"The Sky Bar hit the market in 1938 with its unique offering: four candy compartments filled with caramel, vanilla, peanut, and fudge. This made it the perfect candy bar for indecisive snackers. The brand was owned by New England Confectionary Company (NECCO), one of the biggest candy manufacturers in America at the time, and they spared no cost on marketing its latest product. The announcement was made in spectacular style, with the name emblazoned across the sky in giant letters that stretched across 10 miles by a skywriting plane."
"After many decades of success, the NECCO story hit a bitter note. FDA inspections of its manufacturing unit in 2018 found multiple violations, from the presence of rodents, dirty utensils, puddles of standing liquid, and heavy accumulation of residual food on non-food contact surfaces. The company filed for bankruptcy a month after receiving the FDA warning, and all its assets were put up for auction. While its other popular brands, Necco Wafers ( another candy with a storied past) and Conversation Hearts, found a buyer, Sky Bar seemed destined for the confectionary graveyard."
"Enter Louise Mawhinney, who owned the Duck Soup, a general store and gift shop in Sudbury, Massachusetts. Mawhinney, a grandmother to three boys under 10 years of age, had been running the Duck Soup for four years when she bought the rights to Sky Bar as the first and only bid"
Sky Bar entered the market in 1938 with four separate candy compartments filled with caramel, vanilla, peanut, and fudge. The New England Confectionary Company promoted the product heavily, including a skywriting launch that spelled the brand name across 10 miles. After decades of success, NECCO faced serious manufacturing problems identified during FDA inspections in 2018, including rodents, unsanitary utensils, standing liquid, and heavy food residue on non-food contact surfaces. NECCO filed for bankruptcy a month after the FDA warning, and assets were auctioned. Other brands were sold, but Sky Bar initially appeared headed for disappearance. Louise Mawhinney, who ran a general store and gift shop, bought the rights to Sky Bar and worked to restore the brand.
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