Clark Bar Manufacturer Suddenly Shuts Plant

PITTSBURGH, PA - The owner of the company that makes Clark bars and other candy products has abruptly shut its Massachusetts plant, leaving the future of the revered Pittsburgh candy bar in doubt.

Round Hill Investments LLC announced it is selling its Necco brands to an unidentified confection manufacturer and closing the plant, leaving 230 employees out of work, the Boston Globe reported. Round Hill did not indicate when - or if - production of Clark bars, Necco wafers and the company’s other products would resume.

Round Hill purchased Necco for $17.3 million in May at a bankruptcy auction.

Clark bars originated in Pittsburgh in 1886 along with the D.L. Clark Candy Company and remain popular here today.

Consisting of a crispy peanut butter-base core covered with milk chocolate, Clark bars were manufactured for decades in a cavernous North Side building. Today the building houses offices (it once was home to the late Pittsburgh Tribune-Review newspaper) and an aptly-named tavern called the Clark Bar & Grill.

The Clark bars have had several different corporate owners over the years. They have been manufactured by Necco since 1999.

Image via Necco.

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