Why is an...?!
Why is an...?
ice-cream with a flake in it called a "99"?
Answers:
The origins of the name are uncertain. One claim is that the '99' was coined in Portobello, Scotland, in 1922, by the Arcari family, who owned a well known ice cream shop there. They sold ice-creams with half a large 'Flake' inserted in the top, and reputedly gave it the name simply because the shop was sited at 99 High Street. The idea spread locally, then further afield.
Another theory (put forward by a Cadbury's sales manager, but now proved to be unfounded) was that the name came from Italy: "In the days of the monarchy in Italy the King had a specially chosen guard consisting of 99 men (The Guard actually consisted of 110), and subsequently anything really special or first class was known as 99 — and that is how the 99 Flake came by its name". The Wordhunt initiative in 2005 found that the myth actually referred to the Vatican's Swiss Guard, which traditionally had 105 members, and now has 100.
Another possibility is that it was named by Italian ice-cream sellers (many of whom hailed from mountainous areas in the Veneto, Trentino, Bellunese and Friuli) in honour of the final wave of conscripts from the First World War, born in 1899 and referred to as "i Ragazzi del 99" - the Boys of '99. They were held in such high esteem that some streets in Italy were named in honour of them. The chocolate flake may have reminded them of the Alpine Regiment's hat, with a long dark feather cocked at an angle.
Yet another ingenious suggestion is that the initials of "Ice Cream", IC, form the Roman numerals for 99 (being 100 - 1). In practice, the number 99 is not written like this but as XCIX. It could, of course, be that the name was coined by someone who either did not know this or ignored it.
One more explanation suggests that the original length of the flake chocolate bar was 99mm, but this is an unlikely explanation as the chocolate bar preceded the introduction of the metric system to the UK.
And, finally, a company known as "Askey's" first established a cone called "99". As people ordered this, "99 with a flake" would have been shortened over the years to "99 flake".
It has also been suggested that a Chinese ice-cream seller in the 1920s was approached by a group of British Deaf, who asked for extra chocolate with a doubled sign of a hooked finger. The Chinese seller, not certain what to call the chocolate flake, interpreted this sign as the number 99.
The Cadbury's website says that the reason behind the Flake being called a 99 has been "lost in the mists of time".[1]
A one-man business, opened in 1824 by a young Quaker, John Cadbury, in Bull Street Birmingham, was to be the foundation of Cadbury Limited, now one of the world's largest chocolate producers. By 1831 the business had changed from a grocery shop and John Cadbury had become a manufacturer of drinking chocolate and cocoa, the start of the Cadbury manufacturing business as it is known today.