Did you know that the Klondike Bar is 100 years old?
Or how about the fact that the company that produces the tasty treat also makes The Choco
Taco?
Curious to learn more about this famous dessert?
Keep watching.
You can't talk about Klondike without talking about Isaly's.
William Isaly, a son of Swiss immigrants, was from Mansfield, Ohio, and founded his
own milk company in 1902 called the Mansfield Pure Milk Company.
Isaly started selling his first ice cream products after he had acquired two additional
milk companies in the area.
Soon, he began opening Isaly's Dairy Company stores, which sold deli meats, cheese, and
of course the famous "Skyscraper" ice cream cones.
"Isaly's was famous for these very tall, pointed ice cream cones known as skyscrapers."
It was in 1922 that the Klondike bar was first introduced in Ohio.
It was originally served on a stick.
Employees at the Mansfield manufacturing plant, called "Klondike girls," were in charge of
operating a machine that dipped the slices of homemade ice cream into the chocolate to
create a thick shell that would snap when you bit into it.
The novelty was only sold in Ohio and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Isaly's operated most
of its shops.
Early flavors included vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, grape, maple, and cherry.
A member of the Isaly family is credited with inventing the Polarmatic machine which produced
Klondike bars at a faster rate—75 per minute.
Over the decades, the company kept expanding its operations.
It began distributing its products nationwide in the 1980s.
You've seen Klondike products in the freezer section of your local grocery store, and the
classic bars stand out.
There's a reason for that—the packaging was purposely meant to be different so that
it wouldn't blend in with the other products in the frozen section.
Klondike bars are packed six per rectangular carton and the trademark silver foil wrappers
are easily visible through the transparent plastic wrap.
The best-selling Klondike bar flavor is the original vanilla, but the company makes dozens
of other products.
It's no surprise there are so many since the Klondike brand aims to introduce one new product
each year.
There are currently eight flavors of the classic bar listed on the official Klondike website.
Some of these flavors are refreshing mint chocolate chip, cookies & creme, and Reese's.
Brian Butko, a Pittsburgh author of the book Isaly's Chipped Ham, Klondikes, and Other
Tales from Behind the Counter, posted in a Facebook group that Isaly's used to include
special pink and gold ice cream centers in some of its Klondike bars.
The colorful centers acted as a "lucky coupon" to award the customer with a free Klondike
treat.
"What would you do for a Klondike bar?"
Klondike is always experimenting with new products.
In 2022, it introduced a few new flavors to its line of Klondike Cones, including Coocoo
for Caramel, which features caramel ice cream with a central core of caramel sauce in a
wafer cone.
The other flavors include Double Chocolate, Reese's, and Oreo.
The Klondike cones were initially released in 2021, along with Klondike Shakes.
Klondike Shakes are a nod to traditional milkshake flavors but with creative names such as Chill
Out & Vanilla and Wind Down & Chocolate.
The shakes come in fun, squeezable single-serve pouches.
Klondike added a third shake flavor, Sit Back & Strawberry, later in 2021.
It was released as a partnership with the game company Heads Up!
The company made a three-minute game called "Shake It Up" that gave consumers something
to do while the Klondike Shake softened for consumption.
Players who completed the game received a $3 off coupon for a Klondike Shake product.
Klondike's nationwide success didn't come without a fight.
In 1978 when its major distribution was just beginning, Isaly's reached a distribution
deal with Kraft Foods in order to expand its market reach into Florida and eventually other
states.
Kraft wanted to buy the rights to Klondike outright instead of just distributing the
bars, but Isaly's refused.
Thus, Kraft pulled out of the partnership and created its own knock-off Klondike bar.
It was called Polar B'ar and was almost an exact replica, from the vanilla ice cream
center and chocolate shell to the foil wrapper it was packaged in.
Isaly's quickly filed a lawsuit for trademark infringement.
Kraft lost and ended up paying a hefty $8.5 million penalty for trademark violations.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Klondike's brand and forced Kraft
to stop using the foil wrapping design.
The case went as far as the Supreme Court, who also ruled in favor of Klondike and deemed
Kraft's copycat "confusingly similar," according to consumer testimony.
The lawsuit states that Kraft had supplied two design firms with Klondike packaging and
wrappers in order to duplicate them.
Isaly's stores are iconic in the Pittsburgh area.
Isaly's began in Ohio but found its way to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1930.
Eventually, Pittsburgh became home to more Isaly's shops than anywhere else and Klondike
treats became as synonymous with Pittsburgh as the Steelers' Terrible Towel and Mr. Rogers.
"Hi, neighbor."
The Pittsburgh-born businessman Henry Clarke also plays a large role in the Klondike story.
His company, Clabir, bought Isaly's in the 1970s.
It was through this major acquisition that Klondike bars went from being an exclusive
treat in Ohio and Pennsylvania to a nationally-renowned ice cream brand and household name.
The Greenwich Daily Voice reported that because of Clarke's work in bringing Klondike products
to the rest of the country, sales of the beloved bar skyrocketed from $800,000 to over $60
million per year.
