Polo, the mint with the hole...

Polo (the mint with the hole) is still Britain's best selling mint brand with approximately 38 million mints produced every day and an average of one hundred and fifty Polos eaten every second.  Polo Mints are a brand of confectionery whose defining feature is the hole in the middle. The peppermint flavoured polo was first manufactured in the United Kingdom in 1948 by employee John Bargewell at the Rowntree'sFactory, York, and a range of flavours followed. The name ‘Polo’ is reportedly from the word ‘Polar’, which symbolises the cool and fresh feeling one gets from sucking a Polo.  Whilst studying chemical engineering many years ago I embarked upon a ground breaking project with my class mates to ascertain just how many extra polo's could be made from the material removed to make the hole!  We calculated it as approx.3.5 extra mints - so there you have it...  (We never got around to informing Rowntrees of our momentous discovery - just think how their profits could have been boosted if only they had known!)