By the end of the decade, the long term implications of commercial difficulties and the problems of succession caused family in 1969 to decide to accept a merger proposal from Rowntree to create Rowntree Mackintosh.
Rowntree originally founded as a family business in the nineteenth century by Henry Isaac Rowntree. The company developed the Kit Kat, Smarties and Aero brands in 1930s.
The history of the Rowntree confectionary company can be traced back to small grocer’s shop in Walmgate, York, opened by Mary Tuke in 1725. The company began selling coco in 1785.
Her nephew William Tuke inherited the firm, now in Castlegate, and in his lifetime it developed into more specialized tea dealer and chocolate and coca manufacturer.
Joseph Rowntree’s brother Henry Isaac went to work for the firm in 1860 and in 1862, he acquired the Tuke’s cocoa business. In 1881, the company introduced Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles and in 1893 they released Rowntree’s Fruit Gums.
Four years later, Rowntree and Company was officially launched. Chocolate Crisp was launched in 1935. In 1937 it was renamed Kit Kat bar.
Between 1971 and 1978 Rowntree progressively purchased the Menier Company; including its Noisiel factory, where chocolate continued to be made until 1933.
In 1986 Rowntree Mackintosh added Sunmark, a business costing $230 m that was responsible for some 10 percent of the US sugar confectionary market.
In 1988, Rowntree Mackintosh was acquired by Nestle for $3.9 billion.
History of Rowntree
