Aero is an aerated chocolate bar manufactured by Nestlé. Originally produced by Rowntree’s, Aero famous candy bars list were introduced in 1935 to the North of England as the “new chocolate”.
By 1936, sales of the chocolate had reached New York City, and later spread to many other countries including Canada, South Africa and Japan. Aero has been manufactured by Nestlé since 1988, after a takeover of Rowntree’s. The process of manufacture was patented in 1935 by Rowntree’s in York, England. The patent describes how the chocolate is heated and then aerated to create small bubbles. In 1935, Rowntree’s launched Aero into the United Kingdom, followed by the Peppermint Aero from 1959. Rowntree’s” script logo and the large word “AERO”, along with the slogan “Hold on tight or I’ll fly away!
During July 1983, the heatwave in the United Kingdom caused the bubbles in Aero bars to collapse due to the chocolate melting. In August 1993, a factory worker at Nestlé UK’s factory in York was injured by machinery that produced mint-flavoured Aero bars. He had leaned into the chocolate mixer to clean excess chocolate from the sides, and then fell, and became caught in the paddles, which started up automatically, causing severe injuries. In 1997, Unilever sued Nestlé, stating that Nestlé infringed Unilever’s patent for aerated chocolate ice cream products. In 2004, three workers at the York factory were dismissed for intentionally misprinting rude messages on the packaging of 20 pallets of Aero bars.
15 million Aero factory was opened next door, with the capacity to make 183 million chocolate bars per year. That same year, Aero’s packaging was updated with metallised laminate film to improve freshness. In February 2015, York’s Chocolate Story museum celebrated the 80th anniversary of the launch of the Aero bar with demonstrations and activities. The flavours include Aero Chocolate and Aero Mint Chocolate, with chocolate pieces and sauce. Aero enjoys a large market following in South Africa with Aero, Aero Mint, and recently White Aero and Cappuccino Aero. The Aero bar was made available for a short time in the United States by Nestlé during the 1980s, though it seems not to have been a commercial success.
However, they are still available at certain speciality vendors or supermarkets such as Big Y, Wegmans and Publix that import the bars. Aero bars were produced in Australia from the early 1970s until 1996. From 1996, the Aero bar was produced in Britain. In 2011, Nestlé recommenced manufacturing Aero bars in Australia at their Campbellfield factory in Victoria, with a capacity of up to 1000 tonnes per year. In April 2001, Nestlé Canada announced that Aero and other bars manufactured at their Toronto factory would now be made alongside bars containing nuts. Nestlé no longer guaranteed that the bars were free from nut-protein contamination. In May 2001, the decision was reversed due to consumer outcry, and the company retained their nut-free guarantee for Canadian bars.
In 2004, Ukraine commenced producing Aero bars. In Germany, the brand Aero is owned by German chocolate brand Trumpf. In 1998, Space-Quest’s Derek Willis was eating an Aero bar and was inspired by the bubbles to make the low-cost fuel, Aprop. In 2007, an observational study published in the British Medical Journal explored the use of the texture of Aero and Crunchie bars as a technique to explain bone structure to patients.
They determined it was an overly simplistic method. In 2011, Ford engineer Carsten Stake was inspired by the texture of Aero bars in a bid to reduce the weight of plastic engine covers in their Focus vehicles. The Aero bar was advertised in the late 1930s with the slogan, “You get a lift”. Advertising about the imported bars in Melbourne, Australia in 1938 announced the Aero as the “original English aerated milk chocolate crisp, light and yet so sustaining”. Production ceased during wartime, and the bars were relaunched in the 1950s. The relaunch campaign had commissioned oil paintings of 40 “ordinary” women, to highlight that the chocolate bars were an accessible treat for all.