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Chocolate in school

by Nicholas Corbett
(Pittsburgh, PA, USA)

Growing up in a small town with a large chocolate and candy manufacturer located in the heart of our town, it was customary for kids of all ages to be selling Sarris' Chocolate and candy. More often than not, kids sold individually wrapped packages of chocolate covered pretzels for $1.

Over time, the size and amount of pretzels has decreased - due largely in part to the rising cost of cocoa. This form of fundraising was the most typical. However, there were also catalogs that the company had in which you could order a wide array of candies and chocolate.

By selling the pretzels, I can assume that the organization that was selling was able to receive a large discount for buying in bulk. Each child was given a box of 24 pretzels, and had access to more if necessary. Children in school were always looking for candy/chocolate during class so this fundraiser always proved to be successful.

With such popularity, many organizations took part in this sort of fundraising. I had taken part in FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) but always noticed there were people selling throughout the year.

There were no incentives aside from a prize for the top seller... The pretzels sold themselves.

If you have a product that sells itself, the work is done for you and little effort needs to be made. So long as people are aware that you are selling them, success will find you.

I am unsure of exactly how much was raised during these, however, I would assume that it was semi-lucrative - considering the amount of effort that had to go into it!

Good Luck!