The "Can I Ever Eat A Wilbur Bud Again?" Story

The Wilbur Candy Factory in Lititz, Pennsylvania.

It was an ordinary day.  Carol and I just left the Wilbur Chocolate Company in Lititz, Pennsyl- vania with a couple 16 oz. bags of Red and Green Peppermint Crunch and a couple bags of White Confectionery Wafers which she will use to make candy at Christmas.  The candy is always a favorite and doesn't last long around our house.  We made the trip to the Broad Street Wilbur store to make sure we could get the products before Wilbur pulled out of Lititz.  Seems this past week the parent company of Wilbur, Cargill, announced that Wilbur Chocolate Company in Lititz will be shut down and the production currently done there will be moved to other more modern facilities that Cargill owns.  They claim that the candy store, which we just visited, and the Chocolate Candy Americana Museum, which is housed to the rear of the store, will remain open, but I'm sure everyone in Lititz can see the writing on the wall.  The move will cost the 130 employees their jobs shortly after the Christmas holidays.  

Mr. Henry Oscar Wilbur

It was in 1865 that Mr. Henry Oscar Wilbur of Philadelphia, PA, who at the time was operating a hardware and stove business in Vineland, NJ, had the chance to partner with friend Samuel Croft in the confectionery business so they became partners under the name of Croft & Wilbur and started a candy business at 125 North Third St. in Philadelphia.  They produced molasses and hard candies which they sold to the railroad company for train boys to resell.  Their equipment at the time consisted of a kettle, some buckets and a marble slab.  They grew and moved to 1226 Market Street in Philadelphia.  Then in 1884 the two men separated operations with Mr. Wilbur and his sons beginning the business of manufacturing cocoa and chocolate as well as the manufacturing of candy.  

The famous Wilbur Bud in dark and milk chocolate.

By 1934, H. O. Wilbur & Sons had consolidated its three locations to Lititz, PA, and changed its name to Wilbur Chocolate Company.  In 1992 Wilbur Chocolate Company was purchased by Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate North America and today produces millions of pounds of Wilbur Chocolate products yearly.  These products are supplied as ingredients to finished product manufacturers globally of the baking, dairy, and confectionery industries.  

Workers at the original Wilbur Chocolate Factory in Lititz. PA

A few years ago Carol and I were visiting a candy store in Havre de Grace, MD and happened to look past the clerk, who was ringing up our purchases, and saw boxes of Wilbur Chocolate sitting on a shelf in a back room of the store.  Seems they used Wilbur Chocolate to make their candy.  I'm sure there are many other small candy stores that use Wilbur Chocolate to produce their products.  And, I'm sure they will continue to use Wilbur Chocolate, but it will no longer be made in Lititz, PA.  How sad to strip a small town of 130 jobs just to be able to consolidate a business.  I'm sure Wilbur Chocolates will be more profitable because of it, but is that what life is always about?  Again, how sad!  I'm not sure if I can eat any more Wilbur Buds every again, but I'll try!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Carol making her purchases today at the Wilbur Chocolate Factory.

As for me …. I'm still taste testing what might be my final Wilbur Buds.