industry manufacturing founded 1865 headquarters lititz pennsylvania key people bryan wurscher president products chocolate & confectionery ingredients parent cargill website www.wilburbuds.com wilbur chocolate is one of four brands manufactured by cargill cocoa & chocolate north america . most of the wilbur brand products are produced in plants chocolate manufacturing company located in lititz pennsylvania . wilbur chocolate was founded in philadelphia in 1865 by henry oscar wilbur and samuel croft . 1 cargill cocoa & chocolate na produces hundreds of millions of pounds of chocolate and confectionery products a year . these ingredients are sold to food and candy manufactures across the americas . the company was bought by cargill in 1992 1 and is part of that company s cocoa and chocolate labels which also includes peter s chocolate bought from nestl in 2002 1 gerkens cacao and veliche belgian chocolate 2 cargill closed the wilbur chocolate factory in early 2016 . 3 contents 1 cocoa sourcing 2 wilbur chocolate candy store & museum 3 wilbur factory closure 4 wilbur buds 5 see also 6 references 7 external links cocoa sourcing edit cargill cocoa & chocolate is focused on sustainable cocoa farming through the cargill cocoa promise and utz certification wilbur chocolate candy store & museum edit the company s wilbur chocolate factory in lititz sells an assortment of wilbur chocolates and other candy and features the free candy americana museum that tells the history of the company and how their chocolate is made . the exhibits include antique chocolate molds tins and boxes as well as hand painted european and oriental antique porcelain chocolate pots . the museum was created by penny buzzard wife of former wilbur president john buzzard and opened in 1972 . 4 on march 31 2008 then senator barack obama visited wilbur chocolate company drawing it into the national spotlight . 5 president elect obama greeted a sizable crowd outside before venturing inside to taste test various treats offered to the calorie conscious candidate . the hometown newspaper the lititz record express documented his visit with a photo gallery . wilbur factory closure edit in january 2016 cargill stopped chocolate production at this historic landmark and laid off approximately 130 wilbur employees . this will officially ends wilbur s celebrated 125 year old tradition of chocolate making in lititz pennsylvania . 3 they make chocolate on west lincoln ave. wilbur buds edit its most popular candy the wilbur bud was introduced in 1893 . 6 the hershey s kiss which debuted in 1907 closely resembles a wilbur bud . the two products are also frequently compared due to the proximity of their manufacturers lititz being only about 20 miles 32 km from the headquarters of the hershey company in hershey pennsylvania . wilbur buds are not individually wrapped and have the word wilbur on the bottom of the chocolate . see also edit lancaster pennsylvania portal list of bean to bar chocolate manufacturers list of food and beverage museums references edit a b c timeline wilbur chocolate . retrieved 2007 12 15 . cargill cocoa and chocolate . retrieved 2007 12 15 . a b a bittersweet farewell in lititz as wilbur s chocolate production is shut down . reading eagle . retrieved 2016 02 06 . http www.wilburbuds.com docs museum.html candy americana museum powell michael 2008 04 01 . tempting obama on the trail . the new york times . the history of wilbur chocolate . retrieved 2007 12 15 . external links edit official website wilbur history v t e cargill people cargill family austen s. cargill ii james r. cargill james r. cargill ii margaret anne cargill william w. cargill marianne cargill liebmann cargill macmillan jr cargill macmillan sr whitney macmillan gwendolyn sontheim meyer gregory r. page marion macmillan pictet warren staley subsidiaries cargill ltd. cargill meat solutions provimi wilbur chocolate company joint ventures frontier agriculture the mosaic company products rebiana robin hood flour truvia related articles 1971 iraq poison grain disaster alberger process criticisms of cargill retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wilbur chocolate company & oldid 743897696 categories lititz pennsylvaniacargillculture of lancaster pennsylvaniachocolaterieschocolate companieschocolate museums in the united statescompanies based in lancaster county pennsylvaniafood and drink companies established in 1865buildings and structures in lancaster county pennsylvaniavisitor attractions in lancaster county pennsylvaniafood museums in the united statesmuseums in lancaster county pennsylvania1865 establishments in pennsylvania 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 languages italiano edit links this page was last modified on 11 october 2016 at 22 19 . 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