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 well-known brand that makes tasty chocolate. It is one of four chocolate brands owned by a large company called Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate North America. For many years, most of Wilbur's chocolate products were made in a factory in Lititz, Pennsylvania.
Contents
The Sweet History of Wilbur Chocolate
Wilbur Chocolate was started in Philadelphia in 1865. It was founded by two people, Henry Oscar Wilbur and Samuel Croft. The company grew over time, making lots of chocolate.
Today, the parent company, Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate North America, makes huge amounts of chocolate and candy ingredients every year. These ingredients are sold to other food and candy companies across North and South America.
In 1992, Cargill bought Wilbur Chocolate. Wilbur became part of Cargill's group of chocolate brands. This group also includes Peter's Chocolate, Gerkens Cacao, and Veliche Belgian chocolate.
The main Wilbur Chocolate factory in Lititz closed its doors in early 2016. By 2018, the old factory building was being changed into new homes called condos.
Making Chocolate in a Good Way
Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate cares about how its cocoa is grown. They work to make sure cocoa farming is sustainable. This means they help farmers grow cocoa in a way that protects the environment. They also make sure farmers are treated fairly.
They do this through programs like the Cargill Cocoa Promise. They also use something called UTZ Certification. This certification shows that the cocoa was grown responsibly.
Visit the Wilbur Chocolate Museum
The Wilbur Chocolate Company used to have a special store and museum in Lititz. This store sold many kinds of Wilbur chocolates and other candies. It also had a free museum called the Candy Americana Museum.
The museum taught visitors about the history of the company. It also showed how their delicious chocolate was made. You could see old chocolate molds, tins, and boxes. There were also beautiful antique pots used for hot chocolate. A woman named Penny Buzzard created the museum. She was the wife of a former Wilbur president. The museum first opened in 1972.
In 2008, when he was a senator, Barack Obama visited the Wilbur Chocolate Company. He met many people outside the factory. Then he went inside to try some of the chocolate treats. The local newspaper, the Lititz Record Express, took many pictures of his visit.
What Happened to the Old Factory
In January 2016, Cargill stopped making chocolate at the historic Lititz factory. About 130 employees who worked there lost their jobs. This ended Wilbur's long tradition of making chocolate at that specific location. The company announced in 2015 that it would move chocolate production. They shifted it to other, more modern factories. These factories are in places like Mount Joy, Hazleton, Milwaukee, and Ontario, Canada.
The old factory building was later turned into new spaces. It now has 25 condos and a hotel. A restaurant called Blackworth Live Fire Grill opened there in August 2019. The Wilbur Lititz, a hotel by Hilton, opened in September 2019.
The Famous Wilbur Buds
Wilbur Chocolate's most popular candy is the Wilbur Bud. It was first made in 1893. You might notice that the Hershey's Kiss looks a lot like a Wilbur Bud. Hershey's Kiss came out in 1907.
These two chocolates are often compared because their factories are close. Lititz is about 20 miles (32 km) from The Hershey Company's main office in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Wilbur Buds are not wrapped individually. Also, the word WILBUR is printed on the bottom of each chocolate bud.
See also
- List of bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturers
- List of food and beverage museums
