When Dove Bars took flight

In 1956, a small candy and ice cream shop began selling a tasty ice cream bar, and word spread quickly. Neighborhood kids and adults alike would crowd into the little shop and buy a hand-soaked bar, savor its rich, creamy flavor, and gladly pay a higher price. Leo Stefanos, a Greek immigrant who owns the shop, originally created the bar for his sons, who loved ice cream and would chase trucks when they heard the familiar jingle of bells announcing his presence on the street. He soon began offering them to his customers and they became a quiet sensation. Although they cost a bit more than your standard Eskimo Pie and Good Mood, people poured in their money long before premium ice cream made its debut. They were so good.

Thirty years later, the youngsters grew up and began distributing Dove Bars to supermarkets and pharmacies in the Chicago area, where they were accepted along with other premium ice cream brands whose time had come. No longer done in the back of the original store, production became big business, with eight employees hand-dipping on the production line 24 hours a day, and by 1986 the family had grown from producing 500 to day to a staggering 72,000 bars a day and moved to a distribution plant in the Chicago suburbs. Concerned with maintaining quality, which had long been attributed to their father’s candy-making skills, the brothers finally agreed to go national when the Mars Candy Company wisely picked them up before anyone else and sales exploded, surprising even the family. Mars.

Over the years, the Dove brand has expanded into more flavors of ice cream, chocolate toppings, and chocolate candies, but the Dove name (not to be confused with soap) will forever be the symbol of decadently rich ice cream. and one of America’s favorites. favorite indulgences.

The Mars Company was a natural for Dove Bars. Started in 1911 by Franklin Mars, who had learned to hand-dip chocolate from his mother, they began creating popular confections, beginning with the Snickers bar in 1930, followed by the Milky Way and Three Musketeers. Still a conglomerate privately owned by the Mars family, they have taken Dove bars to new heights without compromising on quality. But like many beloved products that started locally, nothing will replace those early days when neighborhood kids could ride their bikes to the Dove Candies store and buy a Dove bar.