The Blumenthal Brothers Chocolate Company was a

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

-based

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

manufacturer that existed from 1909 to 1984. Its factory was located at Margaret and James Streets in the city's Frankford neighborhood.

History

The company was founded in 1909 and existed under Blumenthal family management until 1969 when it was sold to Ward Foods, a New York-based conglomerate best known for making Tip Top bread. The principal reason for the sale, reportedly, was that few of the third generation of Blumenthals were interested in managing the company. After the sale, a new company, Ward Candy, was formed with Bernhard S. Blumenthal as its president.

Legal difficulties

In 1968, Louis Perez, a Blumenthal employee, sued the company in the

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme ...

, claiming he was forced to work in exposure to a heavy concentration of dust and excessive heat in his employment. The high court affirmed the lower court's decision in his favor, forcing the company to compensate him. In 1974, the company was again taken to court, this time for falsification of its gross income by secretly manufacturing products outside the state of Pennsylvania, keeping on average $5 million a year from being disclosed. The court cases crippled the company financially and eventually led to bankruptcy. In 1984, Terson Company and its Ward brands, best known for their ''Chunky'' chocolate candy, divested the combined candy companies to Nestle and the rights to its products to ensure its legacy. Most recently, Nestle sold the company, among others, to Ferrero in January 2018 for $2.8 billion.

Notable candies

* Goobers, chocolate-coated peanuts introduced in 1925. * Malties, chocolate-covered malt balls * Fruit and Nut Bridge Mix * Milk Chocolate Treats, which were nearly identical to Hershey Kisses. *

Chunky bars Chunky may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Chunky Clements (born 1994), American football player * Liam O'Brien (hurler) (born 1949), Irish hurler * Chunky Pandey, stage name of Indian actor Suyash Pandey (born 1962) * Chunky Woodward (1924–1990), Ca ...

, trapezoidal chocolate bar with nuts and raisins *

Sno Caps Sno-Caps is a brand of candy consisting of small pieces of semi-sweet chocolate candy covered with white nonpareils. Sno-Caps can be found around the world and are commonly associated with movie theaters, where they are often sold at concessio ...

, semi-sweet chocolate candies covered with white nonpareils introduced in 1927. *

Raisinets Chocolate-covered raisins are a candy consisting of individual raisins coated in a shell of milk, dark or white chocolate. Varieties and brands In some countries, they are also known as Raisinets, which is the earliest and one of the most p ...

, chocolate-coated raisins introduced in 1927.

References

{{Nestlé Chocolate companies based in Pennsylvania