The Blumenthal Brothers Chocolate Company was a Philadelphia-based chocolate manufacturer that existed from 1909 to 1984. Its factory was located at Margaret and James Streets in the city's Frankford neighborhood.
The company was founded in 1909 and existed under Blumenthal family management until 1969 when it was sold to Ward Foods, a New York-based conglomerate best known for making Tip Top bread. The principal reason for the sale, reportedly, was that few of the third generation of Blumenthals were interested in managing the company. [1] After the sale, a new company, Ward Candy, was formed with Bernhard S. Blumenthal as its president. [2]
In 1968, Louis Perez, a Blumenthal employee, sued the company in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, claiming he was forced to work in exposure to a heavy concentration of dust and excessive heat in his employment. [3] The high court affirmed the lower court's decision in his favor, forcing the company to compensate him.
In 1974, the company was again taken to court, this time for falsification of its gross income by secretly manufacturing products outside the state of Pennsylvania, keeping on average $5 million a year from being disclosed. [4]
The court cases crippled the company financially and eventually led to bankruptcy. In 1984, Terson Company and its Ward brands, best known for their Chunky chocolate candy, divested the combined candy companies to Nestle and the rights to its products to ensure its legacy. Most recently, Nestle sold the company, among others, to Ferrero in January 2018 for $2.8 billion. [5]
The Hershey Company, commonly known as Hershey's, is an American multinational company and one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world. It also manufactures baked products, such as cookies and cakes, and sells beverages like milkshakes, as well as other products. Its headquarters are in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States, which is also home to Hersheypark and Hershey's Chocolate World. It was founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1894 as the Hershey Chocolate Company, which is a subsidiary of his Lancaster Caramel Company. The Hershey Trust Company owns a minority stake but retains a majority of the voting power within the company.
Kit Kat is a chocolate-covered wafer bar confection created by Rowntree's of York, United Kingdom, and is now produced globally by Nestlé, except in the United States, where it is made under licence by the H. B. Reese Candy Company, a division of the Hershey Company.
Ferrero SpA, more commonly known as Ferrero Group or simply Ferrero, is an Italian multinational company with headquarters in Alba, Italy. Ferrero is a manufacturer of branded chocolate and confectionery products, and the second biggest chocolate producer and confectionery company in the world. Ferrero International SA's headquarters are in Luxembourg. Ferrero SA is a private company owned by the Ferrero family and has been described as "one of the world's most secretive firms". Reputation Institute's 2009 survey ranked Ferrero as the most reputable company in the world.
Butterfinger is a candy bar manufactured by the Ferrero SpA, a subsidiary of Ferrero. It consists of a layered crisp peanut butter core covered in a chocolatey coating. Invented by Otto Schnering of the Curtiss Candy Company in 1923, the name of the candy was chosen by a popularity contest. In its early years, it was promoted by Shirley Temple in the 1934 film Baby Take a Bow. Butterfinger was advertised by characters from an animated sketch series on Fox's The Tracey Ullman Show called The Simpsons beginning in 1988. The animated series became a smash hit for Fox, and its characters continued to represent the candy bar in commercial advertisements until 2001.
Baby Ruth is an American candy bar made of peanuts, caramel, and milk chocolate-flavored nougat, covered in compound chocolate. It is distributed by the Ferrara Candy Company, a subsidiary of Ferrero.
The Wonka Bar is a fictional chocolate bar, introduced as a key story point in the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Wonka Bars appear in both film adaptations of the novel, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), and the play, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical (2013) each with different packaging.
Oh Henry! is an American candy bar containing peanuts, caramel, and fudge coated in chocolate.
Chunky is a candy bar with milk chocolate, raisins, and roasted peanuts — using a sectioned and truncated pyramid shape. Chunky is produced by Ferrara Candy Company, a division of Ferrero SpA.
Sno-Caps is a brand of candy consisting of small pieces of semi-sweet chocolate candy covered with white nonpareils. Sno-Caps can be found around the world and are commonly associated with movie theaters, where they are often sold at concession stands.
Chocolate-covered raisins are a candy consisting of individual raisins coated in a shell of milk, dark or white chocolate.
Chocolate-coatedpeanuts are a popular bulk vending product. They consist of peanuts coated in a shell of chocolate. They have a reputation in many countries of being an item most familiar from the concession counter.
Harry Burnett Reese was an American inventor and businessman known for creating the number one-selling candy brand in the United States Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and founding the H. B. Reese Candy Company. In 2009, he was posthumously inducted into the Candy Hall of Fame.
The Ferrara Candy Company is an American candy manufacturer, based in Chicago, Illinois, and owned by the Ferrero Group.
Peanut Chews are a family of a U.S. candy bar products manufactured by Just Born. They consist of peanuts and molasses covered in chocolatey coating, and are available in original dark chocolatey flavor and milk chocolatey coatings. The bars are small, similar in size to a "fun size" or Halloween-size bar. They are especially familiar to residents of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia area, and neighboring Mid-Atlantic states.
Bridge Mix or Grand Slam mix is a type of snack mix or candy consisting of nuts, fruits, and "cremes" covered in milk and dark chocolate. Some common ingredients in bridge mix include peanuts, almonds, raisins, macadamia nuts, malted milk balls, fruits, and nougats.
Crunch is a chocolate bar made of milk chocolate and crisped rice. It is produced globally by Nestlé with the exception of the United States, where it is produced under license by the Ferrara Candy Company, a subsidiary of Ferrero.