History

McCowan's originally began life as an aerated water business run by Andrew McCowan, His wife attempted to make some extra money on the side by selling toffee from the window of their house in Stenhousemuir. The Toffee proved more successful than the Lemonade and soon became the primary family income.

Within 15 years, McCowan was producing a variety of confections including Tablet and later Rock, Snowballs, Lollypops and Macaroon were added to the company's products. But it was in the 1920s that McCowan began to produce the small toffee chews that would become the company's flagship confection - McCowan’s Highland Toffee had arrived.

In the early years, Andrew worked from a shop in Church Street but in 1924 he opened a factory in its current location of Tryst Road. In 1951 Andrew died, and the company passed into the hands of his son Robert McCowan.
In 1959 Robert accepted an offer from the Nestlé

Nestlé

Nestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...

 company, yet still operated under its own brand
In 1987 Nestlé

Nestlé

Nestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...

 merged with Rowntree's

Rowntree's

Rowntree's was a confectionery business based in York, England. It is now a historic brand owned by Nestlé, used to market a range of fruit gums and pastilles formerly owned by Rowntree's. Following a merger with John Mackintosh & Co., the Company became known as Rowntree Mackintosh, was listed on...

 leading to a short term re-branding of McCowan's under the Nestlé-Rowntree name. In 1989 a Management Buyout occurred and the company once again became independent. In 1996 Dutch confectioner Phideas purchased the company, before the company became independent once more.

During the 1980s the company introduced the Wham Bar

Wham Bar

The Wham Bar is a confectionery bar formerly produced by Millar McCowan and sold in the United Kingdom.They are bars of thin, chewy toffee with coloured pieces of sherbet inside. Wham Bars are available in a range of flavours, including Original , Strawberry, Cola, Brew , Extreme Super Sour , Sour...

. Further development and an agreement with A.G. Barr

A.G. Barr

A.G. Barr plc or commonly known as Barr's is a British soft drinks manufacturer, based in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is particularly notable for the manufacture of the popular Scottish drink, Irn-Bru. A.G. Barr is the largest manufacturer of soft drinks in the United Kingdom...

 also led to production of the Irn-Bru

Irn-Bru

Irn-Bru is a carbonated soft drink produced in Westfield, Cumbernauld, Scotland. It is made by A.G. Barr of Glasgow since moving out of their original Parkhead factory in the mid-1990s and at a second manufacturing site in Mansfield, England...

Bar.
In September 2011, the company went into administration