History
Confectionery company Rowntree's of York, England, have been making "Chocolate Beans" since at least 1882.[7] In 1937, they renamed the product "Smarties Chocolate Beans", soon shortening the name to just "Smarties".[8] The sweets had previously been sold loose, but as part of a broader strategy to establish a prominent brand identity and after seeing success in selling other confections in cardboard tubes, Rowntree's began selling Smarties Chocolate Beans in tubes after test marketing it in Scotland.[9] The packaging was valued for being easily repurposed into crafts and the plastic caps, each marked with a letter of the alphabet, were collectible.
A 1947 agreement between Rowntree's and Mars caused Rowntree's to keep Smarties out of the US market (where they would compete with Mars' M&Ms), in exchange for the right for Rowntree's to make Mars bars for the Canadian, Irish, and South African markets.
In February 2005, the Smarties tube was replaced with a hexagonal design. The rationale behind changing the design was, according to Nestlé, to make the brand "fresh and appealing" to youngsters;[10] the new packaging is also lighter and more compact, and the lid (which is now a hinged piece of cardboard) has a card clip which holds the lid shut when it is folded over. The new lid still features a letter like the old plastic lids, but it is in the form of a "what [letter] is a [thing]?" question, the answer for which can be read when the lid is open, next to the hole giving access to the rest of the tube.
Smarties are no longer manufactured in York; in October 2007, production was moved to Germany,[11] where a third of them were already made. Outside Europe, Nestlé's largest production facility for Smarties is in Toronto, Canada, where Nestlé has been manufacturing its products since 1918. The factory located at 72 Sterling Road in the Junction Triangle was originally built for Cowan Cocoa and Chocolate.[12]
In 1998, Nestlé obtained a trademark for a tubular Smarties package. It later sued Master Foods in Denmark, which was marketing M&M minis in a similar package. The Supreme Court of Denmark ruled that a basic geometrical shape could not be trademarked and ordered the trademark to be removed from the trademark register.[13]
In 2021, the parent company Nestlé transferred the production of Lentilky, which had been produced in Czechia since 1907, to German Hamburg, and the ingredients are also being harmonized with the Smarties product.[14]
