The Willy Wonka Candy Company
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| Owner | Nestlé S.A. |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Introduced | 1971 |
| Markets | internationally |
| Previous owners | Sunmark |
| Website | www |
The Willy Wonka Candy Company is a British brand of candy owned and licensed by Swiss corporation Nestlé. The Wonka brand's inception comes from materials licensed from British author Roald Dahl. His classic children's novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and its film adaptations are the source of both the packaging and the marketing styles of the Wonka brand. The brand was launched in 1971, coinciding with the release of the novel's first film adaptation. In 1988 the Willy Wonka Candy Company brand – then owned by Sunmark Corporation – was acquired by Nestlé. Nestlé sells sweets and chocolate under the Willy Wonka brand name in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Costa Rica, Panama, Dominican Republic and the Middle East.
The Willy Wonka Candy Company was first imagined in the pages of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The 'Wonka' property was licensed to film director Mel Stuart; his 10-year-old daughter read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and asked her father to make it into a film, obliging him to get "Uncle Dave" (producer David L. Wolper) to produce it. Stuart showed the book to Wolper, who was engaged in talks with the Quaker Oats Company. Wolper convinced the Quaker Oats Company into signing the deal for up to $3 million to finance the film version in exchange for the candy bar tie-in. Quaker, who had previous experience in the film industry, bought the rights to the book and financed the picture for the purpose of promoting their new Wonka Bar. The name of Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory however was renamed to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory for promotion purposes.
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