And the man behind the brand is...
William Wrigley
There are several ways to build a successful product. One can improve upon an existing product or invent a totally new product. However, William Wrigley, Jr. chose the toughest route of all. He took a bad habit and converted it into a world-wide obsession.
Wrigley legitimatized chewing gum by advertising. He became the largest advertiser of any single product. "Advertising," he once said, "is like running a train. You've got to keep on shoveling coal into the engine. Once you stop stoking the fire goes out and the train will gradually slow down and come to a dead stop." By the time of his death at age 70 in 1932 Wrigley had spent $100,000,000 in advertising. The growth of his company never slowed down.
Wrigley was the eldest of eight children born to a Philadelphia soapmaker in 1861. At the age of 11 he fled home for New York to seek his fortune. He sold newspapers and slept on park benches and quickly lost his zeal for independence. He returned home to his parents and schooling.
A school prank backfired on the curly-haired Wrigley and he was expelled from school to work in his father's little soap factory. The labor was hard and Wrigley begged his father for a chance to peddle soap on the road. Selling soap across the countryside from his wagon Wrigley was successful but found the work dreary. In 1880 he set out for a new mining boom in Leadville, Colorado.
He made it as far as Kansas City when his money ran out. Working as a waiter and counterman in a doughnut shop Wrigley saved enough money to buy a supply of rubber stamps which he sold at enough profit to return home to the soap factory.
Now he stayed 11 years before wanderlust seized him again. This time with a wife of five years Wrigley left for Chicago, the new metropolis of the west in 1890. He had $32 and one carload of soap when he established William Wrigley Jr. and Company.
Competition was keen but Wrigley found some success with a shipment of umbrellas he gave away to retailers as a premium. He hired a salesman who had worked with baking powder. Wrigley added the baking powder to his line with good results.
No one knows how Wrigley became interested in chewing gum. He ordered his first batch in September 1892 as an inducement to buy his baking powder. Jobbers found they could sell the free gum better than the baking powder so Wrigley decided to sell chewing gum. His first product was the long-forgotten "Wrigley's Vassar."
The gum was mixed like dough, rolled, cut into sticks and packed by hand. Wrigley changed the product by making chicle, a juicy extract from tropical trees, his main ingredient. Growth was slow. He began advertising with trademark arrows and elves and gradually his gum gained acceptance. On two occasions he collected the names of every telephone subscriber in Chicago and sent each a package of chewing gum.
In 1902 Wrigley came to New York with $100,000 to attempt a large-scale advertising campaign, but failed. Another attempt failed until in 1907, despite a general economic recession, he broke through with a $250,000 national campaign. His name and products became firmly established in American culture.
Chewing gum factories were established in London, Berlin, Toronto, and Sydney as well as Brooklyn. Wrigley gum packages eventually bore wording in 37 languages as output reached 40,000,000 sticks a day, always selling for 5¢ a pack.
During World War I when Wrigley discovered some retailers were selling his gum for as much as a dime he took out extensive ads proclaiming his gum cost 5¢ and anyone selling it for more was a wartime profiteer. In 1919 Wrigley's ads proclaimed, "5¢ before the war, 5¢ during the war, 5¢ after the war."
In the 1920s the chewing gum business was less of a challenge for Wrigley. He became sole owner of Catalina Island, 25 miles off the California coast, and developed it into a sporting resort. He undertook development projects in Arizona as well. In Chicago he built the white terra cotta Wrigley Building, opening up Chicago to business north of the famed Loop.
Wrigley dabbled in coal mining, transportation, hotels, ranching and the motion picture industry but his great passion was baseball. He purchased the Chicago Cubs in 1924 and spent over $6,000,000 making the team one of the model franchises in the National League. His team won the National League pennant in 1929 but never a World Series Championship in his lifetime.
In 1925 Wrigley turned the presidency of the company over to his son Philip to spend more time with baseball. Wrigley's control over the gum empire did not wane until his death, however. As Chairman of the Board he was asked what would happen if his Board disapproved of one of his decisions. Wrigley replied, "Then we'll get a new Board of Directors." His son recalled that stockholder meetings rarely lasted beyond a reading of the last meeting's minutes and Wrigley's asking for a motion of adjournment which quickly came.
Wrigley's death came in the depths of the Depression, which he combatted by providing shelter in his Chicago buildings and feeding 500 jobless men daily through the Salvation Army. The hard times had little effect on his business, however. "People chew harder when they are sad," noted Wrigley shortly before his death.
Showing posts with label Candy Brands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Candy Brands. Show all posts
February 6, 2007
Russell Stover
And the man behind the brand is...
Russell Stover
All this thing really needs, thought Russell Stover, is a better name. Christian Nelson had been struggling with his inspiration for more than two years. Back in 1919 while moonlighting from his job as a schoolteacher Nelson tended to a small grocery in Onawa, Iowa. It was there he hit upon the idea to somehow combine chocolate and ice cream.
Nelson had the darndest time trying to get the chocolate to stick to the ice cream. One day he ran into a candy salesman who told him that cocoa butter improved the clinging ability of chocolate. It worked. Nelson called his confection the “I-Scream” Bar. His first batch of 500 sold out in no time at the annual Onawa Firemen’s Tournament.
That was enough to convince Nelson. He quit his jobs, filed for a patent, and went out to spread the word of the new “I-Scream” bar. Now it was 1921 and after repeated failures Nelson was reduced to racking balls in a pool hall for $20 a week when he met with Russell Stover, a superintendent for an Omaha ice cream company.
