Discontinued In The '60s, These Chocolate Bars Tasted Nothing Like The Name

When you head to a cookout and order a hot dog loaded with toppings, you're not actually expecting to be handed a small wiener dog dripping with mustard and relish ... are you? Most likely not. The same goes for ordering buffalo wings or making monkey bread — there are no actual buffalo or monkeys involved. It's rather comical, then, that when the Chicken Dinner candy bar was introduced in 1923, customers were surprised to find that it tasted nothing like chicken.

Not only did the Chicken Dinner candy bars not taste like chicken, but they also weren't made with chicken, either. These average-sized candy bars were made with nuts and/or nougat and covered in rich chocolate, like a modern-day Almond Joy or Milky Way (which is also one of 30 popular candies that are way older than you think), and often marketed as higher-quality chocolate than its competitors. Until it was discontinued in 1962, the candy was distributed by trucks decked out to look like real chickens for just five cents per bar, enticing children from every walk of life, much like old-school ice cream trucks.

Created in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by the Sperry Candy Company, Chicken Dinner candy bars earned their spot as one of America's coolest regional candies. At the time, or even in the modern day, breaking into the candy market is tough when there are so many competitors selling similar items. To stand out amongst the tidal wave of candy makers, Sperry Candy Company purposefully chose a name for its chocolate bar that would turn heads. Packaging for the candy even showed a whole roasted chicken, which was meant to both intrigue and disgust people, especially children.

The specific reason for the discontinuation of the Chicken Dinner bar is unknown, but Sperry Candy Company was purchased by a competing brand the same year it left shelves, which many speculate explains its disappearance. Some believe it's the inspiration for modern-day protein bars, ahead of its time in advertising succulence in the form of a candy bar. These days, you won't find these wacky candy bars at the grocery store, but a few scraps of Chicken Dinner's 40-year success still exist in the far corners of the internet, as eBay resellers are listing embossed tins and candy bar boxes anywhere from $125 to well over $500. Even if Chicken Dinner candy bars are one of those vintage candy bars no one remembers anymore, they certainly made their place in history.