BUSINESS

Raising the bar: Revival in store for Clark Bar

Associated Press

Altoona, Pa. — Pittsburgh’s iconic hometown candy bar is returning to Pennsylvania.

Boyer Candy Company in Altoona on Thursday purchased the rights, recipes and equipment for the Clark Bar from an unidentified seller.

“We’re really excited. This is an iconic Pennsylvania candy,” owner Anthony Forgione told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The chocolate-coated peanut butter crunch bar was created in Pittsburgh by Irish immigrant D.L. Clark in 1917. The bars were wildly successful with soldiers during World War I, when they were marketed as individually wrapped bars to facilitate shipment to American troops.

The Clark family sold the business in 1955. Necco, or New England Confectionery Co., in Revere, Massachusetts, had been producing Clark Bars since the 1990s.

Necco declared bankruptcy in April, throwing the Clark Bar and other confections into limbo.

In May, Round Hill Investments won the auction for Necco with an offer of $17.3 million. Round Hill then sold the brand to an unspecified candy maker, prompting the sudden closure of the Revere factory.