The Farm Boy Who Invented Hershey's

in 1881 Milton Hershey returned to his

hometown after two failed attempts to

open a successful candy store left with

no money Hershey approached his uncles

for another loan to start up a new

business but instead he was turned down

insulted and kicked out of the house at

a time when chocolate was seen as a

luxury for the rich Milton Hershey would

leave that house to create the largest

chocolate manufacturer in the world and

in doing so making it affordable for the

masses this is the story of how One Man

became the face of the chocolate

industry

foreign

Hershey was born on the 13th of

September 1857 in Derry Township

Pennsylvania his parents Henry and Fanny

Hershey were poor farmers who lived from

hand to mouth mostly due to his father's

failed business Endeavors when Milton

was two years old his father sold the

farm to chase the oil boom in

Pennsylvania at the time oil was quickly

becoming a necessity in the lives of

Americans and those who discovered it

were becoming rich overnight Henry

recklessly spent all his money for the

next two years digging for oil until he

found himself broke with no luck leaving

the Hershey family in extreme poverty

around this time Henry's wife Fanny was

now pregnant with their second child her

two brothers traveled all the way to

Pennsylvania to check up on their sister

and little nephew what they found when

they got there was beyond shocking their

sister Fanny looked weak and life

as well as her four-year-old son Milton

who had been starving for days the two

brothers spoke with Henry and offered to

help the family if he gave up his oil

dream Henry reluctantly agreed and the

family moved to Lancaster where the

brothers gave them a farm to live on on

their new Farm Milton worked alongside

his mother to raise chickens and sell

eggs while his father planted trees and

experimented with dams to stalk fish

however Milton saw how the relationship

between his parents crumbled and became

even worse when his father abandoned the

family to fend for themselves as he left

to pursue yet another scheme when the

winter of 1867 came the cold was so

severe that it became very difficult to

keep the Hershey Farmhouse warm both

Milton and his little sister Serena

caught a severe cold and while his

mother tried everything she could to

restore their health his sister worsened

until she developed a terrible fever it

was at this point that Fanny realized

that what her daughter had wasn't a cold

but scarlet fever a deadly disease that

claimed the lives of thousands of

children at the time and Serena was no

exception at the age of four Serena

Hershey passed away this tragedy proved

to be a turning point in Milton's life

who at the age of 10 made up his mind to

do whatever it took to Make a Better

Living for himself and his mother and so

a short while later he dropped out of

school and started along his journey

foreign

at the age of 14 Milton landed his first

job as an apprentice for a local printer

Sam Ernst who was the publisher of a

German English newspaper however Milton

hated the job he found the work itself

to be boring and was often yelled at by

the owner who had a bad temper to make

matters worse his father had put him

under contract with the company for five

years after just a few months Milton was

fed up so he purposely threw his hat

into one of the printing machines

causing it to break down and was

immediately fired by his boss to his

surprise his mom supported his decision

she saw that the printing job was her

husband's idea and a poor fit for her

son's future she came together with her

sister Maddie and got Hershey another

job at the Lancaster confectionary owned

by Joseph Royer it was here where Milton

would get his first taste of the candy

business candies at the time were

created by experimentation and with

Traditions passed down from generation

to generation recipes were very vague

and many of them were not even written

down and had to be reproduced by memory

as a result the owner didn't trust young

Milton with such a complicated process

and instead assigned the boy to wash

dishes take orders at the counter and

deliver ice creams and treats to their

customers houses Milton's mother however

knew that if her son was to succeed he

needed to learn the trade of the most

profitable and long-lasting products the

shop offered candies

she insisted to the owner that he

excused Milton from his other duties and

only teach him how to make candy she

even offered to personally pay the owner

for this to which the owner finally

agreed Milton was happy he immediately

fell in love with the trade and soon

discovered his knack for mixing

ingredients and making sweets and later

learned how and where to buy ingredients

as well as setting prices

he became familiar with a wide range of

sweets such as caramels fudge and

peppermints

father on the other hand disapproved of

him and would often tell him that candy

making was a woman's job but Milton paid

no attention to his words while his

father left the family once more to seek

fortune in Chicago and Colorado Milton

spent the next four years working for Mr

Royer learning the ins and outs of the

candy business and after gaining

confidence in his knowledge and

expertise he and his mother agreed that

it was time to open his own shop the

only problem was the money Milton had

saved up over the years wasn't enough to

open a confectionary store luckily his

auntie and uncles had his back and

loaned him a hundred dollars which was

enough for him to open a business with

their support Milton Hershey was ready

to open his first shop at the age of 19.

