100,000 bar trade ad – February 1967
[Note: For an updated look back at Nestle’s 100 Grand history, check out “50 Years of Nestle’s 100 Grand Bar History!”]
According to my research, Nestle filed the trademark for the $100,000 bar way back in 1964, though some accounts report its nationwide launch as 1966. Whatever the exact date of its introduction was, the bar has been around nearly half a century, and that’s pretty impressive.
Early $100,000 bar packaging looked quite different than the wrappers most readers will know. I have an example in my collection that dates back to that early style. This one likely dates back to the late 1960’s, though it could be a very early 70’s example:
Nestle’s – 100,000 Dollar Bar candy wrapper – late 1960’s early 1970’s
Though it’s not the wrapper I recall from my own youth, I quite dig the look of these early $100,000 bars – with the woodcut-looking logo, and diagonal color-bands. It’s pretty cool.
From my pal Dan Goodsell’s collection, here is a miniature fun-size wrapper version of this early design:
Nestle’s – $100,000 Bar miniature wrapper – 1960’s early 1970’s – Courtesy Dan Goodsell
It’s a design that would last until 1973, when the package design was completely overhauled.
Nestle’s $100,000 bar – clipping – June 1973
That wrapper with the kid is the one I most clearly associate with my early recollections of the $100,000 bar – which is why it remains one of my all-time favorites. Here’s a great example of one of these early versions, from 1976:
Nestle – $100,000 Bar – 20-cent chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1976
Though that wrapper dates to 1976, there are changes already evident from the 1973 version: the yellow call-out box has changed from “now more chocolate” to simply indicating “chewy caramel”, and the Nestle’s brand name changed to the singular Nestle. Though we can’t see the back side of that 1973 wrapper, it’s safe to assume it lacked a UPC code as well.
Fun-size wrappers didn’t get the kid image as you can see here on this 1976 wrapper:
Nestle – $100,000 bar – fun size – candy bar wrapper – 1976
As the 1970’s went on, the wrapper didn’t change much from the 1976 version. Though the printed-on price was dropped the very next year:
Nestle – $100,000 Bar -chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1977
In 1977, the fun-size $100,000 bar wrappers lost some of the elements they had previously shared with the full-sizers. Here’s one from my collection – actually the first vintage $100,000 wrapper of any kind I acquired for my collection:
Nestle – $100,000 Bar – Fun Size miniature candy bar wrapper – 1977
One of the last wrappers of the 1970’s featured a great promotion, one likely meant to tie into the success of the Superman motion picture:
Nestle – $100,000 bar wrapper – Superman ring offer – 1979
Before moving on from the 1970’s, I would like to note that it appears that $100,000 bar wrappers featuring the kid were all of the folded variety. Yet I have one example that is of the crimped-end variety here:
Nestle – $100,000 bar – candy bar wrapper – 1970’s
Looking at the progression, my guess is that the crimped version came at the very end of the kid-wrapper timeline, as the first wrappers without the kid were crimped-end wrappers. I wonder just who that $100,000 bar kid was? Anyone out there know that kid?
In 1980, the $100,000 wrapper received another refresh and redesign. This is one of those first wrappers:
Nestle – $100,000 bar – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1980
So the kid was dropped, and there were a few graphical flourishes added in 1980. The logo itself received a taste of that woodcut look from the 1960’s, and the yellow spots received drop-shadows. This look carried on throughout the 1980’s.
Here’s a fun-size or trial-size wrapper from this period:
Nestle – $100,000 Bar – 10-cent trial size candy bar wrapper – 1981
The next overhaul came with the $100,000 name itself, likely in 1985 or 1986, when it took on the slang for one-hundred-thousand dollars, and became 100 Grand.
