Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Confectionery |
Headquarters | Forest Park, Illinois, US |
Area served | Worldwide |
Brands | Brach's [1] • Lemonhead [2] • Chuckles [3] • Now and Later [4] • Bobs Candies • Trolli USA • Nerds [5] • Black Forest [6] • Sathers • Red Hots [7] • Atomic Fireball [8] • Super Bubble • Rainblo • Jujyfruits [9] •Jaw Busters • Fruit Stripe • Boston Baked Beans [10] • Heide Candy Company • Baby Ruth • Butterfinger • Crunch • Chunky • Laffy Taffy [11] • Raisinets • Oh Henry! • 100 Grand • Trolli [12] • Nips • Everlasting Gobstopper • Spree (candy) [13] • Fun Dip [14] • Bottle Caps [15] • Runts [16] • Pixy Stix [17] • SweeTarts [18] • Sno-Caps • Goobers [19] • Jelly Belly [20] • Dori [21] • Stretch Island [22] • Funables [23] |
Parent | Ferrero |
Website | www |
The Ferrara Candy Company is an American candy manufacturer, based in Chicago, Illinois, and owned by the Ferrero Group.
The company was formed from a 2012 merger of the Illinois-based Ferrara Pan Candy Company and Minnesota-based Farley's & Sathers Candy Company. Ferrara's product line includes the brands of Ferrara-branded pan candy (such as Lemonheads, Atomic Fireballs, Red Hots, and Original Boston Baked Beans) and those of Farley's & Sathers (such as Brach's, Chuckles, Jujyfruits, and Now and Later). In November 2017, The Ferrero Group announced that they were going to acquire the company, [24] which was finalized in December 2017. [25]
In 2018, Ferrara's parent company Ferrero SpA purchased Nestlé's U.S. candy line for $2.8 billion and handed responsibility for most products to Ferrara. Former Nestlé products now distributed in the U.S. by Ferrara include Butterfinger, Crunch, Baby Ruth, Raisinets, Nips, Laffy Taffy, and hard candy (such as Spree and Everlasting Gobstopper) formerly produced by Nestlé under the Willy Wonka brand. [26] Two exceptions are Nestlé's Kit Kat and Rolo lines, which are licensed to the Hershey Company. [27]
Ferrara announced it was moving its world headquarters to Chicago in 2019. [28]
The Ferrara family had been bakers in Italy. Salvatore Ferrara emigrated from Nola to New York in 1900. [29] In 1908, he opened a bakery at 772 W. Taylor, in the heart of Chicago's "Little Italy" neighborhood. [30] He sold candy-coated almonds known as "confetti" (or Jordan almonds), a popular treat at Italian weddings. [29]
When candy sales became greater than pastries, Ferrara partnered with two brothers-in-law, Salvatore Buffardi and Anello Pagano. [31] They built a two-story brick building at 2200 W. Taylor and began producing a variety of panned candies. [29] The second floor of the building was devoted to the revolving kettles that produced the pan candy, with all of the machines being driven by a giant wheel. The candy was dropped to the shipping department below through a hole in the floor.
The private equity firm Catterton Partners, owner of Farley's & Sathers Candy Company, arranged the 2012 deal whereby that well-established confectioner would merge with the Ferrara Pan Candy Company. Although Ferrara Pan Candy was only about half the size of Farley's & Sathers, the new company was christened the Ferrara Candy Company and placed under the leadership of Ferrara Pan Chief Executive Salvatore Ferrara II. [32]
Ferrara Candy is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It operates seven manufacturing plants in the U.S. and Mexico, as well as distribution centers around the United States.
The company sells 92% of all mellowcremes in the U.S.; it is the largest producer of candy canes, the largest seller of conversation hearts and produces a large portion of the jelly beans that are consumed in the United States. The company has 21 starch moguls, of 40 in the U.S. as a whole. The company has between 700 and 800 pans operating at any given time. It states that it produces 1 million pounds of gummy candy per week in four manufacturing plants, two in the U.S. and two in Mexico. The company employs approximately 6,000 people.
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Gummy bears are small, fruit gum candies, similar to a jelly baby in some English-speaking countries. The candy is roughly 2 cm (0.8 in) long and shaped in the form of a bear. The gummy bear is one of many gummies, popular gelatin-based candies sold in a variety of shapes and colors.
Chuckles are jelly candies coated with a light layer of sugar. They come in five flavors: lime, orange, cherry, lemon, and licorice. Each package of Chuckles contains one piece of each flavor. The candies are made with corn syrup, sugar, modified and unmodified cornstarch, and natural and artificial flavors and colors.
