Clark Bar

From 1911, the Clark company operated out of a North Side production facility, and this was long where the Clark Bar was produced. The illuminated oversized roof-top Clark Bar sign that decorated the original North Side factory would become a Pittsburgh landmark,[11] while a restaurant that operates in the retasked building is named the Clark Bar & Grill in reflection of the treat once made there.[12]

The D. L. Clark Co. and its Clark Bar were acquired by Beatrice Foods in 1955, then sold to Leaf Candy Company in 1983. It was under Leaf that production was moved to a new facility in O'Hara Township (suburban Pittsburgh) in 1986. In late 1990, Leaf announced plans to close its O'Hara facility and move production of two other D. L. Clark candy bars, the Zagnut and P. B. Crunchers, to the Chicago area. They decided to cease production of the other Clark products, including the Clark Bar, for which their marketing efforts had failed to achieve a national profile.[13][14][15]

Pittsburgh-area entrepreneur Michael Carlow purchased D. L. Clark Co. and its remaining brands from Leaf, and combined it with another struggling but iconic local producer, the Pittsburgh Brewing Company and its Iron City beer, as well as a local bakery and a glass manufacturer, plus the Fort Wayne, Indiana-based producer of Bun Bars under the umbrella of the Pittsburgh Food & Beverage Company, continuing production of the Clark Bar in O'Hara.[16] However, amidst accusations of a check kiting scheme that would lead to Carlow's eventual imprisonment,[17][18] he was forced to relinquish control in 1995, and production ceased.[16][19] Leaf then foreclosed on a $3 million loan they were still owed, and commenced making Clark Bars at their Illinois facility with an altered recipe. Months later, Clark's assets were sold through bankruptcy court to the newly-formed Clark Bar America, Inc., which restarted production at the O'Hara facility using the prior recipe.[10] This was short-lived, and the company was shuttered in 1999.[6] The recipe and production equipment were bought at bankruptcy by Necco for $4.1 million, and they moved production to their facility in Revere, Massachusetts.[3]

Almost two decades later, Necco would in turn fail and in May 2018 was sold at bankruptcy court to Round Hill Investments LLC, who briefly operated the candy manufacturer under a Sweetheart Candy Co. subsidiary before selling the assets in July 2018 and abruptly closing Necco's Revere production facility.[20] The undisclosed buyer, later revealed to have been Spangler Candy Company,[21] would in turn sell the rights to the Clark Bar to the Boyer Candy Company, maker of the Mallo Cup.[22] Based in Altoona, Pennsylvania, they had originally bid on the Clark Bar in the 1990s.[23] At the time of purchase, Boyer planned to restart production of the Clark Bar in western Pennsylvania within six months.[22] Challenges with production machinery speed[24] and reproducing the bar's consistency and shape pushed back their reintroduction, but did provide the raw material for Boyer's first Clark-related product, the Clark Cup, a peanut butter cup that originally included ground misshapen Clark Bar in the filling.[25] Once Boyer resolved these production issues, the Clark Bar was available at the factory outlet in late December 2019,[26] and was released on a limited basis to stores in the Pittsburgh area in mid-February 2020, to be followed first by a full Pittsburgh release, and then sale nationwide,[27][28] but as of December 2021, production was still limited, with distribution only to Pittsburgh-area specialty candy stores.[29]

In part due to its historical association with the military, the Clark Bar was selected to feature repeatedly in the 2022 debut season of the Amazon Prime Video series, Reacher.[30]