Polly Waffle is a 50 gram Australian

chocolate bar A chocolate bar (Commonwealth English) or candy bar (some dialects of American English) is a confection containing chocolate, which may also contain layerings or mixtures that include nuts, fruit, caramel, nougat, and wafers. A flat, easily brea ...

. It is a waffle

wafer A wafer is a crisp, often sweet, very thin, flat, light and dry biscuit, often used to decorate ice cream, and also used as a garnish on some sweet dishes. Wafers can also be made into cookies with cream flavoring sandwiched between them. They ...

tube filled with

marshmallow Marshmallow (, ) is a type of confectionery that is typically made from sugar, water and gelatin whipped to a solid-but-soft consistency. It is used as a filling in baking or normally molded into shapes and coated with corn starch. The sugar c ...

and coated in

compound chocolate Compound chocolate is a product made from a combination of cocoa, vegetable fat and sweeteners. It is used as a lower-cost alternative to true chocolate, as it uses less-expensive hard vegetable fats such as coconut oil or palm kernel oil in pl ...

. The confection had been introduced in 1947 by the Hoadley's Chocolate Company, then taken over by

Rowntree Mackintosh Confectionery Rowntree Mackintosh Confectionery was a British company formed by the merger of Rowntree's and John Mackintosh Co. The company was famous for making chocolate brands, such as Kit Kat, Aero and Quality Street. It was purchased by Nestlé in 19 ...

in 1972. When Rowntree Mackintosh was acquired by Nestlé in 1988, the Swiss company continued producing Polly Waffles until it was discontinued in 2009.Polly Waffle comeback fast-tracked due to the coronavirus crisis
on 7News, 29 Apr 2020 In 2019, it was announced that Australian confectioner Robern Menz, since January 2022 rebranded Menz Confectionery, had signed an agreement with rights holder Nestlé to produce the Polly Waffle bars.The Polly Waffle is coming back 10 years after it disappeared
on FiveAA, 24 Jan 2019 (archived) The launch of the product is due to occur in 2023.

History

Abel Hoadley opened a jam factory in South Melbourne, Victoria, in 1889, trading as A. Hoadley & Company. By 1895, business had expanded rapidly and Hoadley built a five-storey premises, the Rising Sun Preserving Works. He produced

fruit preserves Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits whose main preserving agent is sugar and sometimes acid, often stored in glass jars and used as a condiment or spread. There are many varieties of fruit preserves globally, distinguished by the met ...

, including jams and jellies, candied fruit and peels,

sauces In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French wor ...

, and confectionery, and employed a workforce as large as two hundred. By 1901, there were four preserving factories and a large confectionery works. Hoadley had acquired the firm of Dillon, Burrows & Co. and extended his products to

vinegar Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to eth ...

, cocoa, and

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 ...

. In 1910, the jam business was sold to Henry Jones Co-operative Ltd and in 1913, Hoadley's Chocolates Ltd was formed. The same year, Hoadley produced his first chocolate assortment. Hoadley's Chocolates made the first Polly Waffle bar in Melbourne in 1947. It was conceived by company accounts supervisor and family friend, Mayfield B. Anthony. In 1972, Hoadley's Chocolates was acquired by

and became known as "Rowntree Hoadley Ltd". In 1988,

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 ...

acquired Rowntree. The Rowntree chocolate brands were initially branded as Nestlé-Rowntree, until Nestlé dropped the 'Rowntree' name altogether. During the 1970s, the advertising slogan for Polly Waffle was "mmm, crunch, aah!". In mid-2009, a new recipe for Polly Waffle was released along with new packaging announcing the change. The new product was the same appearance as the older product, but contained a more sugary and brittle wafer. On 23 November 2009 Nestlé discontinued Polly Waffle after 62 years due to poor sales. In 2015, Melbourne-based company Chocolate Works released "The Great Aussie Waffle Log", a product specifically designed to mimic the Polly Waffle, in response to a social media campaign calling for the resurrection of the classic bar. In 2019, Adelaide confectioner

Robern Menz Menz Confectionery is a manufacturer of confectionery in Adelaide, South Australia. It has its origins in two companies, W. Menz & Co., a biscuit and confectionery business, and Robern, called Robern Menz from 1992 to January 2022. History of ...

signed a deal with Nestlé to produce the Polly Waffle, a year after purchasing the rights to produce the Violet Crumble, also from Nestlé. The company said in 2020 that the chocolate bar would be back to stores in 2022,Violet Crumble drives Robern Menz sales but Polly Waffle fans must wait
on IN Daily (Adelaide), 29 Jun 2020 but by January 2022 this date was pushed back to 2023.

In popular culture

"Polly Waffle" is sometimes used by Australians as a euphemism for

faeces Feces ( or faeces), known colloquially and in slang as poo and poop, are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. Feces contain a relati ...

. In May 2014, a member of the

Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Au ...

described a government budget delivered by

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...

Joe Hockey as "about as popular as a Polly Waffle floating in a public pool". A popular childhood prank involved throwing a Polly Waffle into a public swimming pool, to imitate faeces. It is also used to describe lies told by

loquacious Verbosity or verboseness is speech or writing that uses more words than necessary. The opposite of verbosity is plain language. Some teachers, including the author of ''The Elements of Style'', warn against verbosity; similarly Mark Twain and Er ...

politicians, since ' pollie' is

Australian slang Australian English is a major variety of the English language spoken throughout Australia. Most of the vocabulary of Australian English is shared with British English, though there are notable differences. The vocabulary of Australia is drawn ...

for 'politician' and '

waffle A waffle is a dish made from leavened batter or dough that is cooked between two plates that are patterned to give a characteristic size, shape, and surface impression. There are many variations based on the type of waffle iron and recipe use ...

' means 'to speak or write vaguely and evasively'. "The pollie without the waffle" has been used as a slogan for

election campaigns A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referend ...

References

Sources

*'' Australian Dictionary of Biography'' - Abel Hoadley entry *Australian Novel, ''Deadly Unna'' by Phillip Gwynne {{Rowntree's Rowntree's brands Nestlé brands Chocolate bars Australian confectionery Australian snack foods Australian slang