citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . august 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message russell stover candies type subsidiary founded denver colorado u.s. 1923 founder russell stover headquarters kansas city missouri united states products chocolate confections parent lindt & spr ngli subsidiaries whitman s pangburn s chocolates and weight watchers private label website http www.russellstover.com russell stover headquarters in kansas city russell stover candies inc. is a supplier of candy chocolate and confections in the united states . the corporate headquarters are in kansas city missouri . in july 2014 the company was acquired by the international company lindt & spr ngli . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 ice cream years 1.2 chocolate candies 1.3 expansion 2 references 3 external links history edit ice cream years edit the russell stover candy company did not start with candy . in 1921 russell stover and his partner iowa schoolteacher christian nelson invented the world s first chocolate dipped ice cream bar . at a dinner party russell s wife clara suggested calling it an eskimo pie . the product was a success for them making them quite a fortune in their first year . 2 chocolate candies edit however as other companies soon began to release similar chocolate dipped ice cream products russell stover was nearly forced out of business . the stovers sold their share of the company for 25 000 and moved to denver colorado . in 1923 russell and clara created the new eponymous company from their home packaging and selling boxed chocolates . they were originally named mrs. stover s bungalow candies however 20 years later in 1943 it was renamed russell stover candies . 3 expansion edit the company remained in the stover family until 1969 when it was purchased by louis ward who transformed the midwest regional brand into a world wide brand . it was owned by the ward family until july 14 2014 when the swiss chocolate maker lindt bought russell stover candies . 4 russell stover candies is the nation s leading manufacturer of boxed chocolates and the third largest american chocolate manufacturer trailing only hershey and mars . the company s three brands russell stover whitman s and pangburn s account for more than 60 percent of all boxed chocolate sales in the united states . 5 russell stover candies are sold in nearly 40 company owned retail stores and through 70 000 wholesale accounts in more than 20 countries including the united states canada and the united kingdom . the company manufactures nearly 100 million pounds of chocolate annually . references edit media release pdf . 14 jul 2014 . retrieved 25 nov 2014 . international directory of company histories vol . 12 . st. james press 1996 russell stover chocolates timeline the new york times corp profile external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to russell stover candies . russell stover website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title russell stover candies & oldid 744170861 categories chocolate companiescompanies based in kansas city missouriconfectionery companies of the united stateshidden categories articles needing additional references from august 2010all articles needing additional referencescommons category with page title same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages edit links this page was last modified on 13 october 2016 at 15 08 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view