One of the most popular chocolate candies out there is definitely the Hershey’s Kiss. While not only delicious, these little, wrapped candies are world famous for their distinctive design, which is like a teardrop with a flat bottom.
Hershey’s Kisses were first introduced and produced way back in 1907. For the first 14 years of their existence, each single Kiss was individually wrapped by hand. This painstaking process continued until 1921 when they finally created an automatic machine to do so.
Production of this fantastic chocolate continued without interruption for a few decades until 1942. In 1942, the U.S. rationed aluminum foil. Due to this halt, Hershey’s machines were used to create a chocolate paste for the soldiers fighting in World War 2.
Once the war ended, production ramped back up and Kisses got back to being one of the best and most unique chocolates in the world. In fact, in 1976, Hershey’s got a trademark on their legendary tinfoil wrappers. By 1989, Kisses have solidified themselves as one of the most popular treats in the country. In fact, it was the 5th most popular chocolate at the time and had sales that would top $400 Million. Today, more than 60 million individual Hershey’s Kisses are produced each and every day in the two Hershey factories.
While the chocolates were originally just plain old milk chocolate in silver wrapping, they have evolved a ton over time. These candies can be found wrapped in all sorts of different colors and now contain a number of different variations such as mint truffle, coconut creme, and even pumpkin spice.
So, why Kisses? The name is now accepted without question, but when you think about it, it’s kind of a strange name for a candy.
Well, Hershey’s apparently got the name “Kisses,” because of the sound and the motion that the machine made when it deposited the chocolate onto the conveyer belt. The name stuck and now it is impossible to think of these little pieces of chocolate being named anything else.
And while we’re looking at the Kiss, why not look at Hershey’s as a whole? The company was first founded in 1894 by Milton S. Hershey. The process for creating his world famous chocolate was developed in 1899 and his first product was released and created in 1900, which was the simple Hershey’s chocolate bar.
And over the years, more and more products began to be developed, which led to more and more sales. And despite their small beginnings, the company has grown massively in the last 100-plus years. In what began as a tiny operation, Hershey now employs nearly 15,000 workers and have yearly sales of around $7.5 billion.
But even though Hershey is a multi-billion dollar company in terms of value, and brings in billions and billions of dollars each year, there is no arguing that the Hershey’s Kiss is probably their most famous product of all.
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