Hershey’s is one of the oldest chocolate companies in the United States and just saying the word Hershey Bar brings back fond childhood memories not only for myself, but for everyone. The Hershey Bar is an all American icon and everytime you open the package and break off a few of those tiny chocolate squares, a big smile comes across your face. The Hershey Bar just makes you happy. The Hershey, Pennsylvania plant has two million square feet of manufacturing space is the largest chocolate factory in the world. The first plant outside Hershey, Pennsylvania opened on June 15, 1963 in Smiths Falls, Ontario, Canada. The Hershey Company is also the owners of several other candy companies and is also associated with Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company who runs “Hersheypark” which is a chooclate-themed amusement park
Up to April of 2004, The Hershey Company was known as The Hershey Foods Corporation and was often referred to as Hershey’s and the corporate headquarters are in Hershey, Pennsylvania and is also the home to Hershey’s Chocolate World. Milton S. Hershey founded the business in 1894 as The Hershey Chocolate Company. After completing an apprenticeship to a confectioner In 1876, Milton Hershey finished his appenticeship of a confectioner and opened a candy shop in Philadelphia which only lasted for six years. Milton Hershey tried several times which were all unsuccessful to manufacture candy in New York, so he decided to return to Pennsylvania and did succeed in founding the Lancaster Caramel Company, who used fresh milk in their caramels and this was a success. In 1900, Milton Hershey sold his caramel company for $1,000,00 and began to concentrate only on manufacturing chocolate. Milton Hershey began construction of a chocolate plant in Derry Church, Pennsylvania in 1903 which was his hometown and later on the plant came to be known as Hershey, Pennsylvania. The milk chocolate bars that this plant manufactured soon proved to be popular and the company began to grow very rapidly.
Milton Hershey knew that he could make a fortune creating and selling milk chocolate products since his company was so successful by just selling the sweet chocolate products. In 1896, Milton Hershey built a milk-processing plant so he would be able to create and refine the recipe to make milk chocolate candies. In 1899 he developed this recipe known as The Hershey Process.
Hershey introduced a new candy in 1907 that he eventually named “Hershey’s Kisses” that are a flat-bottomed conical-shaped piece of chocolate and each one are individually wrapped in foil along with a tiny paper ribbon to indicate that this is a geniune product from Hershey. Three years later in 1910, Hershey Kisses received a trademark and came to be known as one of the most successful and well-known products ever produced by the Hershey company. Other products introduced by The Hershey Company are: Mr. Goodbar in 1925; Hershey’s Syrup in 1926; chocolate chips in 1928 and in 1938, The Krackel Bar.
Hershey’s third plant opened up in Oakdale, California on May 22, 1965. There are Hershey Plants located in Stuarts Draft, Virginia; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Hazleton, Pennsylvania; Memphis, Tennesee; Robinson, Illinois and Guadalajara, Mexico.
