World's Finest Chocolate
TypePrivate
Founded1939
FounderEdmond Opler Sr.
HeadquartersChicago, Illinois, U.S.
ProductsChocolate
Websitewww.worldsfinestchocolate.com

World's Finest Chocolate is a chocolate company based in Chicago, Illinois.[1] The company pioneered product fundraising in the 1940s, and today it is one of the largest fundraising organizations in the United States.

History

World's Finest Chocolate was founded under the name Cook Chocolate Company by Edmond Opler Sr. in around 1939.

He started the division that produced chocolate bars for fundraising in 1949 and called it "World's Finest Chocolate." The first customer using the company's products for fundraising was a high school on the outskirts of Chicago called Zion High School.[2]

In 1972, the company's name was changed to "World's Finest Chocolate." In 1985, the company moved into its 500,000-square-foot factory on South Lawndale Avenue.[3] Opler's son, Edmond Jr., has run the company since Edmond Sr. retired in 1988.[4]

In 2006, World's Finest Chocolate acquired Queen Anne, a brand of cordial cherries. In 2011, the company produced a 12,000 pound chocolate bar and thereby broke the previous 9,700 pound world record for the largest chocolate bar.[5][6] In June 2015, the company acquired Market Day, a frozen food store.[3]

In 2021, World's Finest Chocolate started a monthly $2K Giveaway for Outstanding Educators, in which customers could vote for educators on the company's Facebook page. The online contest ran monthly until May 2022.[7][8] In the same year, the company also launched an initiative to donate 10 million chocolate bars to COVID-19 frontline workers.[9]

Corporate affairs

The company manufactures chocolate "from bean to bar," sources cocoa beans from their own cocoa farm in St. Lucia, an island country in the West Indies,[10] and has a production site in South Chicago.[2] Today, the company's products are sold exclusively to help organizations raise funds.[2] The company has a sales team that helps schools and other organizations set up and run fundraising campaigns and projects, working largely with schools.[3]

Products

The core of the company's business is bulk sales of chocolate bars for school fundraisers and corporate gifts.[1]

The company offers different product cases, e.g., a 60-count $1 case and a 30-count $2 case. The revenue from sales is split 50/50 with the fundraising organizations.[3] World's Finest Chocolate is one of the largest suppliers of this market segment, and according to the company, it has sold more than 6 billion chocolate bars, their best-known product,[1][10] and helped their customers raise more than USD 4.4 billion since 1949.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Schmeltzer, John (February 7, 2006). "Chocolate firm breaks mold ; World's Finest expands into retail". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 20, 2012. (subscription required)
  2. 1 2 3 Hsu, Judy (February 13, 2015). "Made in Chicago: World's Finest Chocolate". ABC7 Chicago. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "School fundraising a billion-dollar business". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  4. ↑ Teresa Jimenez, "Edmond Opler Sr., Candymaker" (obituary), Chicago Tribune, August 30, 1995.
  5. ↑ "Local Company Seeks Record For World's Largest Chocolate Bar". CBS Chicago. September 13, 2011. Archived from the original on July 1, 2022. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  6. ↑ Miller, David (September 15, 2011). "Broadcast group works with World's Finest Chocolate on Guinness record-setting campaign". The Dispatch. Archived from the original on September 25, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  7. 1 2 Allen, Shannon J. "'Outstanding educator' wins $2,000". sandmountainreporter.com. Archived from the original on March 7, 2022. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  8. ↑ Amanda Aguilar (November 10, 2021). "Dinuba teacher wins $2,000 in national educator contest". ABC30 Fresno. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  9. ↑ "World's Finest Chocolate aims to donate 10M chocolate bars to COVID-19 frontliners". www.candyindustry.com. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
  10. 1 2 Plunkett, Jack W. (2008). Plunkett's Food Industry Almanac. Pluncket Research, Ltd. ISBN 9781593921064. Retrieved May 20, 2012. ISBN 1593924496

Further reading

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