Stover, then 33 year sold, liked the product and readily agreed to form a partnership with Nelson. But the name had to go. Stover named the chocolate-covered ice cream an “Eskimo Pie.” The early Eskimo Pie was a small 1 1/2 ounce stickless bar and it was an immediate sensation. At one point that summer 250,000 bars were put on the market and they sold out in less than a day.
The partners set up a national distribution office in Chicago and in less than a year over 1500 licenses to make Eskimo Pies had been issued. By the spring of 1922 sales were averaging a million pies a day and Nelson was reaping $30,000 a week in royalties.
But the success quickly melted. Royalties went unpaid and imitators freely infringed on the patent. The partners were spending $4000 a day in legal fees just to defend the patent. Stover became so infuriated over the situation he sold his share of the business to Nelson for $30,000.
At this point Stover switched directions. Coming to the chocolate and ice-cream Eskimo Pie from an ice cream background he left to pursue the chocolate business. Using his Eskimo Pie money he headed to Denver where he opened his first candy store. For the second time Stover set up a national distribution, this time for boxed chocolates.
During World War II Stover left his business in Kansas City during World War II to serve as chairman of the Washington Commission of the National Confectioners Association. In the years after the war he ceded his presidency and retired to Miami Beach where the “Eskimo Pie King” died in 1954.
Russell Stover
All this thing really needs, thought Russell Stover, is a better name. Christian Nelson had been struggling with his inspiration for more than two years. Back in 1919 while moonlighting from his job as a schoolteacher Nelson tended to a small grocery in Onawa, Iowa. It was there he hit upon the idea to somehow combine chocolate and ice cream.
Nelson had the darndest time trying to get the chocolate to stick to the ice cream. One day he ran into a candy salesman who told him that cocoa butter improved the clinging ability of chocolate. It worked. Nelson called his confection the “I-Scream” Bar. His first batch of 500 sold out in no time at the annual Onawa Firemen’s Tournament.
That was enough to convince Nelson. He quit his jobs, filed for a patent, and went out to spread the word of the new “I-Scream” bar. Now it was 1921 and after repeated failures Nelson was reduced to racking balls in a pool hall for $20 a week when he met with Russell Stover, a superintendent for an Omaha ice cream company.
Stover, then 33 year sold, liked the product and readily agreed to form a partnership with Nelson. But the name had to go. Stover named the chocolate-covered ice cream an “Eskimo Pie.” The early Eskimo Pie was a small 1 1/2 ounce stickless bar and it was an immediate sensation. At one point that summer 250,000 bars were put on the market and they sold out in less than a day.
The partners set up a national distribution office in Chicago and in less than a year over 1500 licenses to make Eskimo Pies had been issued. By the spring of 1922 sales were averaging a million pies a day and Nelson was reaping $30,000 a week in royalties.
But the success quickly melted. Royalties went unpaid and imitators freely infringed on the patent. The partners were spending $4000 a day in legal fees just to defend the patent. Stover became so infuriated over the situation he sold his share of the business to Nelson for $30,000.
At this point Stover switched directions. Coming to the chocolate and ice-cream Eskimo Pie from an ice cream background he left to pursue the chocolate business. Using his Eskimo Pie money he headed to Denver where he opened his first candy store. For the second time Stover set up a national distribution, this time for boxed chocolates.
During World War II Stover left his business in Kansas City during World War II to serve as chairman of the Washington Commission of the National Confectioners Association. In the years after the war he ceded his presidency and retired to Miami Beach where the “Eskimo Pie King” died in 1954.
Reese's
And the man behind the brand is...
Harry Reese
For the first 38 years of his life Harry Reese of York County, Pennsylvania survived through a succession of menial jobs before he landed a job managing one of Milton Hershey’s dairy farms during World War I. Inspired by Hershey’s great success Reese struck out on his own.
He moved to nearby Hummelstown, Pennsylvania and began boiling a mixture of caramel-like molasses and coconut. His Johnny Bar failed but his Lizzie Bar was successful enough for Reese to move back to Hershey and buy a plant on Chocolate Avenue. It was 1923; Reese was 44 years old.
On the suggestion of a former customer in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Reese began tinkering with a special peanut butter wrapped in milk chocolate. Reese originally sold his peanut butter cups in 5-pound boxes to be used by candy wholesalers in assortments. But by the 1930s he shifted to penny sizes for individual sale and it wasn’t long before the entire factory was devoted to manufacturing Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.
Harry Reese died in 1956 at the age of 77, leaving the company in the hands of his six sons. In 1963 his company was purchased by his old employer and neighbor, Hershey’s. It was the first significant outside acquisition by the candy giant. Today the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup is the most popular candy bar in the United States and Canada. It is made the same way Harry Reese made them three-quarters of a century ago.
Harry Reese
For the first 38 years of his life Harry Reese of York County, Pennsylvania survived through a succession of menial jobs before he landed a job managing one of Milton Hershey’s dairy farms during World War I. Inspired by Hershey’s great success Reese struck out on his own.
He moved to nearby Hummelstown, Pennsylvania and began boiling a mixture of caramel-like molasses and coconut. His Johnny Bar failed but his Lizzie Bar was successful enough for Reese to move back to Hershey and buy a plant on Chocolate Avenue. It was 1923; Reese was 44 years old.
On the suggestion of a former customer in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Reese began tinkering with a special peanut butter wrapped in milk chocolate. Reese originally sold his peanut butter cups in 5-pound boxes to be used by candy wholesalers in assortments. But by the 1930s he shifted to penny sizes for individual sale and it wasn’t long before the entire factory was devoted to manufacturing Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.
