The chocolate chip cookie dates back to 1938, when Ruth Graves Wakefield decided to throw a broken-up Nestlé semisweet chocolate bar into her cookie batter at the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Mass. Whether Wakefield thought the chunks would melt into a dark chocolate cookie or remain "chips" has been hotly contested, but there's no denying the results were a sensation. A year later, Nestle caught wind of Wakefield's delicious cookies and asked to put her recipe on its wrapper. She agreed and sold the rights for $1 – and a lifetime supply of Nestle chocolate. In Ruth’s case, that was another 38 years. Did Ruth make a smart deal?
NCPA
