As MS does not allow to write h o l e w/o space it is written as hol e. Please bear it.
The Mint with the hol e. Is it the best mint? Without a doubt POLOS are the greatest mint success story in history.When you first unwrap the amazingly designed packaging you come upon a thing of sheer beauty. A smooth, white tablet with a hol e, straight through the middle of it, nice concept.The Polo Mint is one of those childhood favourites that generate happy memories and is an enduring, favourite sweet which sells in its millions, over £41 million to be precise annually, and is loved equally by children and adults today.
How it came into existence?
Confectioners, Rowntree originally opened a tea and coffee shop in New York in 1725 selling their wares to the British public. By 1948 their range of confectionery had become extremely popular in the UK by which time they launched the Polo mint. These lifebelt shaped mints were similar to the American Lifesavers and the British Navy Sweets Company’s Navy mints, but Rowntree boldly moved to the fore of the market with their slogan The Mint With The Hol e which is now one of the best known in the UK. Rowntree later merged with Mackintosh . Later on the Swiss owned international company Nestle bought the joint company in 1988. Since then Polo has become an integral part of Nestle family.Nestle now manufactures Polo Mint – Original.
The mysterious ’HOL E’
Whenever we see a Polo mint, the first thing that comes to most of our minds is the curious HOL E. Why was the ’HOL E’ created? What purpose does it serve?
Whilst some sceptics say the ’HOL E’ is merely a marketing ploy it is much more - the hol e IS the polo(In Tibetan Polo means ’round ball’); it increases the surface area, thereby increasing the mint’s ability to freshen the mouth and breath. Well I never thought about such a possbility while devouring Polo until I bumped into a magazine* covering a feature on POLO.
The Physical aspects
Each Polo mint is approximately 1.9 cm diameter and 0.4 cm deep with a 0.8 cm hol e cut through the centre, with the word POLO embossed twice on one face. The aroma is a strong, fresh, mint smell, which you notice when unwrapping the foil. Popping one into your mouth is a delight, the hard mint tablets although not overly sweet can be crunched and pulverised to quickly release the robust mint flavour or tease the mint with your tongue until it melts away leaving a cool lingering aftertaste that refreshes the mouth and breath.The main ingredients listed are sugar, glucose syrup modified starches, steric acid and mint oils.
Some striking facts
38 million Polo’s are produced every day and It takes the equivalent weight of two elephants to press a Polo mint. Polo’s name is derived from the word ’Polar’, which suggests the coolness in the mouth from the crisp minty taste.
147 of these delightful mints are consumed every second.
Almost 40 million pound revenue is generated by sale of POLO annually.
Well that’s POLO for you, the mint that I think no one can eat just one!!!!
PS- Some Figures & Facts quoted above have appeared in Success magazine.
No official information is available on the Nestle site.