The Hollywood Candy Company, or Hollywood Brands, was an American confectionery company formed in Hollywood, Carver County, Minnesota, in 1912[1] by Frank Martoccio.
Martoccio, head of the F.A. Martoccio Macaroni Company, acquired a defunct candy factory in 1911 for the sole purpose of replacing one of his own factory's machines that had burned out. Martoccio was talked into buying the entire Pratt and Langhoft Candy plant and found himself in the confectionery business.[2] He purchased another candy company, the Pendergast Candy Company of Minneapolis, in 1927, changing the name to Hollywood Brands in 1933. The Pendergast Company had discovered the method of making a fluffy nougat for candy bars, which was copied by Frank Mars for his Milky Way bars.[3] Martoccio invented a synthetic coating for his candy bars to keep them from melting in warm temperatures. He used only the very best ingredients—real cocoa butter, eggs, etc.-- and was still able to sell his milk chocolate bars for 3 cents compared to the 5 cent Hershey bar (1955). That was not continued after the company was sold in 1967.[2]
Hollywood Candy Company moved to Centralia, Illinois, in 1938. During the 1950s, Hollywood Candy Company owned a Crosley Super Sport, which was painted to look like the Zero candy bar wrapper and employed a midget to impersonate a character called Zero and drive around advertising the candy bar. In 1967, the Martoccio family sold Hollywood Brands to Consolidated Foods, later Sara Lee. The Centralia plant was destroyed in a fire in 1980.
In 1988 Hollywood Brands was acquired by the Leaf Candy Company,[4] then became part of The Hershey Company in 1996.[5]
Amongst Hollywood's confectionery products were: