Product Snapshot: BarNone is back!

HISTORY: In Sept 1987, Hershey Chocolate Co. unveiled the BarNone Chocolate bar, the first new bar it had created in decades. Hershey spent $15 million dollars on testing and development before introducing BarNone on a national scale. Distribution began immediately and was followed by a national television, radio and newspaper advertising campaign. The theme of the ad campaign was “the chocolate lovers bar – it will tame the chocolate beasty in you.”

BarNone featured a cocoa wafer, chocolate crème, peanuts and a milk chocolate coating. The bar was manufactured in the company’s plant in Stuarts Draft, Va.  Hershey’s Director of New Development stated BarNone would become a new consumer favorite.

FANS: Candy fans around the country found BarNone to be so delicious that it quickly became a national favorite. Fans loved the combination of chocolate notes, the crispness of the wafer and the crunch of the peanuts. It was the perfect chocolate lovers bar.  After five years of bliss, in 1992, Hershey Inexplicably decided to change the bar by adding caramel into the mix and split the bar into two smaller bars. By 1997 the thrill and magic of the original BarNone bar was gone and the product was discontinued.

Chocolate Lovers never forgot the original BarNone. By 2006, web posts, Facebook pages, blogs and petitions cropped up demanding the return of BarNone. The Candy Blog started in 2006 was captioned “I Miss Bar None … There once was a fantastic chocolate bar that surpassed KitKat in crispiness and exuded such a creamy sweet experience.” Bloggers pleaded: “The best candy ever. Why would they ever stop producing this awesome candy bar. Please bring them back.” Facebook fans stated, “OMG I was so addicted to these. I’m not sure it would be a good thing to bring them back as I’d probably eat one every day! I’m hoping they bring back the original.”

RETURN: Iconic Candy, LLC, a company that specializes in the return of nostalgic candy brands, was listening. After years of research and development, Iconic Candy is slated to return the original BarNone this spring. Iconic used hundreds of fans who had contacted them as a select pool of lucky taste testers to insure they would return the BarNone as it originally was. Iconic Candy, LLC’s website reminds us, “Like a great song from our past, an iconic candy brings back memories like a portal in time. It takes us back to another time and place when everything seemed better, brighter and gentler.”

Experience BarNone again thanks to family owned Iconic Candy, LLC.