Eric Johnson: William Horlick, and when malted milk from Racine was king

Across its long history, Racine-based Horlick's Malted Milk was a prolific print advertiser, as seen here in this February 1969 advertisement for Horlicks instant chocolate-flavored malted milk. Horlicks, which long enjoyed a brisk retail business at the nation's supermarkets and wholesale trade to soda fountains and lunch counters, saw its sales precipitously slide in the 1960s and 1970s as changing tastes saw consumers increasingly switch to soft drinks and flavored ice milk shakes at drive-ins and other fast food purveyors. Employing 300 in Racine at its peak, the local payroll had dwindled to 63 when Horlick's Racine plant was closed by New Jersey-based parent Beecham, Inc. in March 1975. Said Beecham personnel director Donald Drescher of the decision to close the plant and wind down the Horlick's brand, "It (malted milk) is simply not a popular drink anymore." Horlick's Racine plant and malted milk brand, which enjoyed a long and storied 1882-1975 run in the U.S., was doomed in large part by three consecutive years of "substantial losses" spurred by sharply rising commodity costs and an all-but-disappeared American market for malted milk products. Still produced abroad, Horlicks Malted Milk continues to be highly popular in Great Britain, Australia and India among other overseas markets. Today, Horlicks is available in the U.S. from online retailers.