Hershey’s guiding principle developed around the most modern production methods available, under the slogan: ‘The greatest American chocolate bar.’
One of the world's leading confectionery manufacturers, best known for its ‘Hershey Kiss’ brand, few can imagine the difficult journey its owner Milton Hershey endured to reach today's position.
Milton Hershey's full name was Milton Snavely Hershey, also known as Henry Hershey. He was born into a Protestant family of modest means in a remote part of Pennsylvania.
While most people around him were content with farm work, Henry Hershey, Milton Hershey's father, was interested in business.
In 1872, the teenager Milton Hershey was accepted as an apprentice at a candy factory near Lancaster. By 1876, Hershey had acquired enough skills to enter the candy business on his own.He began with many investments, including oil drilling. However, all those businesses failed, leaving his income highly irregular.For a long time, Henry Hershey's various projects forced his family to move from city to city, disrupting his son's schooling.
He borrowed money from relatives, moved to Philadelphia and began making hard candy and caramel, selling it from a cart. This continued for 6 years, but disputes between him and his father ultimately prevented the business from turning a profit.
In late 1882, Hershey followed his father west to Colorado. He found a job making caramel at a candy factory.
While working, he learned to improve candy's flavor by adding fresh milk. Hershey moved from Denver to Chicago and New Orleans, Louisiana, before settling in New York City.
He worked at a candy factory while also creating his own caramel based on a recipe he discovered in Colorado. Gradually, he opened his own candy company. The business failed because he expanded it too hastily.
Success through independenceMilton Hershey was very generous, but some still regarded him as a harsh employer who paid workers very little. Sometimes he inspected workers and tried to make them work during breaks.He did not even invest in advertising. One story says that, when he saw a Hershey chocolate wrapper discarded on the street, he turned it over to expose the candy's name, as a form of free advertising.
In 1886, after raising the necessary capital, mainly through acquaintances, Milton Hershey founded the Lancaster Caramel Company. The company grew rapidly, and Hershey soon became wealthy. As Lancaster Caramel expanded, Hershey turned his attention to other areas of food production.
In 1892, he traveled to Switzerland hoping to learn how to make cheese. During the trip, he discovered how to make milk chocolate.
The following year, Hershey bought chocolate-making equipment and began selling chocolate alongside caramel. But, willing to experiment with something new, he sold the caramel business to focus solely on chocolate.
These objections did not stop Hershey. Milton’s own ‘Chocolate Town’ continued to be built in his hometown.He did not really want to become wealthier. Instead, he planned to build his own town where workers could earn enough to enjoy life.His friends and family all considered it a strange idea. According to Joel Glenn Brenner in “The Emperors of Chocolate,” his wife thought her husband “should have his head examined.”
He opened the chocolate factory in 1905. Work began in the town with neighborhood planning and the naming of Hershey's main streets: Chocolate Avenue and Cocoa Avenue.
Workers moved into the homes he had built for them. Hershey served as the city's firefighter, police officer, and mayor.
At the factory, Hershey and his employees perfected milk chocolate and began selling it in the United States. Hershey’s modern factory accelerated production of milk chocolate, which had previously been handmade.
Today, Hershey, Pennsylvania, known as the ‘sweetest city,’ continues to be preserved and developed by members of the family. Although much time has passed, Milton Hershey’s original dedication and vision have become the group’s guiding business principles.