Nerds is an American candy launched in 1983 by the Sunmark Corporation under the brand name Willy Wonka Candy Company. Nerds are now made by the Ferrara Candy Company, a subsidiary of Ferrero Group. but is still distributed internationally by Nestlé. With their anthropomorphic covers, Nerds usually contain two flavors per box, each flavor having a separate compartment and opening.
Nestlé Candy Shop was a confectionery brand owned and licensed by the Swiss corporation Nestlé. In 2018, the branding and production rights were sold to the Ferrero Group, and as a result, the brand was discontinued.
Jolly Rancher is an American brand of sweet hard candy, gummies, jelly beans, lollipops, sour bites, and a line of soda put out by Elizabeth Beverage Company in 2004. Originally created in Colorado in the 1950s, the Jolly Rancher brand has been owned by The Hershey Company since 1996.
Jujyfruits are a chewy, gumdrop-like starch-based candy, manufactured by Heide Candy Company, a subsidiary of Ferrara Candy Company. Johnny fruits began production in 1920. They were popular in movie houses along with Heide's other gummy candy, Jujubes.
Laffy Taffy is an American brand of taffy candies produced by the Ferrara Candy Company, a subsidiary of Ferrero. The candies are small, individually wrapped taffy rectangles available in a variety of colors and fruit flavors, including banana, strawberry, green apple, grape, blueberry, watermelon, blue raspberry, and cherry. Rarer flavors include caramel apple, coconut, strawberries & cream, apple crisp, chocolate mousse, pumpkin donut, pineapple, guava, orange sorbet, and lemon raspberry. Discontinued flavors include fruit punch, mango, strawberry banana, peppermint, and hot cocoa.
Brach's is a candy and sweets brand of Ferrara Candy Company.
Now and Later is an American brand of fruit-flavored taffy-like candy manufactured by Ferrara Candy Company. The candy is formed into squares packaged in colorful paper. Twelve flavors are currently available in both Traditional and Chewy varieties.
Circus peanuts are American peanut-shaped marshmallow candy. They date to the 19th century, when they were one of a large variety of unwrapped "penny candy" sold in such retail outlets as five-and-dime stores.
Fruit Stripe was an artificially and naturally flavored fruit chewing gum produced by Beech-Nut in 1960 and discontinued in 2024. The individual pieces of gum were striped and were packaged in zebra-striped wrappers, which also acted as temporary tattoos.
Lemonhead is an American brand of candy that was first introduced in 1962, produced by the Ferrara Candy Company. Lemonheads are a round, lemon-flavored candy consisting of a sweet coating, soft sour shell, and a hard candy core. Other popular flavors are Grapeheads, Cherryheads and Appleheads.
Farley's & Sathers Candy Company was created as an umbrella company to roll up many small companies, brands and products under a common management team. The confectionery business segment is made up of many small companies, often with intertwined relationships and histories.
Trolli is a German manufacturer of confectionery. Its American arm was sold in 1996 and became a confectionery brand used by Ferrara Candy Company. Trolli sells gummy candies, marshmallows, and soft licorice gums in over 80 countries and has factories in Germany, Spain and China.
Heide Candy Company is a subsidiary of candy manufacturer Ferrara Candy Company.
Super Bubble was a brand of bubble gum produced by Ferrara Candy Company first introduced in 1946 by the Thomas Wiener Company led by Douglas Thomas and Donald Wiener in Memphis, Tennessee. The recipe for the original Super Bubble flavor came from a much older brand known as Bub's Daddy. Super Bubble was originally sold for five cents, but in the face of increased competition from Dubble Bubble and Bazooka, the company brought out a one-cent version in 1948.
Rain-Blo is an American brand of bubble gum that comes in a variety of fruit flavors, introduced by Leaf Confectionery in 1940, and acquired from Hershey Foods by Farley's & Sathers Candy Company, merged with Ferrara Pan in 2012, becoming the Ferrara Candy Company. They are bubble gum balls containing an internal fruit flavoring that is colored to match the coating on the outside.
Gummies, gummi candies, gummy candies, or jelly sweets are a broad category of gelatin-based chewable sweets. Gummy bears, Sour Patch Kids, and Jelly Babies are widely popular and are a well-known part of the sweets industry. Gummies are available in a wide variety of shapes, most commonly seen as colorful depictions of living things such as bears, babies, or worms. Various brands such as Bassett's, Haribo, Albanese, Betty Crocker, Hersheys, Disney and Kellogg's manufacture various forms of gummy snacks, often targeted at young children. The name "gummi" originated in Germany, with the term "jelly sweets" more common in the United Kingdom.
Crunch is a chocolate bar made of milk chocolate and crisped rice. It is produced globally by Nestlé with the exception of the United States, where it is produced under license by the Ferrara Candy Company, a subsidiary of Ferrero.
The Ferrero Group [...] today announced [...] a Ferrero affiliated company will acquire Ferrara Candy Company [...] The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2017.