Heath bar facts for kids
A toffee candy bar with almonds covered in milk chocolate
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| Type | Toffee candy bar |
|---|---|
| Inventor | L. S. Heath Leaf, Inc. |
| Inception | 1928 |
| Manufacturer | The Hershey Company |
| Available | Available |
| Current supplier | The Hershey Company |
| Website | Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 168: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
The Heath bar is a yummy candy bar that has toffee, almonds, and milk chocolate. It was first made by the Heath Brothers Confectionery way back in 1928. Today, Hershey makes and sells the Heath bar. Hershey took over making them in late 1996.
Contents
The Sweet Story of Heath Bars
How the Heath Bar Began
In 1913, a schoolteacher named L.S. Heath bought a candy shop in Robinson, Illinois. He thought it would be a good business for his older sons, Bayard and Everett. In 1914, the brothers opened a store that was a candy shop, an ice cream parlor, and a place where they made candy.
As their business grew, their father, L.S. Heath, became interested in making ice cream. He opened a small dairy factory in 1915. His sons kept working on their candy business. They found a recipe for toffee from a traveling salesman. In 1928, they started selling this toffee candy locally. They called it "Heath English Toffee" and said it was "America's Finest."
From Dairy Trucks to Candy Bars
In 1931, Bayard and Everett's father convinced them to sell their candy shop. They then started working at his dairy. They brought their candy-making tools with them. The Heaths had a clever idea for selling their candy. They added Heath bars to the order forms that their dairy trucks used. This way, customers could get Heath bars delivered with their milk and cottage cheese!
Early ads for the Heath bar even suggested it was healthy. They said it had only the best milk chocolate, almonds, butter, and pure sugar. One ad's motto was "Heath for better health!"
Growing Popularity and Big Orders
The Heath bar became very popular across the country during the Great Depression. This was even though it was a small candy bar and cost 5 cents, which was the same price as bigger bars.
In 1942, the U.S. Army ordered a huge amount of Heath bars. They wanted $175,000 worth of bars for soldiers' rations. This big order helped the family make their factory more modern. After that, the candy was made on a large scale.
After the War and Family Business
After World War II, the Heath bar became even more popular. In 1946, L.S. Heath, his four sons, two daughters, and grandchildren formed a company called L.S. Heath & Sons, Inc. Making the candy was still mostly a family effort.
In the 1950s, they created the Heath Toffee Ice Cream Bar. Other dairies eventually started selling it too. By 1955, the factory could make about 69,000 candy bar centers at once. Automatic machines could wrap 1,600 candy bars every minute! The company had many salespeople who sold to thousands of stores and vending machines.
Changes in Ownership
In 1989, the L.S. Heath & Sons business was sold to a company called Leaf, Inc.. Then, in 1996, The Hershey Company bought Leaf, Inc.'s candy operations in North America. This included popular brands like Heath, Jolly Rancher, Milk Duds, Payday, Whoppers, and Twizzler's.
Hershey had actually made a similar candy bar called the Skor bar in 1981. This was to compete with the Heath bar. Even though they are very much alike, Hershey still makes and sells both the Heath bar and the Skor bar today.
What's in a Heath Bar?
A Heath bar is a thin, hard slab covered in milk chocolate. The toffee inside used to have sugar, butter, and almonds. It was a small, square bar.
After Hershey bought the company, they made the bar longer to be more like other candy bars. Now, it weighs about 1.4 ounces (40 grams). The main ingredients are milk chocolate, sugar, vegetable oil, dairy butter, almonds, salt, and soy lecithin. The wrapper is a classic brown color and says "Finest Quality English Toffee."
Heath Bars in Other Treats
Since 1973, when a place called Steve's Ice Cream started mixing Heath bars into their ice cream, Heath bars have become a popular ingredient in many other desserts.
You can find Heath bars in lots of different treats today. For example, Archway Cookies makes a Heath Cookie. There are also Heath Bar Klondike bars. Baskin-Robbins has a Heath Bar Shake, and Dairy Queen offers a Heath Bar Blizzard. You can also find Heath Bar flavored ice cream.
Even though the original company and now Hershey sell pre-shredded Heath bar pieces, many places still prefer to crush the candy bars by hand. They find the pre-crumbled pieces to be "too small and too dusty."
Similar Candies from Other Companies
In the 1950s, a company called Marabou in Sweden wanted to make the Heath bar under a license. But they were not allowed to. Instead, Marabou got inspiration from the Heath bar and created the Daim bar. The Daim bar was available in many countries as of 2014.
