50 Fun Facts About Hershey's

Milton Hershey put down a deposit for which famous ocean liner, then canceled to get home sooner?

Titanic was the ship he gave up, sailing days earlier on the German liner Amerika instead. His canceled $300 deposit check to the White Star Line survives in the town's archives.

Which hit film sent sales of Reese's Pieces soaring after Mars passed on featuring its own candy?

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial featured the peanut butter candy in 1982, and sales rose by perhaps as much as 300 percent. Hershey had launched the product only four years earlier.

Hershey's heat-resistant Tropical Bar, first made for soldiers in World War II, traveled where in 1971?

To the Moon: the bar flew with the Apollo 15 astronauts, almost three decades after the Army asked for a chocolate that could survive the heat of the Pacific.

Which NBA star scored a record 100 points in a single game played in Hershey in 1962?

Wilt Chamberlain did it for the Warriors against the New York Knicks at Hersheypark Arena, a rink better known as the longtime home ice of the Hershey Bears.

Which Hershey peanut bar was reportedly named when the hard-of-hearing Milton Hershey misheard a taster's praise?

Mr. Goodbar got its name in 1925, when someone at a tasting called it a good bar and the founder took that for a name. Chemist Samuel Hinkle, who devised the recipe, told the story.

Which fixtures along Chocolate Avenue in Hershey, Pennsylvania, have been shaped like Kisses since 1963?

Street lights shaped like wrapped and unwrapped Kisses line the town's main street. Three manufacturers built prototypes, which were tried out in a field near the stadium.

Wartime rationing of which material halted production of Hershey's Kisses in 1942?

Aluminum foil for the wrappers was rationed, so Hershey retooled its Kisses equipment to make ration bars for soldiers instead.

Which rival candy is partly named for Bruce Murrie, son of a longtime Hershey president?

M&M's stands for Mars and Murrie: Forrest Mars took Murrie on as a partner, and the candies were made with Hershey chocolate during wartime rationing.

Which treat sold under the Hershey's name comes from a separate company unrelated to the chocolate maker?

Ice cream with the name on the carton is made by Hershey Creamery Company, founded by Jacob Hershey and his brothers. The two firms have fought in court over the trademark.

Which unlikely product did Milton Hershey make from surplus factory fat and sell on the Atlantic City Boardwalk?

Soap was his way to use up a million pounds of leftover fat from the factory each year. He liked to sit in the shop window and watch the crowds, or serve behind the counter.

Which candy made Milton Hershey's first fortune before he sold that business for $1 million in 1900?

Caramels made with fresh milk were his first hit, shipped as far as Japan and Australia. When he sold up, he kept only his small chocolate sideline.

What is the paper strip on a Hershey's Kiss, added in 1921 to mark out the real thing, called?

A plume is the company's name for it, though early workers called the strips flags. It arrived with the first wrapping machines, when rivals were selling look-alike chocolates.

Which British-born chocolate bar does Hershey make in the United States while Nestlé sells it everywhere else?

Kit Kat came to Hershey through a license from Rowntree's, the British firm Nestlé later bought. The deal holds only for as long as Hershey itself is not sold.

Hershey's Kisses came only in silver wrappers until 1962, when colors first appeared for which holiday?

Christmas came first, with red and green wrappers joining the silver. Easter pastels followed in 1968 and Valentine's Day colors in 1986.

In Hershey's long-running holiday TV commercial, first aired in 1989, Kisses stand in for which musical instruments?

Handbells: the Kisses line up as a choir of ringers and play a carol. It is the longest-running television commercial the brand has ever aired.

Whom did Milton and Catherine Hershey, who had no children, found their free boarding school in 1909 to serve?

Orphaned boys were its first pupils, and in 1918 the founder gave the school his entire fortune. It now takes boys and girls from low-income families.

On which Caribbean island did Milton Hershey build a sugar mill town and its own railway to supply his factory?

Cuba drew him in 1916, when war had made sugar scarce. His railway linked the ports of Havana and Matanzas, and the mill town was named Central Hershey.

H. B. Reese, creator of the peanut butter cup, was first hired by Milton Hershey to work where?

On a dairy farm: he was taken on as a dairyman in 1917. He later became a shipping foreman at the chocolate factory and made his own candies in his basement on the side.

Which singing animals greet riders on the free chocolate-making ride at Hershey's Chocolate World?

Cows sing along the route of the tour ride, a simulation of how the chocolate is made. The ride has run since the center opened and ends with a free taste of candy.

Hershey's Chocolate World opened in 1973 to replace which visitor attraction that had grown too crowded?

The factory tour had reached its limit, so a simulated ride took its place. The new center drew more than 1.4 million visitors in its first year.

For whom did Milton Hershey open Hershey Park in 1906 as a place to picnic and go boating?

His employees got picnic grounds first; a carousel arrived in 1908 and the first roller coaster, the Wild Cat, in 1923.

Which Hersheypark coaster became the tallest, fastest and longest there when it opened in 2020 in Chocolatetown?

Candymonium is a hypercoaster from Bolliger & Mabillard, and it anchors the new entrance area that opened the same summer.

Which hard candy brand, part of Hershey since 1996, was started by a Colorado couple in 1949?

Jolly Rancher was founded by Bill and Dorothy Harmsen, who chose the name to sound like a friendly Western company.

Which crunchy Hershey bar was launched in 1978 as a peanut-flavored crisp coated in chocolate?

