McCowan's facts for kids

McCowan's Ltd was a Scottish company that made yummy sweets like toffee and fudge. They were super famous for their chewy Highland Toffee. Imagine a sweet treat that was so popular, it became a household name!

A statue celebrating McCowan's Highland Toffee.

The old McCowan's factory building in Stenhousemuir.

The Sweet Story of McCowan's

McCowan's started in a surprising way! It wasn't always about sweets. The company began around 1900, making fizzy drinks. This business was run by a man named Andrew McCowan.

How the Toffee Began

Andrew's wife had a clever idea to earn a little extra money. She started selling homemade toffee right from their house window in Stenhousemuir, Scotland. The secret recipe for this delicious toffee was bought by Andrew himself! He got it from a man in a pub, supposedly for just a pint of beer.

This special toffee quickly became more popular than the fizzy drinks. Soon, making toffee was the main way the family earned money.

Growing the Sweet Business

Within 15 years, McCowan's was making many different kinds of sweets. These included tablet, rock, snowballs, lollipops, and macaroons.

But the most important sweet arrived in the 1920s. This was when McCowan started making the small, chewy toffee pieces that would become their most famous product: McCowan's Highland Toffee!

A New Factory and New Owners

At first, Andrew McCowan worked from a small shop. But in 1924, the company grew so much that he opened a factory. This factory was located on Tryst Road.

Andrew McCowan passed away in 1951. His son, Robert McCowan, then took over the company. In 1959, a big company called Nestlé bought McCowan's. Even though Nestlé owned them, McCowan's sweets were still sold under their original name.

Famous New Sweets

During the 1980s, McCowan's introduced another very popular sweet: the Wham Bar. They also worked with A.G. Barr, a famous Scottish drinks company, to create the Irn-Bru Bar. This sweet was inspired by the popular Scottish fizzy drink.

Changes and Challenges

In 1987, Nestlé joined with another sweet company called Rowntree's. For a short time, McCowan's products were sold under the name Nestlé-Rowntree.

However, in 1989, the company became independent again. This happened through a "management buyout," where the people running the company bought it back. Later, in 1996, a Dutch sweet company called Phideas bought McCowan's. But McCowan's became independent once more in 2003.

The End of an Era

In 2005, two people, Graham Wallace and Andy Allan, bought McCowan's. Later that year, they also bought another sweet company called John Millar & Sons. Because of this, McCowan's joined with John Millar & Sons. The new company was called Millar McCowan. This meant McCowan's no longer existed as a separate company.

Sadly, Millar McCowan had problems in 2006. A new company, The New McCowan's Ltd, was started. But in 2011, The New McCowan's Ltd also faced difficulties. Some of its famous sweet brands were sold to other companies like Tangerine Confectionery and Nisha Enterprises.

The original McCowan's factory in Stenhousemuir closed its doors in 2011. Some of its machinery moved to a new factory in Livingston. Even though the company changed hands many times, McCowan's Highland Toffee remains a beloved sweet in Scotland's history.