however it wasn't going to be easy

[Applause]

in 1876 America was going to hold very

first World's Fair in the city of

Philadelphia which was 70 miles away

from where Hershey lived with news of 37

countries participating and attendance

expected to be in the millions Milton

decided to open his first confectionary

shop at the Philadelphia Spring Garden

Street there Milton offered a wide

variety of candies ice creams fruits and

nuts and although there were many other

candy shops around the corner Milton's

stand stood out one of the things he did

differently was to install an airshoe to

carry the candies scent from his

basement kitchen to the outside air that

way people would catch the smell of his

candies and be drawn into his shop as

his business began to flourish Milton

had to rent a bigger space for his shop

however things took a drastic turn when

the Trade Fair ended and the long

Depression started leading his candy

sails to plummet Milton managed to stay

afloat selling his candies at a

wholesale price to several other shops

but then another problem would come his

way sugar became too expensive and

Milton's shop was now struggling to make

a profit as his business continued to

lose money Milton had to borrow some

loans from his uncles and over the next

five years Hershey worked himself so

hard that he eventually became ill and

bedridden one day he got a letter from

his uncles telling him that they

wouldn't be loaning him any more money

they advised him to close his store and

Salvage whatever he could Hershey who is

now 24 had no other choice but to file

for bankruptcy he had not only lost his

business but also his family's faith in

him

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in 1881 Hershey's father heard about the

silver rush in Leadville Colorado and

wrote to his son to come join him Milton

figured he had nothing to lose so he

agreed to join him as they got to

Colorado Hershey found out that all the

silver they came for was long gone so he

ignored his father and found work at a

candy store in Denver the store

specialized in caramels but instead of

using paraffin which was the common

practice of the time the store owner

used fresh milk vanilla and sugar the

result was a sweet smooth and soft

caramel with a longer shelf life Hershey

was so impressed with the process that

he stayed and worked at the store for a

year until he had practiced and

memorized the process once he was ready

to move on he decided he was going to

open a new shop in one of the most

competitive cities in America New York

he went back to his uncles hoping for

another loan but to his disappointment

they rejected him and wanted no part of

his Endeavors however his aunt Maddie

took a bet on Hershey and loaned him

enough money to set up his new shop upon

arriving in New York City he wasted no

time in finding a job and started

working at the hyler's candies shop who

ran two successful stores in town once

he learned about the local supplies and

got a taste of the city he opened his

second shop in 1884 and set himself

apart by offering his Denver style

caramels his business proved to be

successful and New Yorkers were hooked

on his caramels

as sales began to improve he was later

persuaded by his father to add cough

drops into his shop but his decision to

start selling cough drops meant he was

challenging an already established brand

in the city Smith Brothers Cough Drops

which were loved by New Yorkers and they

didn't take the challenge lightly during

the next couple of years Milton's

business slowly began to struggle mainly

due to the competition in the city

accumulating more debts until eventually

filing for bankruptcy in 1886 once again

Milton had failed however he didn't lose

hope as he knew what he needed to do

this time he would focus on one thing

caramels

[Music]

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returning to Lancaster wasn't easy for

