100 Grand (originally called the $100,000 Candy Bar and then, from the 1970s through the mid-1980s, as the $100,000 Bar) is a

candy bar A candy bar is a type of portable candy that is in the shape of a bar. The most common type of candy bar is the chocolate bar, including both bars made of solid chocolate and combination candy bars, which are candy bars that combine chocolate wi ...

produced by Ferrero. The candy bar was created in 1964 by

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

. It weighs and includes

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

caramel Caramel ( or ) is a range of food ingredients made by heating sugars to high temperatures. It is used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons or candy bars, as a topping for ice cream and custard, and as a colorant ...

and crisped rice. The bar contains 201 calories; it is low in

cholesterol Cholesterol is the principal sterol of all higher animals, distributed in body Tissue (biology), tissues, especially the brain and spinal cord, and in Animal fat, animal fats and oils. Cholesterol is biosynthesis, biosynthesized by all anima ...

and

sodium Sodium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Na (from Neo-Latin ) and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 element, group 1 of the peri ...

, but high in

saturated fat A saturated fat is a type of fat in which the fatty acid chains have all single bonds between the carbon atoms. A fat known as a glyceride is made of two kinds of smaller molecules: a short glycerol backbone, and fatty acids that each cont ...

and

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

. Its first slogan was "Tastes so good it's almost illegal!" Its current slogan is "That's Rich!"

Use in humor

In the mid-1990s,

Opie and Anthony ''Opie and Anthony'' was an American radio show hosted by Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia that aired from March 1995 to July 2014, with comedian Jim Norton serving as third mic from 2001. The show originated in 1994 when Cumia took part in ...

, DJs on Boston radio station WAAF-FM, promoted a giveaway of "100 Grand" over several weeks before finally revealing to the eventual winner that the prize was a 100 Grand bar rather than $100,000. In the

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...

episode " The Dealership," George is complaining to a manager that a mechanic stole his

Twix Twix is a chocolate bar made by Mars Inc., consisting of a biscuit applied with other confectionery toppings and coatings (most frequently caramel and milk chocolate).The biscuit is typically topped with caramel and then coated with milk chocol ...

as evidenced by the cookie crumbs on his face. The manager asks if it could have been the $100,000 Bar to which George replies "no" because it's only rice and caramel. After this exchange, another dealership employee interjects to inform George that the name of the $100,000 Bar was changed to 100 Grand. In May 2005, a

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

woman sued another radio station, WLTO-FM in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

, for a similar prank in which radio DJ DJ Slick gave away one of the bars, leading (so the woman claims) listeners to believe the DJ was giving away $100,000. Comedians have used the bar's name in a similar fashion. In the episode "

Business School A business school is a higher education institution or professional school that teaches courses leading to degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, s ...

" of ''

The Office ''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...

'', Michael Scott tries to use the bar as a motivational tool. He says: "And if you sell enough of them, you will make a 'one hundred grand'!", and displays a 100 Grand bar. When he throws the bar into the bewildered audience, they separate, and let the bar hit one of the students in the head. On ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late night television, late-night Late-night talk show, talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December ...

'', an image of a 100 Grand bar was part of the introduction to a recurring segment called Colbert Platinum, presented as tongue-in-cheek news and advice for the extremely rich. On the March 24, 2011 episode, Colbert interviewed the Senior Fellow for Global Health on the Council on Foreign Relations, Laurie Garrett, about escalating

food prices Food prices refer to the average price level for food across countries, regions and on a global scale. Food prices affect producers and consumers of food. Price levels depend on the food production process, including food marketing and food di ...

and joked, "candy bars have gone up, I saw one that cost 100 Grand!"

Sale to Ferrero

100 Grand was produced by Nestlé until 2018. In January of that year, Nestlé sold their American confectionery business to

Ferrero SpA Ferrero International SpA ( , ), more commonly known as Ferrero Group or simply Ferrero, is an Italian multinational company with headquarters in Alba. Ferrero is a manufacturer of branded chocolate and confectionery products, and the second ...

, allowing them to use the Nestlé name for one year. initially, Ferrero merged Nestlé candies with Ferrara Candy Company. but they are now under the Ferrero brand.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:100 Grand Brand name confectionery Chocolate bars Products introduced in 1964

Use in humor

Sale to Ferrero

See also

References