Hey Tootsie, Let's Roll!

What Penny Candy is Worth Over $245 Million Dollars?

Why it is the long lasting, chocolaty, chewy, delicious TOOTSIE ROLL! For more than 110 years, this candy gem has been a cash cow! Who doesn’t love a Tootsie Roll?

Commercials for this confectionary treasure include some of the longest running ‘themes’ in advertising history. The famous “Everything I see becomes a Tootsie Roll to me” adds still run in some form or other, today. Check it out:

Just the Facts, Tootsie!

(Karla Koop gathered this info)

In 1896, an Austrian immigrant Leo Hirshfield brings to the U.S. his recipe for a chocolaty, chewy candy, which he begins producing in a small store in New York City. Hirshfield names the candy after his five-year-old daughter, whose nickname is “Tootsie.” The rest, as they say, is candy history.

6 pieces = 140 Calories (30 Calories of fat)
Low in saturated fat
Very low in sodium
Very high in sugar (20g)

Even if it is Sweet and Chewy, Business is Business

Since 1966, the business behind two of the best selling candies in America (Tootsie Rolls and Tootsie Roll Pops) has been Tootsie Roll Industries (NYSE: TR).

Tracing its origins back to 1896 and Leo Hirshfield, the Tootsie Roll has consistently proven to be a business success. From 1896 to 1917 Leo produced the confection from his own small candy store in New York City. In 1917, having outgrown that small space, the first Tootsie Roll company was formed and named “The Sweets Company of America”. The current name, “Tootsie Roll Industries” was adopted in 1966.

Through the years, TRI has acquired a number of other candy maufactureres including Charms (1988), Warner Lambert" (1993) and the Andes company in 2000. Through it all, the small but mighty Tootsie Roll has remainded the company’s anchor.  

The Great Experiment

On June 12, 2008, the inquisitive minds (read: Karla and Anke) at Local Matters, Inc. decided to undertake a vital and life changing experiment. They placed a Tootsie Roll in a glass of water to find out how long it would last. Recognizing that this could be the greatest scientific discovery of the 21st century they placed the Tootsie Roll in water at 12:18 p.m. (MDT) and solicited input from LMI employees as to when the candy would disappear.

Guesses ranged from two to twelve plus hours (thank you Jim, Alex, Karla, Nina, Anke, Tom and Ken) with the closest guess coming from Anke who had settled on two hours, or 2:18 p.m.

The actual time of completet dissoulution was 2:22 p.m., for a total of two hours and four minutes.

Truly, the world will never be the same!

Tootsie Roll Pops

No guide to Tootsie Rolls would be complete without mention of the popular Tootsie Roll Pop, or to the teeming masses of Tootsie Roll fans, just Tootsie Pop will do.

Created in 1931 by Tom Medric, an employee of what would become Tootsie Roll Industries, this non-perishable confection consisting of a hard candy outer coating and an original Tootsie Roll center has been almost as popular as its famous forebearer.

In 1970, Tootsie Roll Industried, through an advertising agency that was a fully owned subsidiary of TRI, launched a commercial that would prove one of the most enduring in advertising history.

In the commercial, a young lad visited various animals asking a now famous question:

              Boy: Mr. Cow… Mr. Cow: Yeeeeesss?

Boy: How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?

Mr. Cow: I don’t know, I always end up biting. Ask Mr. Fox, for he’s much more clever than I.

Boy: Mr. Fox, how many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?

Mr. Fox: Why don’t you ask Mr. Turtle, for he’s been around a lot longer than I? Me, heheh, I bite.

Boy: Mr. Turtle, how many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?

Mr. Turtle: I’ve never even made it without biting. Ask Mr. Owl, for he is the wisest of us all.

Boy: Mr. Owl, how many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?

Mr. Owl (voiced by Paul Winchell): A good question. Let’s find out. A One… A.two-HOO…A three..

(crunching sound effect)

Mr. Owl: Three!

Boy: If there’s anything I can’t stand, it’s a smart owl.

Narrator (Herschel Bernardi): How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?

(crunch sound effect)

Narrator: The world may never know.
 
After that airing, the owl became the mascot for Tootsie Roll Pops.

In the 1990s, the concept was modernized by having the boy ask a robot and a dragon, but none were ever as popular as the original.

The original Tootsie Roll Pop was chocolate flavor. Since its beginning, several others have been added. Among them are (including their wrapper color):

• Chocolate (brown)
  
• Cherry (red)
  
• Orange (orange)
  
• Grape (blue)
  
• Raspberry (purple)
  
• Strawberry (pink)
  
• Watermelon (green)
  
• Blue Raspberry (light blue)
  
• Pomegranate (orange with maroon text)

Oh By the Way

From www.TootsieRoll.com
“The Quest for the Answer

How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?

Since Mr. Owl first dared to unravel one of the confectionary world’s most puzzling secrets in the classic 1970 TV commercial, dedicated Tootsie Pop fans everywhere have tried to provide a definitive answer.

Many have attempted, and failed, to lick their way to the center of the Tootsie Pop. The temptation to bite and reach the embedded Tootsie Roll prize has proven too great… just like it was for Mr. Owl.

For the truly disciplined who have made it successfully to the center, Tootsie places them in its highest regard. And the pages linked below are dedicated to their valiant struggle.”

Lest you think this a foolish or meaningless question, unworthy of your time or consideration, consider this:

Engineering students at Purdue University created a ‘licking machine’ fashioned after the human tongue. Their machine averaged 364 licks to reach the center. At the same time, students undertook the challenge and they averaged 252 licks.

Big 10 rival, the University of Michigan was not about to be trumped by Purdue, so a chemical engineering doctorate student built a machine of his own. It required 411 licks.

With widely varying results, what is the actual answer to that age old question? The world may never know!