Harry Reese died in 1956 at the age of 77, leaving the company in the hands of his six sons. In 1963 his company was purchased by his old employer and neighbor, Hershey’s. It was the first significant outside acquisition by the candy giant. Today the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup is the most popular candy bar in the United States and Canada. It is made the same way Harry Reese made them three-quarters of a century ago.
Peter Paul
And the man behind the brand is...
Peter Paul Halajian
Peter Paul Halajian was a familiar figure to early commuters up and down the Naugatuck Valley in turn-of-the-century Connecticut. Every day he would walk up and down the train platforms hawking his homemade candy from a basket.
Halajian came to Naugatuck from Armenia in 1870 and began work in a local rubber company. He was paid piece work so when he reached his quota, usually in the early afternoon, he would rush off to join his two daughters in operating a fruit stand. By the early 1900s Halajian had two small shops, one in Naugatuck and another down the road in Torrington.
He advertised his wares on crude handbills distributed through the Valley:
"Peter Paul has very good food
You don't throw any down the chute
His delicious ice cream your dreams will haunt
The more you eat it, the more you want
Ice cream soda the year round
No better soda was ever found
His homemade candy will make you fat
To Peter Paul, take off your hat."
In 1919 Peter Paul and five Armenian friends put up $1000 each to found their own candy business, Peter Paul Inc. The partners and their wives all dipped chocolate by hand in a 50' x 60' loft on Webster Street in New Haven. They worked at night because there was no refrigeration and the owners wanted to sell their candy when it was as fresh as possible the following day.
The first candy was a KONABAR, a gooey concoction of nuts, fruit, coconut and chocolate. After about a year of experimentation Peter Paul introduced their trademark candy in 1922 - the Mounds bar. A Mounds was a drift of snowy white coconut inside dark bittersweet chocolate. The Mounds bar was a number-one seller for many years, sustaining Peter Paul profits.
Arthritic and blind, Peter Paul Halajian died in 1927. Almond Joy was developed after World War II, giving Peter Paul Inc. the most powerful one-two sales punch in candydom allowing the company itself to remain one of the very few nationally know candy-only firms in the United States.
Peter Paul Halajian
Peter Paul Halajian was a familiar figure to early commuters up and down the Naugatuck Valley in turn-of-the-century Connecticut. Every day he would walk up and down the train platforms hawking his homemade candy from a basket.
Halajian came to Naugatuck from Armenia in 1870 and began work in a local rubber company. He was paid piece work so when he reached his quota, usually in the early afternoon, he would rush off to join his two daughters in operating a fruit stand. By the early 1900s Halajian had two small shops, one in Naugatuck and another down the road in Torrington.
He advertised his wares on crude handbills distributed through the Valley:
"Peter Paul has very good food
You don't throw any down the chute
His delicious ice cream your dreams will haunt
The more you eat it, the more you want
Ice cream soda the year round
No better soda was ever found
His homemade candy will make you fat
To Peter Paul, take off your hat."
In 1919 Peter Paul and five Armenian friends put up $1000 each to found their own candy business, Peter Paul Inc. The partners and their wives all dipped chocolate by hand in a 50' x 60' loft on Webster Street in New Haven. They worked at night because there was no refrigeration and the owners wanted to sell their candy when it was as fresh as possible the following day.
The first candy was a KONABAR, a gooey concoction of nuts, fruit, coconut and chocolate. After about a year of experimentation Peter Paul introduced their trademark candy in 1922 - the Mounds bar. A Mounds was a drift of snowy white coconut inside dark bittersweet chocolate. The Mounds bar was a number-one seller for many years, sustaining Peter Paul profits.
Arthritic and blind, Peter Paul Halajian died in 1927. Almond Joy was developed after World War II, giving Peter Paul Inc. the most powerful one-two sales punch in candydom allowing the company itself to remain one of the very few nationally know candy-only firms in the United States.
Nestle
And the man behind the brand is...
Henri Nestle
The man who gave his name to the largest food company in the world spent the first 54 years of his life plying his trade as a merchant, peddling mustard and seeds and artificial fertiliser. In 1857, at the age of 46, Henri Nestle set up a small company for the manufacture of liquid gas. For the next six years he supplied gas to the 12 street lamps of his hometown of Vevey, Switzerland.
Nestle, a luxuriously bearded man, was a born inventor and in 1867 he turned his attentions to the alarming infant mortality rate in Switzerland - one out of every five children was dying in the first year of life. Nestle set about to create a "good cow's milk" and he shortly had a prototype. "The basis of my milk food is good Swiss milk," he said, "concentrated by an air pump at low temperature which keeps it as fresh as milk straight from the cow. The meal is baked by a new process of my invention."
But who would risk their child's health on an untested food? By chance a friend brought to Nestle's attention a young mother named Wanner who was seriously ill after giving birth one month prematurely. The convulsing child refused mother's milk and everything else. The doctor suggested that Nestle's milk food be tried. The little boy took the milk and nothing else for months and was never ill again.
Nestle was now convinced that he had the ideal food for infants who could not be breast fed. He was a tireless persuader of the wonders of his new product. He first sold mainly through doctors and received many medical endorsements for his baby food. By 1868 the milk food was on sale in Vevey and Frankfurt on Main, Germany, the town of his birth.
He soon pitched his baby food directly to mothers and demand for Farine Lactee Nestle soared to over 1000 tins a day. Nestle's energy in promoting his milk food was endless, however his financial resources were not. During his early years he did everything from bookkeeping to production, never keeping up with orders.
