[1] The Heath bar has been manufactured and distributed by Hershey since its acquisition of the Leaf International North American confectionery operations late in 1996.

[2] In 1913, school teacher L. S. Heath bought a confectionery shop in Robinson, Illinois, as a likely business opportunity for his oldest sons, Bayard and Everett.

With the success of the business, the elder Heath became interested in manufacturing ice cream and opened a small dairy factory in 1915.

Early ads promoted Heath as a virtual health bar – only the best milk chocolate and almonds, creamery butter, and "pure sugar cane".

The size of this order led the family to modernize the plant equipment; the candy was manufactured consistently on a major commercial scale thereafter.

The company had 35 candy salesmen who called on approximately 7,200 wholesale distributors in the United States along with thousands of other outlets, such as theaters, vending machine operators, super-markets and chain stores.

[13] In 1996, the North American confectionery operations of Leaf, Inc., were purchased by The Hershey Company for $440 million plus annual royalties for licenses paid to Huhtamäki Oyj to produce such brands as Heath, Jolly Rancher, Milk Duds, Payday, Whoppers, Chuckles, and Twizzler's licorice.

In turn, Huhtamäki bought the European confectionery operations of German praline manufacturer Gubor and Italian confectioner Sperlari from Hershey for $110 million.

[14] In April 2018, a holding company named Iconic IP Interests, LLC, an investment vehicle of Highlander Partners, purchased the intellectual property, including trademarks and associated licensing agreements and royalty arrangements of ten candy brands including Heath, Jolly Rancher, PayDay, Good & Plenty, Whoppers, Chuckles, and Milk Duds from Huhtamäki Oyj.

[17] Shaped as a thin, hard slab with a milk chocolate coating, the toffee originally contained sugar, butter, and almonds in a small squarish bar weighing one ounce (28 g).

The wrapper's vintage brown color scheme has a small seal proclaiming Heath the "Finest Quality English Toffee".