKat traditionally sits in the first camp, offering a thin, familiar chocolate layer around a very light wafer structure. Take 4 seems to lean more heavily into the chocolate experience. It is still crisp, but the chocolate has more visual presence and a richer mouthfeel.

The St Michael branding adds another layer of nostalgia. Before M&S became shorthand for “I went in for socks and left with dinner for four,” St Michael was one of the retailer’s major house labels. Bringing it back on a chocolate bar is not just packaging; it is emotional design. It says, “Remember when snacks had fewer buzzwords and more charm?” And honestly, yes, we do.

Take 4 vs KitKat: the taste-test setup

To compare Take 4 with KitKat fairly, the tasting should focus on the main features that define a chocolate wafer bar: appearance, snap, aroma, chocolate thickness, wafer crunch, sweetness, aftertaste, and tea-break performance. Yes, tea-break performance is a real category now. Someone had to defend civilization.

KitKat has the advantage of familiarity. Its flavor is instantly recognizable: sweet milk chocolate, light wafer, a gentle malty note, and that classic crisp snap. It is not trying to be a luxury dessert. It is trying to be the snack equivalent of a reliable friend who always brings napkins.

Take 4, by contrast, arrives with a slightly more dressed-up personality. The chocolate looks smoother and glossier, the coating feels thicker, and the overall bite is more indulgent. The wafer is still central, but it does not dominate in quite the same way. Where KitKat feels crisp and efficient, Take 4 feels richer and more rounded.

Appearance: M&S wins the beauty contest

The phrase “the chocolate is much glossier” captures the first impression perfectly. Take 4 looks polished. The chocolate coating has more shine and depth, giving it a premium supermarket feel. KitKat, meanwhile, is familiar and neat, but its surface tends to look more matte and everyday.

In chocolate, gloss is not just vanity. Well-tempered chocolate generally has a smooth, shiny finish and a clean snap. Poorly handled chocolate can look dull, streaky, or bloomed. That does not mean every shiny bar is automatically better, but appearance strongly influences expectation. Take 4 looks like it wants to be noticed; KitKat looks like it knows it already has a reserved parking spot in snack history.

Snap and structure: KitKat keeps its crown

KitKat’s greatest strength is structure. The fingers separate easily, the wafer is light, and the snap is consistent. It is engineered for the ritual: break, pause, eat. That clean break is part of the brand’s identity.

Take 4 also snaps well, but because the chocolate coating feels thicker, the break has a slightly heavier quality. It is satisfying, but less airy. Some snackers will love that because it feels more substantial. Others may prefer KitKat’s lighter, sharper crunch.

Chocolate flavor: Take 4 brings more cocoa confidence

The biggest taste difference is the chocolate-to-wafer balance. Take 4 tastes more chocolate-led. Its coating brings a creamier, richer impression, with a smoother finish. The cocoa filling adds depth, giving the bar a more rounded chocolate profile than a basic wafer snack.

KitKat is sweeter and lighter. Its milk chocolate coating is smooth, but thinner. The flavor is instantly recognizable and highly snackable, but it does not linger as long. That may actually be part of the appeal. KitKat is built for repeat bites; Take 4 is built to make you slow down for a second and say, “Oh, that’s nice.”

Wafer crunch: KitKat is lighter, Take 4 is creamier

KitKat’s wafer has that famously crisp, dry crunch that shatters neatly and keeps the bar from feeling too heavy. It is the chocolate bar equivalent of a crisp shirt: simple, tidy, and effective.

Take 4 has crunch too, but the thicker coating and cocoa filling make the bite feel creamier. The wafer is present, but slightly cushioned. If you like wafer bars because of the crunch, KitKat may be your winner. If you like wafer bars because they deliver chocolate without becoming too dense, Take 4 has a strong case.

Why retro chocolate is suddenly everywhere

The return of Take 4 is part of a much bigger food trend: nostalgia sells. Consumers are drawn to snacks that feel familiar, comforting, and emotionally easy. Retro packaging, old-school logos, revived flavors, and heritage branding all help brands create an instant connection.

This makes sense in the current snack market. Chocolate and candy remain affordable treats even when grocery prices feel dramatic enough to deserve their own weather warning. A small chocolate bar is not just sugar and cocoa; it is a tiny reward. It says, “You answered messages, survived traffic, and did not yell at the printer. Have a wafer.”

For M&S, reviving St Michael Take 4 is a clever move because it combines three powerful consumer hooks: nostalgia, value, and comparison. The nostalgia comes from the retro branding. The value comes from a familiar snack format. The comparison comes from the obvious KitKat-like shape. People love trying a challenger product, especially when the challenger looks shinier and comes with a wink from the past.

