Tootsie Roll: A Sweet Legacy of Innovation and Success

Tootsie Roll, a cherished chocolate-flavored candy, has a history that dates back to 1907 when it was created by Leo Hirschfield, an Austrian immigrant. Hirschfield, who originally sold the candy in his small New York City shop, named it after his daughter Clara, whose nickname was “Tootsie.” The candy quickly gained popularity for its distinctive texture and taste, which blended the chewiness of taffy with the smoothness of caramel, while being neither exactly.

One of Tootsie Roll’s key innovations was its packaging. It became the first individually wrapped penny candy in America, making it both hygienic and convenient for consumers. This advancement helped Tootsie Roll stand out in a competitive market, driving its widespread appeal.

In 1931, The Sweets Company of America acquired Tootsie Roll, later renaming itself Tootsie Roll Industries in 1966. The company moved its headquarters to Chicago, Illinois, where it remains today. Under the leadership of Melvin Gordon, who became CEO in 1962, the company expanded its product line and grew into one of the world's largest candy manufacturers.

Tootsie Roll Industries has continued to grow and innovate, producing a variety of confectionery products, including Tootsie Pops, which pair the classic Tootsie Roll with a hard candy shell, and other popular brands like Dots, Charleston Chew, and Junior Mints. Despite this expansion, the original Tootsie Roll remains a beloved staple in the candy industry.

In recent years, the company has adopted modern marketing techniques, including social media campaigns and brand partnerships, to stay relevant in a competitive market. It has also embraced sustainability, introducing eco-friendly practices in both production and packaging.

In summary, Tootsie Roll's lasting success stems from its innovative start, consistent quality, and adaptability to evolving market trends. From its beginnings in a small New York shop to its status as a global confectionery powerhouse, Tootsie Roll continues to delight candy enthusiasts worldwide.
Tootsie Roll: A Sweet Legacy of Innovation and Success

M&M® Origin Story

Forrest Mars Sr., son of the Mars Company founder Frank C. Mars, reproduced the idea for a confectionery in the 1930s after observing British soldiers enjoying Smarties, small chocolate beads with a durable colored shell, during the Spanish Civil War to prevent them from melting.

Upon returning to the United States in 1940, Forrest Mars applied this inspiration to establish M&M Limited in Newark, New Jersey, where he developed candies encased in a sugar shell. The moniker "M&M®" was coined from the surnames of Forrest Mars and Bruce Murrie. Bruce, the son of Hershey executive William Murray, agreed to contribute chocolate, sugar, technology, and some capital. The initial machines used for producing M&M were modified from the equipment employed in making Hershey's Kisses.

The inaugural M&M candies were manufactured in 1914 and packaged in a paper tube to prevent melting in warm weather. In 1932, subsequent to a disagreement with his father and business partner, Forrest Mars Sr. relocated to England, engaging in the production of Mars bars for military personnel.

In March 1941, Mars secured a patent for his manufacturing process, and production kicked off in Newark, New Jersey. The chocolates were originally designed for effortless transport and consumption by soldiers during the war. Marketed in cardboard tubes, M&Ms sported a coating in brown, red, orange, yellow, green, or violet.

Forrest Mars Sr. aimed to market chocolates throughout the year, particularly during the summer when sales typically dwindled. By enveloping the chocolate in a candy shell, M&Ms maintained their resistance to melting, enabling them to be marketed at any time.

Throughout the war, M&Ms were exclusively distributed to the military, supplying heat-resistant and easily transportable chocolate for American soldiers' rations. Peanut-centered M&Ms made their debut in 1954, followed by almond-centered M&Ms in 1988, mint chocolate M&Ms in 1989, and peanut butter chocolate M&Ms featuring a peanut butter creme center surrounded by chocolate and a candy shell.
M&M® Origin Story

History of Smarties candy

On January 10, 1949, Edward Dee brought his family from England to New Jersey. He rented a garage in Bloomfield, New Jersey, where he purchased a gunpowder pellet machine and repurposed it to make the small fruit-flavored pressed-sugar tablets. Equipped with only two machines, he succeeded in founding Ce De Candy, Inc., makers of Smarties®, America’s favourite candy wafer roll.

He then began selling the candy by delivering it by car to grocery stores throughout the United States. Naming his candy Smarties to promote the value of getting an education, Dee grew the business into a factory in nearby Union, which today is still family-run.

In 1959, Edward Dee moved his operations to Elizabeth, New Jersey, and then again to its current location in Union, New Jersey in 1967. On January 1, 2011, the founder changed the company name to Smarties Candy Company.

Edward also created Ce De Candy, Ltd. in Canada, opening a factory on Queen Street in Toronto in 1963. Later, he moved the operation to a new Canadian facility built in Newmarket, Ontario in 1988 to make more Smarties® and “Rockets®. The Canadian Smarties are imported to the U.S. whenever demand is too high for the New Jersey factory to handle on its own.

In the 1970s, Edward Dee’s two sons, Jonathan and Michael joined the business. They launched new product lines, including sour-flavored Smarties, oversize Smarties, and Smarties Candy Necklaces.