Clabir Corp. eventually sold the Klondike brand to Good Humor-Breyers, which itself
was part of Unilever.
Pittsburgh Magazine says that most Isaly's shops no longer exist, but Isaly's products
such as ham and ice cream are still sold in grocery stores.
If you never knew that the Choco Taco was part of the Klondike brand, you do now.
The Choco Taco was invented in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1983 by Alan Drazen.
Before it became part of Klondike, it was an exclusive ice cream truck treat from the
local company Jack & Jill.
The idea came to Drazen because Mexican cuisine had been rising in popularity at the time.
He wanted to out-do the other prepackaged ice cream cones by providing a novelty that
had chocolate, nuts, marbled ice cream, and cone in every single bite.
Choco Taco found its way to Klondike about a decade later when Unilever bought Jack & Jill's
parent company, Gold Bond.
The treat has no real components of an authentic taco but rather is sweet, cold, and refreshing
all the way through.
The Choco Taco was designed to fill the need for a unique item in Jack & Jill's product
line and if you ask us, it succeeded at exactly that.
Klondike rules the ice cream novelty space.
According to Statista, the Klondike bar was the most-used ice cream novelty product in
2020, with over 38 million U.S. consumers opting for it over competitors.
While Klondike bars are available at supermarkets, they're also a quintessential ice cream truck
staple.
Seaside Vacations posted a mega list of the most popular ice cream truck treats in every
state.
They used data from Google search trends to compile the list.
Klondike products accounted for 12 states' favorite treats — the classic Klondike bar
reigned supreme in nine states while the nostalgic Choco Taco claimed three states.
Nationwide, the Klondike bar is the most popular ice cream truck treat overall, just beating
out Firecracker popsicles and its own Choco Taco, which were tied at number two.
Non-Klondike treats that took up other top spots were ice cream sandwiches, Drumsticks,
and Spongebob Ice Cream Pops.
Freezing cold ice cream might not be the first thing you think about when choosing a cozy
place to sit.
You'll more than likely be eating the treat rather than sitting on it.
That would be uncomfortable.
But what about an ice cream cone-shaped chair?
Klondike created a one-of-a-kind hanging chair called the Klondike Cone Zone for the purpose
of providing a cozy, distraction-free getaway in your own home.
You can hide away inside the waffle cone-patterned tent while kicking back on top of the ice
cream swirl seat and forgetting about everything else for a little while.
50 lucky fans had the opportunity to win one via a sweepstakes on Klondike's Twitter page
back in early 2021.
The chair opens like a typical camping tent and has the appearance of an inverted Klondike
waffle cone with a luscious ice cream spiral and toppings.
The chair was designed by Edelman and Bednark Studio.
The Klondike Cone Zone garnered pop culture media attention by being promoted on the late-night
television program, Jimmy Kimmel Live!
On the show, Kimmel and his sidekick Guillermo Rodriguez ate real Klondike Cones on-air while
sitting in Cone Zone chairs.
"Is it over?"
"For now, Guillermo.
But as long as we have Klondike Cones, it's never over."
Ice cream and candy — is your sweet tooth aching yet?
Klondike's lineup of products features several notable mashups with well-known chocolate
candy brands.
One Klondike Cone flavor incorporates Reese's peanut butter candy.
For those who prefer rich toffee candy, the brand has also teamed up with Heath to create
a decadent flavor combination of chocolate and English toffee mixed in with vanilla ice
cream.
While the brand has long been famous for its signature ice cream bars, at one point it
dabbled in the business of non-frozen candy bars as well.
In 2013, it released its take on chocolate candy bars, The Candy, with indulgent flavors
such as caramel and mint chocolate chip.
The packaging was similar to its original ice cream products with foil-like wrappers.
In 2014, it shrunk the bars to mini bite-size candies that were available in sea salt caramel
and chocolate fudge.
It seems like these products didn't hold up in the competitive chocolate bar market.
They're no longer listed on Klondike's official website.
When you were young, did you ever receive a lollipop from the doctor after getting a
shot?
It was intended to be a little reward for your bravery and to show that shots weren't
such a scary thing.
Klondike took this idea and ran with it by offering a free treat for people who received
the COVID-19 vaccine.
According to news outlet KMOV4, Unilever's goal was to raise awareness of vaccine hesitancy
in the U.S., especially in cities such as Phoenix, Dallas, Memphis, and others.
On May 14, 2021, its annual Day of Service, Unilever teamed up with Covid-19 vaccination
sites in select states to offer free Klondike treats and popsicles to people getting their
shot.
The Unilever U.S. vice president of ice cream, Russel Lilly, stated that recovering from
the pandemic by getting the vaccine "calls for a sweet celebration" which should involve
an ice cream treat.
The treats, which included the squeezable Klondike Shakes, were also available to workers
and volunteers at the vaccine sites.
Unilever also donated more than $25 million to communities in need during 2020 when the
U.S. experienced widespread lockdown measures.
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