Here’s my earliest example of a wrapper sporting the new name. This one was still made of paper with a Glassine coating:
Nestle – 100 Grand – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1986
In the later 1980’s or early 1990’s, 100 Grand wrappers would change from Glassine paper to mylar – and here’s an example of one of those that I have:
Nestle – 100 Grand – chocolate candy bar wrapper – late 1980’s to early 1990’s
The 100 Grand joined all other confectionery packaging here in the USA in 1994 with the addition of the modern Nutrition Facts panel:
Nestle – 100 Grand – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 1990’s
I don’t have any modern-era fun-size wrappers for 100 Grand, but I do have a large fun-size ploybag:
Nestle – 100 Grand – Fun Size bars dollar sign polybag – 2000’s
During the mid-2000’s, Nestle tried out some flavor variations with the 100 Grand. Here are a pair of wrappers, courtesy my friends over at CandyWrapperArchive.com:
Nestle – 100 Grand with Peanuts – 2005 – Courtesy CandyWrapperArchive.com
Nestle – 100 Grand Dark – 2006 – Courtesy CandyWrapperArchive.com
I have another of the mid-2000’s flavor experiments in my own collection:
Nestle – 100 Grand with Coconut – chocolate candy wrapper – 2007
Finally, here is the current version of 100 Grand:
Nestle – 100 Grand – chocolate candy bar wrapper – 2012
When looking for an example of a current wrapper to share for today’s article, I was surprised that this bar was not available as widely as I’d have expected. I fear that it might be experiencing a waning distribution. It’s too delicious to go away, so let’s hope that this confectionery classic sticks around for another five decades.
And that’s all for today’s 100 Grand History – I hope you enjoyed it. See you next time!
[Note: For those that might have suspected – Yes! I chose the $100,000 Bar thematic this week due to CollectingCandy.com getting its 100,000th page view on Monday. Figured it was the right kind of fun tie-in to do.]
I loved the $100,000 bar, but it angered me when they went to 100 Grand. I don’t take change well…
I always wondered WHY the name change. Maybe people thought $100,000 was the PRICE? Inflation, you know!!
Huh. And I thought 100 Grand and $100,000 bar were competitors. Shows what I know. One of my favs as a kid, right after the Marathon bar. Thanks for the lesson.
I still call them $100,000 bar,can’t change the name in my head!!
Me too. Healthy obsession makes this possible (but why change perfection? The name change will never register with me.)
I lived for $100,000 bars when I was a kid, and I would still do backflips to get one now. They’re the absolute best, and I appreciate the level of obsession that made this page documenting the evolution of the bar’s packaging.
Perfect candy bars deserve this.
I am sure this is all part of the same conspiracy that IHOP pulled when they put the International House of Pancakes out of business.
Signed.
$100,000 Bar
I went to grade school with the kid on the wrapper
His name is Ricky Mcbrierty and at the time he lived in New Milford CT
Yes you are right he is Ricky McBriarty he was a classmate if mine too in New Milford. No one that I remember made a big deal out of it so he got fame without being plagued by that fame.
Ha ha…I had a blind date with him! Too funny.
On the date, did you recognize him, from his picture? Did he leave a” $100,000 tip” at the restaurant?
Happy Halloween to all you candy enthusiasts out there. As we hit our candy comas waiting for trick or treaters we can think back to the good old days when all the candy had no calories and tasted better! Have fun
This was my favorite as a kid. But I wonder, does anybody know why they took a perfect name, $100,000 Bar, a bar you would trade any other bar for, and change it to 100 Grand? Seems stupid to me.
John,
Thanks for your comment. I can’t say with 100% certainty if this is true, but I’ve been lead to understand that changing the name had to do with strengthening the trademark for the bar and brand. “100 Grand” is easier to secure a trademark over than a pure numeral like $100,000.
It makes sense in that scenario at least.
-Jason
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I used to love this candy bar!!! Super yummy!!
They recently changed the recipe and it now tastes AWFUL! I think they went to powdered milk to save $. It’s not as good as $100,000 anymore now. This also happened to Almond Joy, two of my favorite candy bars. What is going on?
I still love the $100,000 bar, and we gave them out this past Halloween (needless to say, they didn’t hang around too long after Halloween). Something about all those “0”s that make it more appealing to me (then again, I’m a sucker for those gold coins around the holidays too [maybe it’s something about munching money that I like, lol]). Thanks so much for sharing, Jason, and fellow candy bar enthusiasts! I also used to love the [now extinct] Marathon bar. -Mark W. Parkland, FL
My husband insists that the 100000 bar he ate as a kid ( 70’s) is not the same as the 100 grand bar that you buy now. He says the recipe changed. Is that true? thanks
That could be so. In the USSR we had candies (bon-bons- bite-sized, individually wrapped) called Bird’s Milk, Snowstorm, etc. They were made with State Standard recipes (butter, not cheaper margarine). So in recent times the candies were renamed and most include different ingredients. Loved Birds, and Snow Fairytale are typical replacement names. For $100,000 Bar, I’d never have guessed a recipe change. (I’m familiar with both countries!)