He had companies before Hershey

Hershey eventually discovered a profession that piqued his interest: candy-making. His future chocolate empire was paved by an 1872 apprenticeship in a confectionery shop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Hershey, who opened his first company at the age of 19 in Philadelphia, struggled at first. Before founding the successful Lancaster Caramel Company, he made a few more attempts at candy businesses in Chicago, New Orleans, and New York.

Hershey yearned to start his own company and to create candy. Milton Hershey's borrowing of $150 from his aunt to start his first candy store in Philadelphia is an intriguing truth about him. Hershey painstakingly toiled on his shop for five years, but there was little success. To be with his father again, he ultimately closed the business and relocated to Denver, Colorado. Hershey found caramel there, and he liked it so much that he shifted his attention to making it. He tried to launch two new businesses, one in New York and one in Chicago. Both failed to succeed. The Lancaster Caramel Company he later founded was quite successful. Caramels from Hershey's were distributed worldwide.