Tootsie Roll

In the late nineteenth century, the word tootsie was slang for a girl or sweetheart. In 1896, Leo Hirshfield, an immigrant from Austria, opened a candy store in New York. One of his employees began making a small, log-shaped, chewy chocolate caramel. In 1905, Hirshfield named the candy after his daughter, Clara, who was nicknamed Tootsie, and began manufacturing them commercially. It was the first penny candy that was individually wrapped. The operation was named Sweets Company of America, and in 1917 it began advertising nationally. In 1931, the company introduced the Tootsie Pop, which had a hard candy shell with a soft center on a stick. During World War II, Tootsie Rolls were placed in soldiers’ ration kits, mainly because the hard candy could survive various climatic conditions. After the war, the company targeted its advertising toward youth by sponsoring popular children’s television shows such as Howdy Doody, Rin Tin Tin, and the cartoon show Rocky & Bullwinkle.
The company’s name was changed to Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. and the company began to expand its operations abroad, first into the Philippines and Southeast Asia, and later into Canada and Mexico. In 1991, Tootsie Roll Industries acquired the Charms Company, America’s largest lollipop manufacturer and maker of Charms Blow Pop. Two years later, it acquired Warner-Lambert’s chocolate and caramel division, which included Junior Mints, Sugar Daddy, Sugar Babies, and the Charleston Chew! Today, Tootsie Roll Industries is headquartered in Chicago.