McCowan's Ltd was a Scottish confectionery company specialising in toffee and fudge. Their most famous product was Highland Toffee.
History
McCowan's originally began life as an aerated water business run by Andrew McCowan. His wife attempted to make some extra money on the side by selling toffee from the window of their house in Stenhousemuir. The secret recipe for the toffee was bought by McCowan in a pub from a man selling the toffee for a pint. The toffee proved more successful than the lemonade and soon became the primary family income.[1]
Within 15 years, McCowan was producing a variety of confections including tablet, rock, snowballs, lollipops and macaroons. But it was in the 1920s that McCowan began to produce the small toffee chews that would become the company's flagship confection - McCowan's Highland Toffee had arrived.
In the early years, Andrew worked from a shop in Church Street, but in 1924 he opened a factory in its current location of Tryst Road. In 1951 Andrew died, and the company passed into the hands of his son Robert McCowan. In 1959 Robert accepted an offer from the Nestlé company, yet McCowan's still sold products under its own brand[2]