Today, we headed back down to Chocolate Avenue (Hershey's version of Main Street) to walk through The Hershey Story Museum.
It's does a good job of telling the story of Milton Hershey and the many failures he endured prior to hitting it big with the Lancaster Caramel Company and, subsequently, Hershey Chocolate.
One of Milton Hershey's strengths was his allowance for innovation by his employees. In one instance, an employee added wheels to a bathtub to transport liquid from one place to another during the chocolate making process. The factory still uses such a device today.
The museum is very hands/on interactive for the kids. They did everything from creating a chocolate production facility on a computer monitor to emailing themselves their custom designed Hershey labels.
It also does a great job of showing the evolution of different candies in the Hershey product line. For instance, did you know that the Krackel bar was first produced in 1938 with crispy rice and almonds in it? In 1939 the almonds were traded out for peanuts. In 1940, the peanuts were removed and the bar stands as it does today, using only chocolate and crispy rice.
Another interesting fact is that Milton Hershey built a town similar to Hershey, PA in Cuba around his sugar cane company in an effort to stabilize the supply and price of sugar he needed for his chocolate business.
But, probably the most fascinating fact is that in 1918, he secretly ceded his shares (then worth $60 million) of the Hershey Company to a trust which benefitted a school he and his wife had established for orphans. That trust still has controlling interest of the Hershey Corporation today. And it's school now educates, houses, feeds, and provides medical and dental care for between 1,000-2,000 underprivileged kids each year on it's magnificent campus in Hershey. What an amazing legacy he has left. (And all of us continue to serve it by eating Hershey's Chocolate -- Hey, we are givers!)
After touring the museum, we all went down to the cafe where we sampled a chocolate flight of six chocolate syrups created from different cocoa beans around the world. Some, like Mexico, were quite bitter. Others, like Java, were quite sweet. Of course the mixture of these that Hershey uses is a corporate secret.
Following our cocoa tasting, we headed across the street for a picnic along Chocolate Ave. Good times.
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