Whatchamacallit got its name from Patricia Volk, an advertising creative on the Hershey account who went on to write a family memoir.

Which Hershey bar is named for its count of main ingredients, pretzels and peanut butter among them?

Take 5 arrived in 2004 and joined the Reese's family in 2019, when Hershey revealed that the peanut butter inside had been Reese's all along.

Which red-wrapped Hershey bar dropped its original almonds, and later peanuts, in favor of crisped rice by 1941?

Krackel launched in 1938, and for 17 years it could be bought only as one of the four small bars in a bag of Hershey's Miniatures.

Which licorice-style twists joined Hershey in 1977 with the purchase of Y&S Candies, a firm dating from 1845?

Twizzlers were first made in 1929, yet only the black ones contain any extract of the licorice plant.

Which chewy chocolate-coated candies, part of Hershey since 1996, were named for failing to come out perfectly round?

Milk Duds date from 1928, when the candy maker at F. Hoffman & Co. gave up on forming perfect balls and called the results duds.

Since 1988, Hershey has held the United States rights to make which famous British chocolate brand?

Cadbury chocolate sold in America is made by Hershey, which took legal action to stop an importer from bringing in the British-made versions.

Experts link the tang of Hershey's milk chocolate to butyric acid, also found in which Italian cheese?

Parmesan shares the compound, which is thought to come from the way the milk is treated. The exact Hershey process, worked out in 1899, is still a trade secret.

Before learning to make candy, the teenage Milton Hershey was briefly apprenticed in which trade?

Printing did not suit him: he soon lost his place with the publisher of a German-English newspaper, and his mother found him a post with a confectioner instead.

In which city did Milton Hershey open his first candy shop in 1876, only for it to fail?

Philadelphia was hosting the nation's centennial celebrations when he set up shop there. Later ventures elsewhere failed too before he found success back home.

At which 1893 fair in Chicago did Milton Hershey first see the German chocolate machinery he then bought?

World's Columbian Exposition exhibits fascinated him: he bought the German machinery on show and began by coating his own candies in chocolate.

To advertise in 1900, Milton Hershey painted his brand name on which novel kind of delivery vehicle?

An electric car, a Riker, is thought to have been the first motor vehicle in his home city, and it was sent out on deliveries to turn heads.

Hershey's first lasting trademark, used from 1898 until 1968, showed a baby emerging from what?

A cocoa bean cradled the baby, a sign of the young firm's promise. Early versions showed the infant holding either a chocolate bar or a cup.

During which national crisis did Milton Hershey build a grand hilltop hotel to keep local men in work?

The Great Depression was at its depth when the hotel opened in 1933. Its design grew from a postcard of a small Mediterranean inn where he had once stayed.

Which university runs the medical center built in Hershey with a $50 million gift from the school trust?

Penn State got the money in 1963 with a single condition attached: the hospital and its medical school had to be built in Hershey.

Hershey Gardens opened in 1937 as a display of which flower, with more than 12,000 bushes planted?

Roses were pressed on Milton Hershey by a campaigner who wanted him to fund a national garden near Washington. He built one at home instead, in 450 varieties.

Every October since 1955, collectors of what have gathered in Hershey for a giant swap meet?

Antique automobiles fill the grounds for the Eastern Fall Meet, an event so well known among collectors that they simply call it Hershey.

Which soccer star from Hershey, Pennsylvania, became the first American man to play in a Champions League final?

Christian Pulisic did it with Chelsea in 2021, two years after his $73 million move there from Borussia Dortmund. He was born in the town and spent most of his childhood there.

Which trophy have the Hershey Bears won more often than any other American Hockey League team?

Calder Cup wins are a Hershey habit: the Bears have played in the league since 1938, longer than any other team still in its original city.

Which state capital lies about 15 miles west of the chocolate town of Hershey?

Harrisburg is close enough that its airport, about 12 miles from Hershey, is the usual gateway for visitors flying in.

Hershey's Chocolate World announced in 2016 that it would open a branch in which famous New York City spot?

Times Square joined a small family of Chocolate World visitor centers that began in Hershey and also includes one in Las Vegas.

Which name, first planned for Hershey's Kisses with almonds, went instead to mini Kisses covered in white creme?

Hugs was judged a poor match for the almond product, so the name was held back and later given to the white creme version.

Hershey's Miniatures, sold as a mixed assortment since 1939, were originally used as what?

Salesmen's samples came first: the little bars let the sales force show off the range. The first assortment held five kinds, including a nougat-almond bar dropped in 1942.

Besides candy, which pantry staple did Hershey make through its own division until selling the business in 1999?

Pasta left the company when the Hershey Pasta Group was sold to investors, who renamed the business New World Pasta.

Who in 2017 became the first woman to serve as chief executive of The Hershey Company?

Michele Buck steered Hershey beyond candy into salty snacks, buying Pirate Brands, the maker of Pirate's Booty, in 2018.

In 2002 the Hershey trust put the company up for sale, then rejected a $12.5 billion bid from which rival?

Wrigley's deal died after weeks of protest and a court fight led by the state's attorney general. Ten of the trust's 17 board members were then forced out.

A Hershey bar appears in which 1927 silent film, the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture?

Wings shows the bar in a single scene, one of several unconventional ways the founder found to get his products noticed.

Which wrapper color has marked Hershey's Kisses with almonds since they went on sale in 1990?

Gold wrappers were first tried in 1972 on a short-lived semi-sweet Kiss, then came back for the almond version.