McCowan's Ltd was a Scottish confectionery company specialising in

toffee Toffee is a confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses (creating inverted sugar) along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of . While being prepared, toffee ...

and

fudge Fudge is a type of confection that is made by mixing sugar, butter and milk, heating it to the soft-ball stage at , and then beating the mixture while it cools so that it acquires a smooth, creamy consistency. In texture, this crystalline can ...

. Their most famous product is Highland Toffee.

History

McCowan's originally began life as an aerated water business run by Andrew McCowan, His wife attempted to make some extra money on the side by selling toffee from the window of their house in Stenhousemuir (however the secret recipe was bought by McCowan in a pub from a man selling the toffee for a pint). The Toffee proved more successful than the Lemonade and soon became the primary family income. Within 15 years, McCowan was producing a variety of confections including Tablet and later Rock, Snowballs, Lollypops and Macaroon were added to the company's products. But it was in the 1920s that McCowan began to produce the small toffee chews that would become the company's flagship confection - McCowan's Highland Toffee had arrived. In the early years, Andrew worked from a shop in Church Street but in 1924 he opened a factory in its current location of Tryst Road. In 1951 Andrew died, and the company passed into the hands of his son Robert McCowan. In 1959 Robert accepted an offer from the

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since ...

company, yet still operated under its own brand During the 1980s the company introduced the

Wham Bar The Wham Bar is a confectionery bar produced by Tangerine Confectionery and sold in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. They are thin chew bars with coloured pieces of sherbet inside. Wham Bars are available in a range of flavours ...

. Further development and an agreement with

A.G. Barr A.G. Barr plc, commonly known as Barr's, is a soft drink manufacturer based in Cumbernauld, Scotland. It is widely known for manufacturing the drink Irn-Bru. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Ind ...

also led to production of the

Irn-Bru Irn-Bru ( "iron brew", ) is a Scottish carbonated soft drink, often described as "Scotland's other national drink" (after whisky). Introduced in 1901, the drink is produced in Westfield, Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, by A.G. Barr of Glasgo ...

Bar. In 1987

merged with

Rowntree's Rowntree's is a British confectionery brand and former business based in York, England. Rowntree developed the Kit Kat (introduced in 1935), Aero (introduced in 1935), Fruit Pastilles (introduced in 1881), Smarties (introduced in 1937) brands ...

leading to a short term re-branding of McCowan's under the ''Nestlé-Rowntree'' name. In 1989 a Management Buyout occurred and the company once again became independent. In 1996 Dutch confectioner Phideas purchased the company, before the company became independent once more in 2003. In 2005 the company was purchased by Graham Wallace and Andy Allan who later that year bought John Millar & Sons as a result McCowans ceased to exist as an independent company and merged with John Millar & Sons to become

Millar McCowan Millar McCowan was a Scottish confectionery manufacturer. Owned by Andrew Walsh, who also runs Thornycroft.(A confectionery distribution company.) For the brands of McCowan’s and John Millar & Sons. Among its brands are Wham Bars, and H ...

After this time the McCowans brand (separate from the McCowans company) transferred to firstly to The New McCowans Ltd then in October 2011 to

Tangerine Confectionery Valeo Confectionery formerly known as Tangerine Confectionery and Toms Confectionery is a British confectionery company with its headquarters in Pontefract, West Yorkshire. Since 2006, it had grown through acquisitions into one of the largest i ...

. Site is now demobilised and now lies a B&M with car park attached to a Tim Hortons. Stenhousemuir Stadium Ochilview is still in the street behind.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20090223111608/http://www.millar-mccowan.com/ Scottish confectionery Scottish brands Food manufacturers of Scotland Brand name confectionery Companies based in Falkirk (council area) Stenhousemuir {{Scotland-company-stub