In 1896, founder Leo Hirshfield, an Austrian immigrant, wanted to create a “chocolate” candy that would be a cheap alternative to more expensive traditional chocolates.

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Leo started production of his new found candy and started selling them for a penny at a small shop in New York. Tootsie Roll sales began to take off and Leo had to produce more of his candy to meet demand of his new customers and had to move to a five story factory. It was the first candy to be individually wrapped, and the name of the company was changed to “The Sweets Company of America” and became a public traded company in 1922.

 

The low price of the Tootsie Roll made it a popular choice during America’s depression era. The success of the Tootsie Roll has inspired the company to create a new product, the Tootsie Pop (a lollipop with Tootsie Roll filling inside) was invented in 1931. The military liked the product so much because of the hardiness of the candy remained intact even under the most extreme conditions, they signed a contract with the candy company during World War II to supply the American soldiers with Tootsie Roll products in their field rations.

 

Today, TRI (Tootsie Roll Industries) has purchased a large number of other well known American candy makers related to the industry and produces a huge amount of candy products. They remain one of the largest candy manufacturers in the world with more than 64 million Tootsie Rolls produced daily.

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Source: sweetservices.com