Hershey still he summoned the courage

after a few weeks and went back to his

uncle's an end for one more loan he told

them about his new caramel recipe and

that he had a better chance of

succeeding this time because he could

Source the ingredients at home but his

uncles were done with Hershey they told

him that he was no different from his

father and that he had now become the

black sheep of the family with nowhere

else to go Milton turned to his former

accountant William lebkicker who loaned

him enough money to get back on his feet

and help start his business using the

leftover supplies from his New York shop

he started to make caramels again and

began selling them with a hand basket on

the streets of Lancaster using fresh

milk and all the new tricks he learned

along the way Milton was able to create

the perfect caramel that customers loved

he he later established the Lancaster

caramel company and as his sales began

to grow Milton reinvested all the money

he earned into renting a push cart and

later a small place for production

although Milton's Aunt Maddie had turned

him down for another loan she had a

change of heart after seeing the little

progress Milton had made and was able to

loan Milton another seven hundred

dollars to buy equipment only this time

he had to repay it in 90 days

As Time passed Hershey's little business

wasn't going as expected and was far

away from repaying the money as he began

to question himself as to what he should

do next a British importer found

Hershey's caramel and was really

impressed by the unique taste it had

after learning about its month-long

shelf life he immediately placed a large

order and promised to pay Hershey if the

candy made it to London in good

condition the only problem was Milton

couldn't even afford to produce the

caramels and ship them out in the first

place so he walked down to his bank and

even though he had the pressure of a 700

loan he asked the bank for an additional

one thousand dollars initially the

officer rejected him but after taking a

look at his tiny wagon maker he was

really impressed with how he was able to

make such delicious caramels with such

modest means knowing that the bank

wouldn't loan him the money the officer

personally signed the loan for him

immediately after Hershey hired a few

hands to help him complete the order and

was able to ship his caramels out the

following week Milton heard nothing over

the next few days and Drew increasingly

impatient he knew that if he didn't hear

back from the British importer his

business would fail once again just days

before the loan was due Hershey received

a letter

inside was a check for 500 British

pounds which would be about 65 thousand

dollars in today's currency Milton was

overwhelmed finally he was able to pay

off all of his debts and his worries

were over from there sales of his

proprietary caramels Hershey's Crystal a

took off while most of his sales came

from Europe at the time he slowly began

to expand in the U.S and by 1894

Milton's company had grown to several

factories with thousands of workers and

was bringing in over a million dollars

in sales he became one of the richest

and most well-respected men in Lancaster

with a strong team in place taking over

production Milton was now in his 30s

with more time on his hands and

eventually grew Restless on one occasion

he visited the Colombian Exposition in

Chicago to check out some of the world's

newest inventions unbeknownst to Milton

this trip would forever change his life

[Music]