Is Take 4 better than KitKat?

The honest answer depends on what kind of chocolate-wafer experience you want. If you want the classic, ultra-familiar break-time bar, KitKat still does what it does best. It is light, crisp, sweet, and consistent. It has decades of brand memory built into every finger.

If you want something a little richer, glossier, and more chocolate-forward, M&S Take 4 is the more interesting option. It looks more premium, tastes creamier, and feels more indulgent. The thicker chocolate coating gives it a satisfying richness that makes it stand apart from the standard KitKat formula.

In a direct taste-test style comparison, Take 4 wins on appearance, chocolate coating, and retro charm. KitKat wins on iconic snap, wafer lightness, and instant recognizability. The overall winner? For everyday snacking, KitKat remains hard to beat. For a more indulgent tea-break treat, Take 4 may be the surprise favorite.

Best ways to enjoy M&S Take 4

Because Take 4 has a thicker chocolate coating, it works especially well with hot drinks. Coffee brings out the cocoa notes, while black tea cuts through the sweetness. A quick dunk is risky but rewarding. Leave it too long and you may experience the classic biscuit tragedy: half your snack floating away like a tiny chocolate shipwreck.

It also works well as a lunchbox treat, an afternoon desk snack, or a “just one finger” dessert that mysteriously becomes all four fingers within 90 seconds. The vintage packaging makes it especially giftable for fans of retro sweets, British snacks, and M&S foodhall finds.

Experience notes: what this taste test feels like in real life

There is something oddly ceremonial about opening a retro chocolate bar. A modern snack wrapper usually screams at you with bright colors, limited-edition badges, and enough fonts to make a designer need a nap. Take 4 feels calmer. The St Michael look gives the bar a little time-machine energy. It is the kind of packaging that makes you expect the chocolate to come with a handwritten receipt and a cashier who calls you “dear.”

The first bite is where the comparison gets fun. With KitKat, your brain knows what is coming before your teeth do. That crisp break, that wafer crumble, that familiar sweetnessit all arrives exactly as expected. It is dependable in the best possible way. There is comfort in a snack that does not try to surprise you by adding chili, birthday cake, seaweed, or something called “galaxy sparkle.” KitKat knows its job.

Take 4 feels slightly more dramatic. The chocolate coating catches the light first, which makes the bar seem richer before you taste it. The bite has more chocolate weight, and the wafer does not rush to the front as quickly. Instead, the cocoa filling and milk chocolate coating create a fuller flavor. It is still a simple wafer bar, but it has a softer, more indulgent personality.

During a tea break, the difference becomes even clearer. KitKat is the practical choice: break a finger, sip tea, repeat. Take 4 feels more like the snack you serve when someone says they only want “a little something sweet” and then eats the whole thing with suspicious speed. The thicker chocolate gives it a dessert-like feel, especially if paired with coffee or strong tea.

The nostalgia also changes the experience. Eating Take 4 is not just about whether it beats KitKat on crunch. It is about the feeling of seeing an old-style product return to a modern shelf. That matters because snacks are memory machines. One wrapper can remind someone of school lunches, corner shops, grandparents’ cupboards, or the very serious childhood business of choosing candy with pocket money.

The funniest part is that the comparison does not make either bar worse. In fact, it makes both more enjoyable. KitKat reminds us why some products become classics: they are clear, simple, and consistent. Take 4 reminds us that a familiar format can still feel fresh when the chocolate is glossier, the branding is warmer, and the whole thing has just enough retro flair to make snack time feel like an event.

So yes, Take 4 is absolutely worth trying, especially if you enjoy chocolate wafer bars and have a soft spot for throwback packaging. It may not replace KitKat for everyone, but it does something more valuable: it makes the familiar feel fun again. And in the world of supermarket snacks, that is no small victory.

Final verdict

M&S Take 4 is not merely a KitKat copy with a vintage coat. It is a richer, glossier, more chocolate-heavy wafer bar that uses nostalgia wisely without relying on it completely. The retro St Michael packaging gets your attention, but the creamy coating and crisp wafer keep it.

KitKat remains the classic for a reason. It is lighter, snappier, and instantly familiar. But Take 4 delivers a more polished chocolate experience, and for anyone who likes their wafer bars with extra coating and a little supermarket glamour, it is a very welcome comeback.

If KitKat is the reliable break-time icon, M&S Take 4 is the stylish cousin who shows up in vintage packaging and somehow makes everyone talk about chocolate gloss for ten minutes. We respect that.