Smarties is currently led by Dee’s granddaughters: sisters Liz Dee and Jessica Dee Sawyer, and their cousin Sarah Dee. Today, the manufacturing process has evolved, utilizing robotic automation technology with forklifts, conveyors and robotic arms to produce the candy more efficiently.
History of Smarties candy

History of Lolly Pop

This first appearance of the lollipop comes from few thousand years ago in the archeological findings that confirmed that ancient Chinese, Arabs, and Egyptians all produced fruit and nut confections that they "candied" in honey, which serves as a preservative, and inserted sticks into to make easier to eat.

As the time went, limited amounts of honey and very low production of sugar almost destroyed this tradition of our ancestors, but all of that changed in the 17th century when sugar became more plentiful and boiled sugar treats were quite popular at this time. People would use sticks to eat the boiled sugar confections, which were more like a soft candy on a stick.

American candy maker George Smith of New Haven, Connecticut claimed to be the first to invent the modern style lollipop in 1908. He used the idea of putting candy on a stick to make it easier to eat, and initially lollipops were a soft, rather than hard, candy. He named them after his famous racehorse of the time, Lolly Pop - and trademarked the lollipop name in 1931. It was officially registered to the Bradley Smith Company of New Haven.

Employees at the Bradley Smith Company first produced Lolly Pops by cutting off a chunk of warm hard candy and jabbing, or pegging, in a stick by hand. In the process of inserting the stick the candy was formed and slightly flattened out by the palm.

With the massive push towards industrialization, in 1908, the Racine Confectionery Machine Company in Racine, Wisconsin, introduced the first automated lollipop production with a machine that put hard candy on the end of a stick at the rate of 2,400 sticks per hour.

However, others claim Samual Born was the first to automate the lollipop-making process. Around 1912, Russian immigrant Samuel Born invented a machine that inserted sticks into candy, called the Born Sucker Machine.
History of Lolly Pop

Jelly Bean

Jelly Beans became famous in the 1980s as US President Ronald Reagan’s favorite candy treat.

Historically, jelly beans may have derived from Turkish delight, a confection composed of gelatin that has been boiled, cubed and dusted with sugar. Turkish delight is sweet that dates back to biblical times.

A more modern version, considered to be the origin of the popular jelly bean, can be traced back to the late 1700s. Haci Bekir, a confectioner to the Ottoman court, is said to have developed a confection that sultans would eat to wash away the bitter taste of Turkish coffee.

In an 1861 advertisement, William Schrafft, Boston candy maker urged people to send jelly beans to soldiers in the Union Army.

The earliest located print reference to jelly beans appears in an advertisement dated 1886 in Illinois, where they were touted as Christmas candy. They were commonly sold in glass or in vending machines as an Easter candy. By 1905 the phrase ‘jelly beans’ had been added to Webster’s American Dictionary.

One traditional jelly bean manufacturer was launched by Gustav Goelitz in 1869, when he opened an ice cream and candy store in Belleville, Illinois. The company then made butter creams and purportedly invented candy corn in about 1900.

The jelly bean was revolutionized in 1976 with the introduction of Jelly Belly, a new style of small, intensely flavored beans created with natural flavors.

David Klein, a small candy entrepreneur, developed the name and the idea and teamed up with the Herman Goelitz Candy Company to manufacture the product.
Jelly Bean

History of toffee

Toffee is chewy candy made of brown sugar, molasses, or syrup that is boiled until very thick and pulled until it is glossy and holds it shape.

The origin of the word ‘toffee’ seems to be lost in time although it might de described from ‘taffy’, a dialect word for ‘sticky’.

The word taffy dates to 1817 and preceded toffee which dates to 1825. Until comparatively recently, the term ‘toffee’ was used simply for the substance made by boiling sugar and butter together; not until the 1930s do examples begin to appear of its use for a single as in ‘a pound of toffees’.

Toffee apples, apples coated with a thin layer of toffee and fixed on a stick, seem to be an early twentieth century invention; they are first mentioned in the Christmas 1917 issue of the B.E.F Times.

In America they are called candy apple. English toffee is a very butter form of toffee to which almonds are often added.
History of toffee

History of fudge

Fudge contains virtually the same ingredients as soft caramels, although usually not in precisely the same proportions.

The exact origin this popular confection is not known, but it may have originated from a ‘fudge’ batch of toffee.

The first reliable documentation of fudge being made intentionally indicates that it was made and sold by women enrolled at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1898.

These students may not have been the original creators of the candy, but they were certainly among the first. John F Mariani, author of the Dictionary of American Food and Drink has uncovered late 19th century fudge recipes with names like ‘Wellesley Fudge’ and ‘Vassar Fudge’.

The terms ‘fudge’ originally meant playing a hoax. According to rumor, coeds used to trick school officials into letting them stay up late to make candy; that’s probably how the candy got it name. Later ‘oh, fudge!’ became an expletive used by those too refined to cuss.

Later, a competition developed among the colleges regarding who could make the best fudge, which led to the creation of maple fudge, butterscotch fudge, and vanilla fudge.
History of fudge