He searched in vain for an ideal financial backer but by 1873, at the age of 61, he had wearied of travails and was ready for retirement. A buyer for his baby food enterprise was not long in materializing and Nestle sold the venture for one million Swiss francs. Conditions of the sale included the food processing plant, equipment and rights to the Nestle name and trademark nest, Nestle being German for "little nest".
Henri Nestle made a complete severance from his company. He was never a shareholder of the new company nor involved in any operations. He led a quiet life until dying in 1890. He left no heirs.
The Nestle company was fierce rivals with the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company, launched by American George Page to sell condensed milk in Europe. In 1905 the two firms merged under the Nestle name. Today Nestle is the most multi-national of all multi-nation companies. Only 2% of total sales come from Switzerland.
Henri Nestle
The man who gave his name to the largest food company in the world spent the first 54 years of his life plying his trade as a merchant, peddling mustard and seeds and artificial fertiliser. In 1857, at the age of 46, Henri Nestle set up a small company for the manufacture of liquid gas. For the next six years he supplied gas to the 12 street lamps of his hometown of Vevey, Switzerland.
Nestle, a luxuriously bearded man, was a born inventor and in 1867 he turned his attentions to the alarming infant mortality rate in Switzerland - one out of every five children was dying in the first year of life. Nestle set about to create a "good cow's milk" and he shortly had a prototype. "The basis of my milk food is good Swiss milk," he said, "concentrated by an air pump at low temperature which keeps it as fresh as milk straight from the cow. The meal is baked by a new process of my invention."
But who would risk their child's health on an untested food? By chance a friend brought to Nestle's attention a young mother named Wanner who was seriously ill after giving birth one month prematurely. The convulsing child refused mother's milk and everything else. The doctor suggested that Nestle's milk food be tried. The little boy took the milk and nothing else for months and was never ill again.
Nestle was now convinced that he had the ideal food for infants who could not be breast fed. He was a tireless persuader of the wonders of his new product. He first sold mainly through doctors and received many medical endorsements for his baby food. By 1868 the milk food was on sale in Vevey and Frankfurt on Main, Germany, the town of his birth.
He soon pitched his baby food directly to mothers and demand for Farine Lactee Nestle soared to over 1000 tins a day. Nestle's energy in promoting his milk food was endless, however his financial resources were not. During his early years he did everything from bookkeeping to production, never keeping up with orders.
He searched in vain for an ideal financial backer but by 1873, at the age of 61, he had wearied of travails and was ready for retirement. A buyer for his baby food enterprise was not long in materializing and Nestle sold the venture for one million Swiss francs. Conditions of the sale included the food processing plant, equipment and rights to the Nestle name and trademark nest, Nestle being German for "little nest".
Henri Nestle made a complete severance from his company. He was never a shareholder of the new company nor involved in any operations. He led a quiet life until dying in 1890. He left no heirs.
The Nestle company was fierce rivals with the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company, launched by American George Page to sell condensed milk in Europe. In 1905 the two firms merged under the Nestle name. Today Nestle is the most multi-national of all multi-nation companies. Only 2% of total sales come from Switzerland.
Mars
And the man behind the brand is...
Frank Mars
Frank Mars was a Pennsylvania native who worked his way across America as a candy salesman in Minnesota and Washington state in the early 1900s. It was a meager existence and in 1910 his wife Ethel divorced him on grounds of non-support. She was awarded custody of six-year old Forrest Edward Mars. After that Frank Mars rarely saw his family and only little more regularly sent $20 a month in support payments.
Frank Mars married another Ethel after his divorce. He failed in a Seattle candy business and creditors even took his personal belongings. He started again in Tacoma and again declared bankruptcy in 1914. During the World War I years Mars endured one business disaster after another. Finally he and his wife returned to Minnesota in 1920 with $400 in cash.
Settling in Minneapolis-St. Paul the couple set up yet another candy business. They lived in a one-room apartment over the factory and worked long hours making candy and distributing it in local stores. At the same time Mars was experimenting with candy bars.
In 1923, approaching 40 years of age, Mars developed a recipe for a malted milk bar with a chocolate coating. He called his new confection Milky Way and his sales skyrocketed from $72,800 to $792,000. Mars seized upon his first success and built Milky Way into a nationally distributed candy sensation. By 1929 Mars Inc. had sales of $24,000,000 and profits over two million dollars. Mars moved his factory to Oak Park, Illinois to expand production.
By this time his son Forrest had graduated from Yale University and joined his father's candy-making business. Immediately the head-strong young Mars began criticizing the way his father ran the business and made no secret about his beliefs that he could do better. By 1932 Frank Mars had had it with his son. He gave Forrest $50,000, the recipe for Milky Way and the foreign rights to Mars products and sent him on his way. Frank Mars could not be accused of non-support this time.
Although the Depression cut his sales by almost 2/3 Frank Mars continued to operate a successful business until his death in 1934. Control of the candy company passed to his second wife but she preferred spending time handling the family racing stable on the 2700-acre Milky Way Farms in Tennessee. At her death in 1945, Forrest Mars, who had settled in England and built a pet food and candy colossus on the Milky Way bar, returned to gain control of his father's firm.
Forrest Mars grew into one of the world's richest and most secretive men. He has granted only one interview in his life to date. He established company headquarters in McLean, Virginia, home of the clandestine CIA. As one competitor observed, "Mars may be the CIA for all I know."
