Wilbur Chocolate Company facts for kids
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| Brand | |
| Industry | Manufacturing |
| Founded | 1865 |
| Headquarters | Lititz, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
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Key people
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Bryan Wurscher, President |
| Products | Chocolate and confectionery ingredients |
| Parent | Cargill |
Wilbur Chocolate is a famous brand known for making delicious chocolate. It's part of a bigger company called Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate North America. For many years, most Wilbur chocolate was made in Lititz, Pennsylvania.
Contents
The Sweet History of Wilbur Chocolate
Wilbur Chocolate began a long time ago in Philadelphia in 1865. It was started by two people, Henry Oscar Wilbur and Samuel Croft.
In 1992, a large company called Cargill bought Wilbur Chocolate. Cargill makes huge amounts of chocolate and candy ingredients every year. These ingredients are sold to other companies that make food and candy all over North and South America.
How Wilbur Chocolate Grew
Wilbur Chocolate became part of Cargill's group of chocolate brands. This group also includes Peter's Chocolate, which Cargill bought from Nestlé in 2002. Other brands are Gerkens Cacao and Veliche Belgian chocolate.
In early 2016, Cargill closed the original Wilbur Chocolate factory in downtown Lititz. By the summer of 2018, the old factory building was being changed into new homes called condos.
Where Cocoa Beans Come From
Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate cares about getting cocoa beans in a good way. They work to make sure cocoa farming is sustainable. This means they help farmers grow cocoa in a way that protects the environment and supports the farmers. They do this through programs like the Cargill Cocoa Promise and UTZ Certification.
The Wilbur Chocolate Candy Store and Museum
Even though the main factory closed, the Wilbur Chocolate Candy Store and Museum in Lititz is still a popular place. It sells many different Wilbur chocolates and other candies.
What You Can See at the Museum
The store also has a free museum called the Candy Americana Museum. This museum shares the history of the company and shows how their chocolate was made. You can see old chocolate molds, tins, and boxes. There are also beautiful antique porcelain pots that were used for hot chocolate. Penny Buzzard, whose husband used to be the president of Wilbur, created the museum. It first opened in 1972.
Famous Visitors to Wilbur Chocolate
On March 31, 2008, Barack Obama, who was a Senator at the time, visited the Wilbur Chocolate Company. He greeted many people outside the factory. Then, he went inside to taste some of the treats. The local newspaper, the Lititz Record Express, even shared photos of his visit.
The Wilbur Factory Changes
In January 2016, Cargill stopped making chocolate at the historic Lititz factory. About 130 employees were affected. This ended 125 years of chocolate-making at that specific location. Cargill announced in October 2015 that they would move chocolate production to other, more modern factories. These factories are in Mount Joy, another part of Lititz, Hazleton, Pennsylvania, Milwaukee, and Ontario, Canada.
New Life for the Old Factory
The old factory building was later turned into 25 condos and a hotel. A restaurant called Blackworth Live Fire Grill opened in August 2019. The Wilbur Lititz, a hotel by Hilton, opened in September 2019.
In December 2023, The Market at Wilbur, another part of the redevelopment, closed. This was to make space for a new restaurant by the same owners as Blackworth Live Fire Grill. However, there have been some challenges, and the community is waiting to see what happens next with the old Wilbur Factory building.
Wilbur Buds: A Special Treat
Wilbur Chocolate's most famous candy is the Wilbur Bud. It was first made in 1893. The Hershey's Kiss, which came out in 1907, looks very similar to a Wilbur Bud. People often compare the two because their makers are close by. Lititz is about 20 miles (32 km) from The Hershey Company's main office in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Wilbur Buds are not wrapped individually. They are also made in a special mold. This molding process allows the word WILBUR to be on the bottom of each chocolate bud.
See also
- List of bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturers
- List of food and beverage museums
