The Massive Chocolate Company That Was Born From A Grade School Education

The story of the Hershey Company is one of the most famous rags-to-riches stories in American food history. What makes it even more incredible is that Mr. Hershey himself, founder Milton S. Hershey, received very little formal education. Reportedly, Hershey never advanced beyond the fourth grade. Considering that Pennsylvania is known as the chocolate capital of the U.S., it's no surprise that Hershey was born in rural Pennsylvania in 1857 to a Mennonite family. He experienced a rough childhood made even more difficult by dire financial straits and frequent moving. His father, Henry Hershey, left the family frequently for long periods of time, struggling with failed business schemes and ventures.  

Obviously, this kind of upheaval meant young Hershey's schooling was disrupted constantly, and along with the state of education in 19th-century rural America, the future wasn't promising. Back then, many working-class young boys left school early to support their families, especially kids like Hershey, who were expected to learn a trade. His family first placed him at a printing shop as an apprentice in nearby Lancaster, but Hershey hated it so much that his mother decided he'd do better learning the confectionery trade. 

This type of hands-on training taught him all kinds of candy-making skills, including caramel cooking and sugar chemistry. Hershey launched multiple candy ventures in other cities before finally hitting the jackpot with his Lancaster Caramel Company. His secret to success was using fresh milk in the caramel production, which is also a tip we recommend when making the perfect caramel sauce.

Hershey could have stopped with caramels and still have been a smashing success, but he made the fateful decision to visit the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. There, he encountered German chocolate-making machines and became convinced that the then-expensive and somewhat luxurious product could be mass-produced for regular working-class folks. In 1900, Hershey took a huge leap of faith and sold his caramel company to focus almost entirely on chocolate production. He founded The Hershey Company and began building a huge factory in rural Pennsylvania, as well as a company town to house his future employees.

The now-iconic Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar became one of the first mass-market chocolates Americans could afford and find nationwide. Hershey's limited formal education never seemed to slow him down, as he innately understood the importance of branding, vertical integration, and product standardization. He even had time to dream up the Hershey kiss, which has been around way longer than you might think. His legacy also went beyond candy, as he and his wife established a private, cost-free school for disadvantaged children, the Milton Hershey School, that's still around today. 

More than 100 years later, Hershey owns a staggering amount of brands, including ones that aren't even chocolate-adjacent, like Dot's Homestyle Pretzels and Jolly Ranchers. A man who barely completed elementary school amazingly went on to build one of the most influential food manufacturing empires in the world.