Every day at 11 a.m., in the Mill Village suite next to Duck Soup, that day's batch of Sky Bars gets made. At 3 p.m. it gets wrapped. Sudbury Weekly puts the daily output at about 3,000 bars. Anyone shopping at 365 Boston Post Road can watch through the large windows.
This Saturday, October 10, Duck Soup marks 55 years with a ribbon cutting. The candy made next door is older than the store. NECCO introduced the Sky Bar in 1938, which makes it 88 this year. It is also the only NECCO product still made anywhere in New England. In January, Sudbury's state representative filed a bill to make the Sky Bar the Commonwealth's official chocolate bar. As of today, that bill hasn't moved. In 2026, the recognition the Sky Bar actually gets happens in Mill Village.
Suite 108 Is the Whole Factory
The candy company lists its address as 365 Boston Post Road, Suite 108. Mill Village's directory puts Duck Soup in Suite 106, right next door. When owner Louise Mawhinney needed somewhere to make candy, the neighboring storefront came open. The Boston Globe reported that the complex was already zoned for manufacturing. So the factory is a small production wing added on to a general store, with no plant out on an industrial road.
The real difference from the old days is how often the bars get made. Mawhinney explained it to Sudbury Weekly in April:
"We have three people who can run that machine, and every Sky Bar is made by one of those people. We make Sky Bars every day; it's probably the freshest candy bar on the market. NECCO made them once every six months."
Sources differ on exactly how much the line turns out. Sudbury Weekly reports 3,000 bars a day on a single schedule. TODAY reported about 2,800 bars per run, with one or two runs a day and roughly 2 million bars a year. Both describe the same thing, though. One machine, a small crew, and a bar that goes from mold to wrapper in a single afternoon, a few steps from the store's front counter.
The bar itself hasn't changed. It still has four centers in a row: caramel, vanilla, peanut and fudge. No newer flavor turned up in the coverage. When NECCO launched the bar in 1938, it ran a contest to name it and then advertised with skywriting. For several weeks, "Sky Bar" appeared over Boston and the surrounding towns on certain days of the week.
How a Mill Village General Store Ended Up With an 88-Year-Old Recipe
The route from a Cambridge candy giant to a Sudbury storefront took several decades and one auction nobody expected Duck Soup to win.
- 1938. NECCO introduces the Sky Bar. It goes on to make the bar for 80 years.
- October 12, 1971. Richard Ressler and Jim Barisano open Duck Soup in Sudbury.
- 2014. Louise Mawhinney, a former biotech CFO, buys the store.
- 2018. NECCO goes bankrupt and can't find a buyer for the whole company, so it sells its assets piece by piece. Other companies pick up Necco Wafers, Clark Bar and Sweethearts. Nobody claims the Sky Bar.
- September 2018. Mawhinney wins the Sky Bar in NECCO's online asset auction. The price was never disclosed. She got the brand, the intellectual property and the historic recipes. She did not get a factory or any equipment ready to run.
- 2019. Jeff Green, NECCO's former vice president of research and development, helped install the custom machinery in Mill Village. The Globe's 2019 coverage describes custom-built molding equipment and a separate wrapping line. The team tests historic formulas and settles on a 1970s recipe. By mid-November, the Globe reports that production is officially back, with bars for sale at Duck Soup and online.
- January 2020. Wholesale sales begin. Today the bar is also sold at select local retailers.
The 1971 store and the 1938 recipe have now shared a wall for seven years. So this month's birthday party is also, in practice, the factory's open house.
The State Title Is Parked at House Rules
Rep. Carmine Gentile of Sudbury filed "An Act designating the Sky Bar as the official chocolate bar of the Commonwealth." The Legislature still lists it only as docket HD.5583, with no House bill number. Its record shows one action: a referral to the House Committee on Rules on January 27, 2026. There's no hearing, no committee report and no extension order on file.
The bill got off to a cheerful start. Gentile told Sudbury Weekly in April that the Sky Bar "was a favorite of mine" growing up and that he was "delighted to celebrate its rebirth at Duck Soup in Sudbury." State House News Service's summary of the April 27 House session mentioned the proposal and noted Sky Bars sitting on representatives' desks.
The calendar then ran out. July 31, 2026 was the last day for formal sessions this term. Technically the session doesn't close until Tuesday, January 5, 2027, so the bill hasn't formally died. Under the joint rules, though, formal sessions after July 31 are limited to timely conference committee reports, appropriation bills that come up after the deadline, and governor's vetoes or amendments. A designation bill still waiting in House Rules doesn't fit any of those categories. Its next real chance would be refiling in a new session.
That leaves the official food list as it stands. The Secretary of the Commonwealth lists Boston cream pie as the Commonwealth dessert, the chocolate chip cookie as the official state cookie and the Boston cream doughnut as the state doughnut. No chocolate bar is on it. For the rest of 2026, the most public recognition the Sky Bar gets is the party at Duck Soup, where several of the same officials will be holding the scissors.
October at 365 Boston Post Road
The October 3 kickoff has already happened. Here's what's left on Duck Soup's anniversary calendar:
- Saturday, October 10, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The main celebration. The ribbon cutting is at 11:30 with Sudbury Chamber President Martha Welsh, Town Manager Andy Sheehan, Rep. Carmine Gentile and Sen. Jamie Eldridge. Former Patriot Max Lane, who played seven seasons in New England and started in Super Bowl XXXI, signs autographs from noon to 2. At 12:30 the store announces its favorite customer memory, and that customer wins a prize. You'll also find Harbor Sweets chocolate, fall drink tastings, Ruby Wines and Jam Pack'd Jams. Part of the day's sales goes to the Sudbury Food Pantry.
- Tuesday, October 13, 6 to 7:30 p.m. A hands-on pasta class with Joe Gatto.
- Saturday, October 17, 1 to 3 p.m. A free "Spirits & Bread" tasting with Boston Harbor Distillery, Liquid Fables, Soberdough and Ruby Wine.
- Saturday, October 24, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The free Mill Village Fall Festival. It has live music, kids' activities, trick-or-treating, a karate demo and a Goodnow Farms chocolate and Scotch pairing.
- Sunday, October 25, 1 to 2:30 p.m. A cannoli baking class.
- Saturday, October 31, 1 to 3 p.m. Free Halloween tastings with baked goods, Virginia peanuts and Cooke Tavern soups.
If you'd like to see the Sky Bar line running, go in the late morning when the bars are being molded or mid-afternoon when they're being wrapped. Duck Soup is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m., and there's plenty of off-street parking behind the store. Bars sell at the counter inside and online in a 24-bar box.
At Rutledge Properties, we think long-running local shops like Duck Soup are a big part of what makes a town feel like home, and we're glad to see this one marking 55 years with a candy bar it rescued. If you're thinking about what's next for your own Sudbury home, our agents work with you directly from the first conversation through closing. Work With Us.
