![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/CC_Food-Manufacturers-Inc-A-1s-almond-chocolate-candies-package-1950s-1960s.jpg\" "\\"CC_Food")
<\/a>Food Manufacturers Inc - A-1's almond chocolate candies pack - 1950's 1960's<\/p><\/div>\n
This A-1’s pack wrapper immediately caught my eye.\u00a0 My first reaction was one of noting how brand names must sometimes drift over the decades:\u00a0 in the 50’s, A-1 was an almond candy, but as long as I had previously been aware, A-1 had only been the name of the steak sauce, and no other product.<\/p>\n
Upon more examination, these A-1’s seemed to be an obvious knock-off of M&M’s pack style and design.\u00a0 More than that, the package even sported the color scheme that M&M’s Almond would eventually have, when they’d be introduced, decades later.<\/p>\n
At the time, I’d never heard of “Food Manufacturers, Inc.”\u00a0 But the location of this company; Hackettstown, New Jersey – I’d heard of that – that’s where M&M-Mars was located!<\/p>\n
So, could it be that the generically-named “Food Manufacturers Inc” was some kind of confectionery house of clones?\u00a0 A few minutes of Googling turned up no answer.\u00a0 So I decided to consult the big gun of junk food academia, Andrew F. Smith<\/a>; author of, among other things, The Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food<\/a>. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I had first become aware of Mr. Smith and his vast knowledge on these topics when we both appeared on the “Serial Cereals” episode of Food Network’s Heavyweights television show.\u00a0 Smith quickly sorted out the mystery of Food Manufacturers Inc. for me, and by doing so the mystery of A-1’s.\u00a0 It turned out the company listed was simply one of several names that M&M-Mars had used over the years.\u00a0 I also learned that the melodic name “Hawley and Hoops” was another that graced Mars’ products for a period of history, but that’s a story for another time.<\/p>\n For a taste of confirmation, here’s a vintage M&M’s package, listing M&M’s Candies as a division of, you guessed it, Food Manufacturers.<\/p>\n M&M's Plain chocolate candies - Food Manufacturers Inc - 4-cents off candy bag package - late 1950's early 1960's<\/p><\/div>\n As I’ve learned more and more about the history of candy, I’m struck by the fact that many of the things I thought were “new”,\u00a0 had actually been done before.\u00a0 M&M’s Almond were not an innovation of the 1990’s, as I had long assumed.\u00a0 Instead, they were around years before I was even born, in the form of A-1’s.<\/p>\n Here an early 90’s M&M’s Almond packages, to round out our look at this hearty M&M’s variant.<\/p>\n M&M-Mars - M&M's Almond - candy package - 1993<\/p><\/div>\n And finally, a trio of more recent M&M Almond packages, courtesy of fellow collector, Brad Kent<\/a>.<\/p>\n M&M's Almond packages - 1996, 1997, and 2004 - Courtesy BradKent.com<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the aspects of collecting candy I really enjoy is that there are constantly new discoveries to be made.\u00a0 As a kid, I collected trading cards, but I wasn’t discovering new things so much as I was assembling my … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/MMs-Plain-chocolate-candies-Food-Manufacturers-Inc-4-cents-off-candy-bag-package-late-1950s-early-1960s.jpg\" "\\"M&M's")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/CC_MM-Mars-MMs-Almond-candy-package-1993.jpg\" "\\"M&M-Mars")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.collectingcandy.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Courtesy-BradKent.com-MMs-Almond-packages-1996-1997-and-2004.jpg\" "\\"Courtesy")
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