Frank Mars
Frank Mars was a Pennsylvania native who worked his way across America as a candy salesman in Minnesota and Washington state in the early 1900s. It was a meager existence and in 1910 his wife Ethel divorced him on grounds of non-support. She was awarded custody of six-year old Forrest Edward Mars. After that Frank Mars rarely saw his family and only little more regularly sent $20 a month in support payments.
Frank Mars married another Ethel after his divorce. He failed in a Seattle candy business and creditors even took his personal belongings. He started again in Tacoma and again declared bankruptcy in 1914. During the World War I years Mars endured one business disaster after another. Finally he and his wife returned to Minnesota in 1920 with $400 in cash.
Settling in Minneapolis-St. Paul the couple set up yet another candy business. They lived in a one-room apartment over the factory and worked long hours making candy and distributing it in local stores. At the same time Mars was experimenting with candy bars.
In 1923, approaching 40 years of age, Mars developed a recipe for a malted milk bar with a chocolate coating. He called his new confection Milky Way and his sales skyrocketed from $72,800 to $792,000. Mars seized upon his first success and built Milky Way into a nationally distributed candy sensation. By 1929 Mars Inc. had sales of $24,000,000 and profits over two million dollars. Mars moved his factory to Oak Park, Illinois to expand production.
By this time his son Forrest had graduated from Yale University and joined his father's candy-making business. Immediately the head-strong young Mars began criticizing the way his father ran the business and made no secret about his beliefs that he could do better. By 1932 Frank Mars had had it with his son. He gave Forrest $50,000, the recipe for Milky Way and the foreign rights to Mars products and sent him on his way. Frank Mars could not be accused of non-support this time.
Although the Depression cut his sales by almost 2/3 Frank Mars continued to operate a successful business until his death in 1934. Control of the candy company passed to his second wife but she preferred spending time handling the family racing stable on the 2700-acre Milky Way Farms in Tennessee. At her death in 1945, Forrest Mars, who had settled in England and built a pet food and candy colossus on the Milky Way bar, returned to gain control of his father's firm.
Forrest Mars grew into one of the world's richest and most secretive men. He has granted only one interview in his life to date. He established company headquarters in McLean, Virginia, home of the clandestine CIA. As one competitor observed, "Mars may be the CIA for all I know."
Hershey
And the man behind the brand is...
Milton Hershey
The Hershey Chocolate Bar was once the most famous product in the world, maybe still is. Yet Hershey never advertised. "The best advertising," said Milton Hershey, "is the right kind of goods. People will learn about them and buy all you can make." And Milton Hershey had simply developed the most popular goods in the history of commerce.
Milton Snavely Hershey was born into a Mennonite family in central Pennsylvania in 1857. His mother estimated the family moved 37 times over the years and Milton attended seven different schools in eight years, never advancing past a fourth grade level. He got his first job as a printer's assistant but lost it when he dropped his hat into a press. It was the beginning of a long series of setbacks.
Hershey next found work as a confectioner's apprentice in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and at age 19 he established his own shop in Philadelphia to take advantage of the bustling 1876 Centennial Exhibition trade. Making candy by night and selling it by day, without capital and battling strong competition, his health broke down and the enterprise failed.
He followed his father to Denver to join in a Silver Boom. Hershey arrived after most of the silver had been mined out but he did discover his fortune - while working in a candy shop he learned that fresh milk, if used properly, made the best candy he ever tasted.
Father and son tried selling fresh milk caramels in Chicago and failed. They tried selling caramels in New Orleans and failed. Why not try the biggest market of all? They decided to set up shop and sell caramels in New York City. They failed. Hershey's father remained in New York to try and peddle his paintings while Milton returned to Lancaster.
Milton's trail of failures had labeled him financially irresponsible within his family. He found himself a pariah among his relatives when he got home. But Hershey believed that opportunity knocks at least once on every man's door and he was darn sure he wanted to be making candy when it did. He borrowed some money from one of his still-civil aunts - just enough for a bag of sugar and a room on the wrong side of town. He made candy by night and peddled it by day from a basket.
His business picked up and he bought a pushcart. Pushcart rivalries were ferocious in Lancaster in 1887 and Hershey was actually stoned out of rival territory. But opportunity was looking up his address.
An English importer tasted Hershey's fresh milk caramels and placed a substantial order. His meager equipment could not possibly fill the order. He persuaded a local banker to visit his humble operation. The tiny room sandwiched between a carriage factory and a carpet beating establishment did not impress his prospective loan officer. But Hershey did. The banker personally endorsed a note to finance equipment and hire candy-makers. Hershey caramels became so popular that by 1900 the 43-year old candy-maker was able to sell his business for $1,000,000.
With his money Hershey and his wife began a trip around the world. They made it as far as Mexico City when Hershey leaped out of his chair on the hotel porch and announced: "I can't stand this; I've got to get back to work."
Hershey had been dabbling with chocolate since 1893 when the confection started to gain some favor and he thought it might flavor his caramels. He now planned to stake his future on chocolate, specifically the mass production of a new milk chocolate bar.
Hershey decided to erect a great chocolate factory, not near the centers of industry, as was common at the time, but out in the country. He chose Derry Church, Pennsylvania near the site of his birth. It was not sentiment but calculated logic which brought Hershey home. The good dairy country provided the best environment for manufacturing milk chocolate. The streams were clear and the Pennsylvania Dutch people supplied an intelligent, hard-working labor pool.
The chocolate factory opened in 1904 and the first 5¢ milk chocolate bar was ready in 1905, as well as an almond bar. The world fell for milk chocolate like nothing else ever. The business succeeded beyond Hershey's dreams, anyone's dreams.
