The Nutty Hershey's Chocolate Bar You Never Knew Existed
The Pennsylvania-based Hershey Company is known for its simple, no-fuss chocolate candies. Over the years, chocolate lovers have been blessed with iconic products such as Kit Kat, Krackel, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Kisses, and of course, the traditional break-apart Hershey's chocolate bars.
One Hershey's candy bar in particular was unfortunately not as established: Bar None, which came to American candy store shelves in 1987. (Fun fact: Canadians knew it as the Temptation bar, reports Candy Blog.) It consisted of chocolate-flavored wafers, chocolate creme, crushed peanuts, and caramel, all coated in rich milk chocolate. Long story short, it was full of multiple textures that confused the palate. As with most complicated relationships, this one simply didn't end up working out.
Per Macmillan Dictionary, the idiom "bar none" implies that nothing or no one is comparable. The object or person is the best of its kind. The top performer. The victorious frontrunner. However, hence its triumphant name, Bar None was ironically a less-than-stellar Hershey's product.
Why did Hershey's Bar None fail?
Upon its launch, a humorous TV advertisement featured a fictional beast tamer who described Bar None as an "extremely chocolate extravaganza" that will tame the "chocolate beasty lurking within us all."
According to Candy Blog, the complex bar was reasonably popular upon its release. However, sales soon began to fizzle. The downfall is believed to have happened for a few different reasons. About halfway through its life in 1992, the bar was changed from a single piece to twin sticks (similar to Kit Kats) in an attempt to overcome some manufacturing issues and make them easier to consume (via YouTube).
Hershey's also added chewy caramel to the mix, giving the bar yet another layer to its texture and flavor profile. The wrapper also ditched the brown ombré design and became primarily yellow, perhaps to make it appear more appetizing and stand out on shelves, reports Candy Blog. Maybe change isn't always a good thing. Sadly, Bar None was ultimately a flop. As it struggled to revive itself, production and sales came to a halt in 1997. So much for a sweet story.
However, what is lost can be found. Insider recently listed a number of discontinued candies readers wish would make a comeback. Bar None is among the terminated confections, but a company called Iconic Candy closely replicated the recipe, likely in an effort to revive extra-chocolaty dreams. So fans may still be able to get a taste, if not one that's remarkably similar.