'Making candy is my job': Who is Milton Hershey?

Milton Hershey was born on September 13, 1857, in Derry Township, Pennsylvania, United States. Milton Hershey faced great pain when he was very young. His sister, Sarena Hershey, born in April 1862, died at the age of 4 in 1867. The family, which was scorched by this pain in 1867, continued to live somehow. Like many rural young people due to the needs of the times, Hershey was expected to help out on the family farm. Milton Hershey, who doesn't insist and helps things out, learned early on the value of hard work and perseverance.

The Hershey Company, commonly known as Hershey's, is an American multinational company and one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world. It also manufactures baked products, such as cookies and cakes, and sells beverages like milkshakes, as well as other products. Its headquarters are in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States, which is also home to Hersheypark and Hershey's Chocolate World. It was founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1894 as the Hershey Chocolate Company, which is a subsidiary of his Lancaster Caramel Company. The Hershey Trust Company owns a minority stake but retains a majority of the voting power within the company.

Hershey was educated until the fourth grade. After that, he did not go to school and stayed on the farm with his family. So in 1871 Milton Hershey left school for good and apprenticed to Sam Ernst, a local printer who published newspapers in the German-English languages. Hershey didn't like that kind of work very much and thought it was too boring. One day at work, he accidentally dropped his hat on one of the machines. He was fired soon after because his boss was hot-tempered. His father asked Ernst to take him back. Then Ernst decided to give him a second chance, too, but Mattie Snavely, Hershey's aunt and mother, had a different opinion. Instead, they asked Milton Hershey to learn how to make candy. So his mother had 14-year-old Hershey apprenticed to a confectioner named Joseph Royer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Learned the Art of Confectionery

Over the next 4 years, Hershey learned how to make fudge and the art. He worked on it for days and improved himself. He moved to Philadelphia in 1876 to start his first confectionery business. Milton Hershey then went to Denver. He then got a job at a local confectioner and learned how to make caramel using fresh milk. But working for someone wasn't for Hershey. He should open his own business. He then traveled to New Orleans and Chicago to seek opportunities before settling in New York in 1883 and training at Huyler's. Although initially successful, he started his second business which lasted only 3 years and closed in 1886.

Lancaster Caramel Company

Hershey returned to Lancaster in 1883. He borrowed money from the bank to set up the Lancaster Caramel Company, which soon succeeded. He used the caramel recipe he had acquired during his previous travels to make fudge. He also experienced from his previous travels that caramels sell better in bulk. That's why he decided to open such a company where he could sell caramel in bulk. The real rise of the Lancaster Caramel Company was when a man from England visited Lancaster. After tasting Hershey's sweets, the British man loved them and placed a large order for delivery to England. Thanks to this order, Hershey was able to pay off his debt, and he was left with money to buy more supplies and equipment.

By the early 1890s, the Lancaster Caramel Company had become a very large company, employing more than 1,300 workers in two factories. Hershey also became interested in chocolate after he went to Chicago for the Columbian Exposition. For a long time he could not decide. Then, he took a risk and sold the Lancaster Caramel Company for $1 million to form the famous Hershey Chocolate Company.

The Hershey Chocolate Company

Using the proceeds from the sale of the Lancaster Caramel Company, Milton Hershey purchased farmland near his hometown of Derry, about 30 miles (50 km) northwest of Lancaster. There he could obtain the large volumes of fresh milk needed to further perfect and produce the perfect milk chocolate. Excited by the potential of milk chocolate, which was a luxury product at the time, Hershey was determined to develop a formula for milk chocolate and market it to the American public. He created his own milk chocolate formula by trial and error. The first Hershey's bar was produced in 1900. Hershey's Kisses were developed in 1907 and Hershey's Almond Bar was introduced in 1908.

On March 2, 1903, he started the construction of the company that would become the world's largest chocolate manufacturing company. Completed in 1905, the facility was designed for chocolate production using the latest mass production techniques. Hershey's milk chocolate was the first nationally marketed product of its kind.

The factory was in the center of dairy and farmland. But with Hershey's support, homes, businesses, churches, and a transportation infrastructure around the facility were built. Because the land was surrounded by dairy farms, Hershey was able to use fresh milk to produce quality milk chocolate. When Hershey moved to Drexel Hill, he continued to experiment and perfect the process of making milk chocolate, using the techniques he learned early on to make caramel.

Milton Hershey died on October 13, 1945, at the age of 88. All that's left is their excellent chocolates and candies.

Milton Hershey – Biography of the Chocolate King And Man Of People

https://www.snackhistory.com/milton-hershey/