A model town of 4000, named Hershey, sprung up around the factory. When the Depression hit many years later Milton Hershey made certain no one in his town was unemployed and instituted a vast building program. When labor unions tried to organize Hershey workers in 1937 with a sit-down strike they were routed by local farmers and citizens. The CIO union was rejected by a vote of 2-1.
Hershey used little of his wealth personally. He would never have a telephone in his home or office. He never even owned his home, having given it away to his employees for a country club. His wife died in 1915 and Hershey had no heirs. Thus he endowed the Milton Hershey Industrial School with a trust fund of $60,000,000 for "the orphan boys of America" and the rest of his money went to the Milton S. Hershey Foundation.
Hershey continued as chairman of the board of the Hershey Chocolate Corporation until he was 87, one year before his death. Just prior to his resignation Hershey received the Army-Navy "E" production award for creating ration "D", familiar to all service men as the "iron ration". The Hershey bar was now a world currency.
Milton Hershey
The Hershey Chocolate Bar was once the most famous product in the world, maybe still is. Yet Hershey never advertised. "The best advertising," said Milton Hershey, "is the right kind of goods. People will learn about them and buy all you can make." And Milton Hershey had simply developed the most popular goods in the history of commerce.
Milton Snavely Hershey was born into a Mennonite family in central Pennsylvania in 1857. His mother estimated the family moved 37 times over the years and Milton attended seven different schools in eight years, never advancing past a fourth grade level. He got his first job as a printer's assistant but lost it when he dropped his hat into a press. It was the beginning of a long series of setbacks.
Hershey next found work as a confectioner's apprentice in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and at age 19 he established his own shop in Philadelphia to take advantage of the bustling 1876 Centennial Exhibition trade. Making candy by night and selling it by day, without capital and battling strong competition, his health broke down and the enterprise failed.
He followed his father to Denver to join in a Silver Boom. Hershey arrived after most of the silver had been mined out but he did discover his fortune - while working in a candy shop he learned that fresh milk, if used properly, made the best candy he ever tasted.
Father and son tried selling fresh milk caramels in Chicago and failed. They tried selling caramels in New Orleans and failed. Why not try the biggest market of all? They decided to set up shop and sell caramels in New York City. They failed. Hershey's father remained in New York to try and peddle his paintings while Milton returned to Lancaster.
Milton's trail of failures had labeled him financially irresponsible within his family. He found himself a pariah among his relatives when he got home. But Hershey believed that opportunity knocks at least once on every man's door and he was darn sure he wanted to be making candy when it did. He borrowed some money from one of his still-civil aunts - just enough for a bag of sugar and a room on the wrong side of town. He made candy by night and peddled it by day from a basket.
His business picked up and he bought a pushcart. Pushcart rivalries were ferocious in Lancaster in 1887 and Hershey was actually stoned out of rival territory. But opportunity was looking up his address.
An English importer tasted Hershey's fresh milk caramels and placed a substantial order. His meager equipment could not possibly fill the order. He persuaded a local banker to visit his humble operation. The tiny room sandwiched between a carriage factory and a carpet beating establishment did not impress his prospective loan officer. But Hershey did. The banker personally endorsed a note to finance equipment and hire candy-makers. Hershey caramels became so popular that by 1900 the 43-year old candy-maker was able to sell his business for $1,000,000.
With his money Hershey and his wife began a trip around the world. They made it as far as Mexico City when Hershey leaped out of his chair on the hotel porch and announced: "I can't stand this; I've got to get back to work."
Hershey had been dabbling with chocolate since 1893 when the confection started to gain some favor and he thought it might flavor his caramels. He now planned to stake his future on chocolate, specifically the mass production of a new milk chocolate bar.
Hershey decided to erect a great chocolate factory, not near the centers of industry, as was common at the time, but out in the country. He chose Derry Church, Pennsylvania near the site of his birth. It was not sentiment but calculated logic which brought Hershey home. The good dairy country provided the best environment for manufacturing milk chocolate. The streams were clear and the Pennsylvania Dutch people supplied an intelligent, hard-working labor pool.
The chocolate factory opened in 1904 and the first 5¢ milk chocolate bar was ready in 1905, as well as an almond bar. The world fell for milk chocolate like nothing else ever. The business succeeded beyond Hershey's dreams, anyone's dreams.
A model town of 4000, named Hershey, sprung up around the factory. When the Depression hit many years later Milton Hershey made certain no one in his town was unemployed and instituted a vast building program. When labor unions tried to organize Hershey workers in 1937 with a sit-down strike they were routed by local farmers and citizens. The CIO union was rejected by a vote of 2-1.
Hershey used little of his wealth personally. He would never have a telephone in his home or office. He never even owned his home, having given it away to his employees for a country club. His wife died in 1915 and Hershey had no heirs. Thus he endowed the Milton Hershey Industrial School with a trust fund of $60,000,000 for "the orphan boys of America" and the rest of his money went to the Milton S. Hershey Foundation.
Hershey continued as chairman of the board of the Hershey Chocolate Corporation until he was 87, one year before his death. Just prior to his resignation Hershey received the Army-Navy "E" production award for creating ration "D", familiar to all service men as the "iron ration". The Hershey bar was now a world currency.
Heath
And the man behind the brand is...
Lawrence Heath
Lawrence Heath was different from most of America’s candy pioneers. He came to candy bars late in life, after a career as a schoolteacher and principal. In 1914, at the age of 45, Heath opened a small confectionery on the west side of the public square in Robinson, Illinois. With his sons Heath sold fountain drinks, ice cream and a distinctive English toffee he cooked in his kitchen in the back room of the shop.
