The Hershey Company, known until April 2005 as the Hershey Foods Corporation and commonly called Hershey's, is the largest chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...

 manufacturer in North America. Its headquarters are in Hershey, Pennsylvania

Hershey, Pennsylvania

Hershey is a census-designated place in Derry Township, Dauphin County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The community is located 14 miles east of Harrisburg and is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. Hershey has no legal status as an incorporated municipality...

, which is also home to Hershey's Chocolate World

Hershey's Chocolate World

Hershey’s Chocolate World is the name of Hershey’s visitor center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States. Open year-round, Hershey's Chocolate World offers marketplace shops and restaurants, specializing in Hershey's chocolate products...

. It was founded by Milton S. Hershey

Milton S. Hershey

Milton Snavely Hershey was an American confectioner, philanthropist, and founder of The Hershey Chocolate Company and the "company town" of Hershey, Pennsylvania....

 in 1894 as the Hershey Chocolate Company, a subsidiary of his Lancaster Caramel Company

Lancaster Caramel Company

The Lancaster Caramel Company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania was founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1886. It was Hershey's first successful candy company and helped him build a reputation. The Hershey Chocolate Company became a subsidiary of the Lancaster Caramel Company in 1894...

. Hershey's products are sold in about sixty countries worldwide.

Hershey is one of the oldest chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...

 companies in the United States, and an American icon for its chocolate bar.