during his visit to the exposition

Hershey witnessed J.M Lehman's

demonstration of chocolate rolling

Machinery from Germany at the time

chocolate was considered a luxury that

most people couldn't afford but Lehman's

demonstration proved to everyone that

chocolate could be mass produced and

therefore had the potential to be cheap

sensing an opportunity Hershey offered

to buy Lehman's entire equipment setup

which Lehman gladly accepted immediately

after returning to Lancaster Hershey

began experimenting with manufacturing

sweet chocolate baking chocolate and

other cocoa products and soon

Incorporated the Hershey Chocolate

Company as a subsidiary of his caramel

business using his old formula of fresh

milk as he did with his caramels Milton

did the same with his chocolate products

and people loved it during the next few

years Hershey kept adding more and more

varieties of sweets until he eventually

had over a hundred different products to

offer however he later noticed that

chocolate sales were slowly spreading

across Europe and eating into his

caramel business share at that point

Hershey believed that caramel had peaked

and was fast becoming a thing of the

past with that in mind he was ready to

make one of the riskiest business

decisions of his life he was going to

sell his caramel business and devote his

Focus solely to chocolate in 1900 he

sold his business to another competitor

for a sum of one million dollars and

immediately after he ordered the

construction of a massive factory with

high-tech machinery for his new company

as construction on his new Factory began

Hershey instructed some of his most

trusted employees to go and work for

some of his competitors so that they

might learn their methods most of these

people had to travel out of the country

since no other company in America at the

time was successfully Mass producing

milk chocolate only the Swiss were

believed to have mastered the process

and they had managed to keep it a secret

While most of his employees returned

with no success Hershey had other

problems to deal with in the early 1900s

political corruption was on the rise in

Lancaster and Hershey made the difficult

decision to move away from his business

town he bought over 1200 Acres of empty

Farmland in Derry church and began

developing a whole new town from the

ground up for himself and his workers

but as the walls of his six acre Factory

began to rise by the end of 1903 Hershey

and his men still didn't know how to

mass produce milk chocolate all of their

attempts up to that point had failed

unbeknownst to Milton the answer was

right beside him the whole time in

Lancaster Hershey hired a previous

employee from his caramel business in

Lancaster Johnny schmalbach who on his

very first attempt found a way to warm

and condense the milk without burning it

creating a mild tasting milk chocolate

that tasted sweet with a subtle sour

note not only that but his process of

using condensed milk instead of powdered

milk allowed the chocolate to be stored

for months without spoiling meaning it

could be mass produced and therefore

less expensive little did Johnny know he

had just displayed out the formula that

Hershey Chocolate was built on

although Milton had been selling his

iconic chocolate bars since 1900 he

could finally Mass produce them at a

lower price 5 cents each which made them

affordable to the masses and available

in almost every store in the country by

1906 Hershey Chocolate topped a million

dollars in sales and during the next two

years Hershey would introduce two more

products that are still synonymous with

the company today Hershey's kisses and

Hershey's chocolate bars with almonds

these two signature products along with

Hershey's original bar drove the company

to Heights Beyond Milton's wildest

imagination making millions along the

way his Factory soon tripled in size

becoming the largest Factory in the

world but as his sails grew at a

blistering pace so did his chocolate

City the town of Hershey grew to include

modern homes with electricity schools

hospitals churches amusement parks and

many other entertainment sites such as a

zoo and an open-air theater

since Hershey and his wife couldn't have

children of their own they also decided

to establish the Hershey industrial

School in 1909 which specialized in

serving poor orphan boys from ages 4 to

18. Milton later transferred the

majority of his assets and control of

the company to the Milton Hershey School

as it is called today which Now controls

40 percent of Hershey's stock making it

one of the wealthiest private schools in

the U.S however while Milton's company

thrived the health of his wife Kitty

began to worsen he had already lost his

father and Aunt Maddie right before his

chocolate business took off and had

grown even closer to his mom and his

wife despite all his wealth and having

the best doctors within his reach it

wasn't enough to save his wife and in

1915 Catherine died of pneumonia after

her passing Hershey couldn't bear to

stay at home so he threw himself into

his work instead eventually he'd decided

to take a much needed vacation and

travel to Cuba there he immediately fell

in love with the people and the

community and later found out about the

Abundant Sugar Land the country

possessed it was here that Hershey

discovered his next goal he was going to

build a sugar mill in Cuba and in doing

so build an entire town and Community

just like he previously did in Derry

church with that in mind Hershey built

the most advanced Sugar Mill there was

along with modern houses schools and

health clinics for his new workers

because of this Hershey not only had the

benefit of bringing fresh milk from the

Farmland of Derry church but he could

also export his own sugar at an

affordable price when the first world

war broke out in 1914 sugar suddenly

became scarce and very expensive and

while many other companies were

struggling to stay in place Hershey

managed to survive the war by using his

own resources and even made a contract

with the U.S Army to supply huge

quantities of cacao and chocolate bars

for their soldiers expanding the Hershey

brand around the world by the end of the

war Hershey's chocolates surpassed 20

million dollars in annual sales but

shortly after Milton faced yet another

tragedy his supportive mother Fanny

passed away in 1920. it was a tough

period for Milton who at the time was

facing Fierce competition like never

before as Milton saw how other chocolate

brands picked up market shares by

spending heavily on ads he carried on

focusing on selling only a few products

his sales continued to soar until they

reached an astonishing 41 million

dollars by 1929. Hershey continued to

run the company until 1944 when he

retired as CEO at the age of 87. he died

of pneumonia a year later in his town of

Hershey Pennsylvania

following his death the Hershey Company

continued to grow and remains one of the

largest chocolate manufacturers in the

world with a market cap of over 44

billion dollars

[Music]

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