Milton S. Hershey's Success Story

Founder of the Hershey Company

“Give them quality. That’s the best kind of advertising in the world." Who hasn’t heard of the famous Hershey chocolate bar brand? Today almost every kid, living in the United States, has at least one time eaten one of the Hershey chocolate products. They are a pleasure not only for children, but for adults as well. However, have you ever taken a time to think about the history behind those little pieces of chocolate - who is the company’s founder, what were the difficulties he faced on the road to success? Well, let me familiarize you with the man, today known as The Chocolate King, responsible for the development of the Hershey Company and its products’ unique flavor – Milton Hershey.

His great success story begins on September 13, 1857 in Dauphin Country, Pennsylvania, when he was born. At this day nobody even presumed, that this man will change the world to better. Because of his family frequent moves, he dropped out of school after he finished only fourth grade. In the course of the next few years he served as an apprentice by the Lancaster candy maker, Joseph Royer, where he gained a lot of experience and knowledge about the whole process of making candy. Inspired he decided to start his own candy business, which despite six years of hard work went bankrupt. However, Milton Hershey didn’t give up so easy – he continued learning more and more about caramels and candy, and to make new attempts to run his successful business in the food branch. And guess what, he succeeded! Milton founded the Lancaster Caramel Company; a company specialized in the caramel business, which at that time was spreading incessantly all around the U.S. and Europe, employing over 1400 people and turning Milton Hershey into one of the area’s leading citizens.

Surely the question “What about the chocolate? ” pop up in your mind? Well, Milton was first fascinated with the art of chocolate making in 1893, when he visited the world’s famous exposition in Chicago. While still there, he immediately purchased the needed machinery, shipped it to Lancaster and started working on the formula of the perfect chocolate recipe. It took him years to achieve the right quantities of milk, sugar and cocoa and to open his doors to realizing his biggest dream of mass producing. And he did it.

But the most interesting moment in Milton Hershey’s success story is yet to come. He built not just a million dollar company, but a whole town for his employees, naturally named Hershey. His idea was to make an attractive and cosy place, where his subordinates could live and work with their families. Milton once said, "If I ever become rich, I am going to use my money to build schools to give every boy and girl an opportunity to get an education." He not only stayed true to his words, he built a whole infrastructure – lots of schools, churches, parks and even a trolley system. Today the city is popularly called "The Chocolatetown, USA."

Milton S. Hershey died at the age of 88 in Hershey Hospital, a year after he had retired from the board.