In 1932, at the height of the Depression, Heath decided to package his toffee in individual candy bars. At the time most 5¢ candy bars were 4 ounces, a full quarter pound. Heath’s toffee molded in milk chocolate also sold for a nickel but was only a one-ounce bar. The Heath Bar was popularly known as the “H and H” bar. Heath had selected a logo with bookend capital “Hs” and a small “e-a-t.” People assumed the “e-a-t” was an admonishment to try the “H and H bar.”
However the candy was known it soon became apparent Americans had a taste for the English toffee. The demand for the Heath Bar soon exceeded the capacity of the tiny shop. Lawrence Heath clearly spent more time making his candy than eating it; he lived to be 87 and seldom weighed more than 105 pounds.
Lawrence Heath
Lawrence Heath was different from most of America’s candy pioneers. He came to candy bars late in life, after a career as a schoolteacher and principal. In 1914, at the age of 45, Heath opened a small confectionery on the west side of the public square in Robinson, Illinois. With his sons Heath sold fountain drinks, ice cream and a distinctive English toffee he cooked in his kitchen in the back room of the shop.
In 1932, at the height of the Depression, Heath decided to package his toffee in individual candy bars. At the time most 5¢ candy bars were 4 ounces, a full quarter pound. Heath’s toffee molded in milk chocolate also sold for a nickel but was only a one-ounce bar. The Heath Bar was popularly known as the “H and H” bar. Heath had selected a logo with bookend capital “Hs” and a small “e-a-t.” People assumed the “e-a-t” was an admonishment to try the “H and H bar.”
However the candy was known it soon became apparent Americans had a taste for the English toffee. The demand for the Heath Bar soon exceeded the capacity of the tiny shop. Lawrence Heath clearly spent more time making his candy than eating it; he lived to be 87 and seldom weighed more than 105 pounds.
Fanny Farmer
And the woman behind the brand is...
Fannie Farmer
Fannie Farmer hated to cook with “a pinch of salt.” It wasn’t the salt she found distasteful; it was the pinch she could never abide. She set out to eliminate guesswork in cooking by codifying measurements in teaspoons, tablespoons and cups.
The “Mother of Level Measurement” was 17 years old when she suffered a debilitating paralytic stroke in 1874 which ended her dreams of a college career. She turned to cooking during her convalescence and eventually entered Boston Cooking School where she taught and, in later years, became director.
In 1896 Farmer wrote the Boston Cooking School Cookbook. When she took it to venerable Boston publisher Little, Brown & Company they were not interested. The cookbooks of the 19th century could contain anything from recipes for face cream to potions to kill vermin. The manuals were written for servants and Farmer was out to train housewives.
Undaunted she persuaded Little, Brown and Company to publish 3000 copies of her book which she would pay for herself. They were the first of more than four million that were sold - and are still selling. Farmer went on to start her own cooking school, Miss Farmer’s School of Cookery, with five assistants and five maids.
Blessed with unbridled energy Fannie Farmer maintained an impossible schedule of lectures. Too impatient to cook an entire meal she lectured while an assistant cooked. When she suffered another stroke she continued to deliver her lessons from a wheelchair. Her final lecture was only ten days before her death in 1915 at the age of 58.
Frank O’Connor admired Fannie Farmer’s career and when he started his first candy shop in Rochester, New York in 1919 he wanted to name his emporium in honor of her. He was granted permission, provided he spell the first name “F-A-N-N-Y” and not as Miss Farmer had spelled it. The Fanny Farmer Candy Company never sold any candy using a recipe by Fannie Farmer.
Fannie Farmer
Fannie Farmer hated to cook with “a pinch of salt.” It wasn’t the salt she found distasteful; it was the pinch she could never abide. She set out to eliminate guesswork in cooking by codifying measurements in teaspoons, tablespoons and cups.
The “Mother of Level Measurement” was 17 years old when she suffered a debilitating paralytic stroke in 1874 which ended her dreams of a college career. She turned to cooking during her convalescence and eventually entered Boston Cooking School where she taught and, in later years, became director.
In 1896 Farmer wrote the Boston Cooking School Cookbook. When she took it to venerable Boston publisher Little, Brown & Company they were not interested. The cookbooks of the 19th century could contain anything from recipes for face cream to potions to kill vermin. The manuals were written for servants and Farmer was out to train housewives.
Undaunted she persuaded Little, Brown and Company to publish 3000 copies of her book which she would pay for herself. They were the first of more than four million that were sold - and are still selling. Farmer went on to start her own cooking school, Miss Farmer’s School of Cookery, with five assistants and five maids.
Blessed with unbridled energy Fannie Farmer maintained an impossible schedule of lectures. Too impatient to cook an entire meal she lectured while an assistant cooked. When she suffered another stroke she continued to deliver her lessons from a wheelchair. Her final lecture was only ten days before her death in 1915 at the age of 58.
Frank O’Connor admired Fannie Farmer’s career and when he started his first candy shop in Rochester, New York in 1919 he wanted to name his emporium in honor of her. He was granted permission, provided he spell the first name “F-A-N-N-Y” and not as Miss Farmer had spelled it. The Fanny Farmer Candy Company never sold any candy using a recipe by Fannie Farmer.
Clark
And the man behind the brand is...
David Clark
David Lytle Clark, the "Pittsburgh Candy King", came to western Pennsylvania from County Derry, Ireland at the age of 8 in 1872. He earned his first money toting market baskets along the city streets for pennies.
