NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) -
A Nashville classic - the Goo Goo Cluster - will turn 100 later this year.
Turns out 1912 may have been a good time to start a company. Chevrolet just had that big birthday, so too did Life Savers Candy.
Goo Goo Cluster may be the best sounding candy bar ever made. But in the candy world, sound only takes you so far.
Taste is ultimately all that matters, and when you've survived for 100 years, the taste has to be just right.
How right? How about 20,000 new cluster creations coming down the line every hour in Nashville. Nearly 500,000 new Goo Goos take that bumpy ride every day.
"People do an incredible job with the product, and that's how you stay in business 100 years... keep making a good product," said Lance Paine, with Standard Candy Company, which makes Goo Goo Clusters.
Before Goo Goo Cluster in 1912, candy bars were all one flavor, usually just chocolate.
Goo Goo went combo, adding caramel, nuts, nougat and marshmallow.
Soon the company fearlessly promoted that new candy cluster as a nourishing lunch for a nickel.
For years, the Grand Ole Opry and its WSM Radio word of mouth, heard throughout the south, exposed Goo Goo to country music fans every Saturday night.
The Goo Goo name is hard to forget, so are the many stories of how that clump of confection got its unusual name.
"One lady said you should call it Goo Goo," Paine said. "It's so good you know how to say it from birth."
The hope now is that the storied past projects to candy eaters of the future.
Upgraded ingredients, environmentally friendlier manufacturing and Facebook are part of that plan as Goo Goo Cluster rolls along into its second century.
It's often been said that Goo Goo got its name from Grand Ole Opry, G-O-O, just like the first letters in Grand Ole Opry.
However, Goo Goos came to life in 1912 - the Opry opened 13 years later in 1925.
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