At age 19 he opened a one-room candy business. While his one employee, a cook, concocted the candy Clark drove from store to store in a wagon selling it. In 1886 Clark chewed his first gum. He asked a druggist how the new novelty was made and learned about chicle. Clark went to New York and returned with a bale of chicle.
Clark colored his new gum pink because he thought it was pretty. He flavored his new gum with mountain leaves because as a boy he liked to chew them. Clark's personal tastes appealed to the market. His gum sold so fast he had to open a new factory to meet the demand. The D.L. Clark Company was big business.
Over the next 30 years Clark made candies, including a big-selling candy-coated popcorn. In 1917, as a treat for soldiers, Clark made his first 5¢ bar, a honey-combed ground roasted peanut bar covered with milk chocolate called the "Clark bar". The wrapper encouraged buyers to "Try eating a Clark bar every day between 2 & 4 p.m. Drink a glass of water and see how much pep you have when the day is done."
It must have been an energetic America at day's end because Clark was soon selling one million of his chocolate bars a day. In 1981 the Largest Candy Bar In The World was created - a monster 3100-pound Clark bar 15 feet long and 20 inches thick. It was the equivalent of 19,000 Clark bars.
Clark did his best to ensure the continuance of his family candy business. He sired 13 children with his first wife and when she died, he married her sister. But one thing could not survive. The Clark bar went out of production in 1994.
David Clark
David Lytle Clark, the "Pittsburgh Candy King", came to western Pennsylvania from County Derry, Ireland at the age of 8 in 1872. He earned his first money toting market baskets along the city streets for pennies.
At age 19 he opened a one-room candy business. While his one employee, a cook, concocted the candy Clark drove from store to store in a wagon selling it. In 1886 Clark chewed his first gum. He asked a druggist how the new novelty was made and learned about chicle. Clark went to New York and returned with a bale of chicle.
Clark colored his new gum pink because he thought it was pretty. He flavored his new gum with mountain leaves because as a boy he liked to chew them. Clark's personal tastes appealed to the market. His gum sold so fast he had to open a new factory to meet the demand. The D.L. Clark Company was big business.
Over the next 30 years Clark made candies, including a big-selling candy-coated popcorn. In 1917, as a treat for soldiers, Clark made his first 5¢ bar, a honey-combed ground roasted peanut bar covered with milk chocolate called the "Clark bar". The wrapper encouraged buyers to "Try eating a Clark bar every day between 2 & 4 p.m. Drink a glass of water and see how much pep you have when the day is done."
It must have been an energetic America at day's end because Clark was soon selling one million of his chocolate bars a day. In 1981 the Largest Candy Bar In The World was created - a monster 3100-pound Clark bar 15 feet long and 20 inches thick. It was the equivalent of 19,000 Clark bars.
Clark did his best to ensure the continuance of his family candy business. He sired 13 children with his first wife and when she died, he married her sister. But one thing could not survive. The Clark bar went out of production in 1994.
Cadbury
And the name behind the brand is...
John Cadbury
Eating chocolate was unknown when John Cadbury opened a grocery in Birmingham, England in 1824. He became the first tradesman to introduce the plate glass window to the streets of Birmingham. Window shoppers who gathered to gawk at 93 Bull Street could go inside and find a real Chinaman, ornately clad in Oriental garb, dispensing tea.
Chocolate was popular in an often-bitter drink and widely used in cooking and Cadbury sold a bit on the side. In 1831 John and his brother Benjamin began making some of their own chocolate in a small warehouse near the store.
The first eating chocolate was still nearly twenty years away and the Cadburys were among the first to mill “French eating chocolate” in England. Cadbury became the dominant confectioner in 1853 when the brothers received a Royal Warrant to provide an assortment of chocolates for Queen Victoria. The English monarchy counted on Cadbury for chocolate until the 1990s; in 1986 a Cadbury Milk Tray tin was created to celebrate the union of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson.
In 1860 John Cadbury bought out his brother Benjamin but retired a year later. Under his sons Richard, then 26, and George, 22, the Cadburys improved the quality of its eating chocolate from cocoa butter. After dominating the chocolate-crazed English market Cadbury, then under the direction of John Cadbury’s great-grandson, entered the United States market in 1978, seven years after the creation of its famous Cadbury Creme Eggs.
John Cadbury
Eating chocolate was unknown when John Cadbury opened a grocery in Birmingham, England in 1824. He became the first tradesman to introduce the plate glass window to the streets of Birmingham. Window shoppers who gathered to gawk at 93 Bull Street could go inside and find a real Chinaman, ornately clad in Oriental garb, dispensing tea.
Chocolate was popular in an often-bitter drink and widely used in cooking and Cadbury sold a bit on the side. In 1831 John and his brother Benjamin began making some of their own chocolate in a small warehouse near the store.
The first eating chocolate was still nearly twenty years away and the Cadburys were among the first to mill “French eating chocolate” in England. Cadbury became the dominant confectioner in 1853 when the brothers received a Royal Warrant to provide an assortment of chocolates for Queen Victoria. The English monarchy counted on Cadbury for chocolate until the 1990s; in 1986 a Cadbury Milk Tray tin was created to celebrate the union of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson.
In 1860 John Cadbury bought out his brother Benjamin but retired a year later. Under his sons Richard, then 26, and George, 22, the Cadburys improved the quality of its eating chocolate from cocoa butter. After dominating the chocolate-crazed English market Cadbury, then under the direction of John Cadbury’s great-grandson, entered the United States market in 1978, seven years after the creation of its famous Cadbury Creme Eggs.
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