Ferrara Candy Company facts for kids
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Confectionery |
| Founded | 1908 |
| Headquarters | Forest Park, Illinois, U.S. |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
| Brands | 100 Grand • Atomic Fireball • Baby Ruth • Black Forest • Bobs Candies • Bottle Caps • Brach's • Butterfinger • Chuckles • Chunky • Crunch • Dori • Everlasting Gobstopper • Fruit Stripe • Fun Dip • Funables • Goobers • Heide Candy Company • Jaw Busters • Jelly Belly • Jujyfruits • Keebler • Laffy Taffy • Lemonhead • Nerds • Nips • Now and Later • Oh Henry! • Boston Baked Beans • Pixy Stix • Rainblo • Raisinets • Red Hots • Runts • Sathers • Sno-Caps • Spree (candy) • Stretch Island • Super Bubble • SweeTarts • Trolli USA • Trolli |
| Parent | Ferrero |
The Ferrara Candy Company is a big American company that makes lots of popular candies. It is based in Chicago, Illinois, and is owned by a larger company called the Ferrero Group.
Ferrara Candy Company was created in 2012. This happened when two candy companies, Ferrara Pan Candy Company from Illinois and Farley's & Sathers Candy Company from Minnesota, joined together. Ferrara makes many well-known candies like Lemonheads, Atomic Fireballs, and Red Hots. They also make Brach's, Chuckles, and Now and Later candies. In 2017, the Ferrero Group bought the Ferrara Candy Company.
In 2018, Ferrara's parent company, Ferrero, bought most of Nestlé's candy brands in the U.S. This meant that Ferrara started making and selling candies like Butterfinger, Crunch, Baby Ruth, Raisinets, and Laffy Taffy. Ferrara moved its main office to Chicago in 2019.
Contents
The Sweet History of Ferrara Candy
How It All Began
The story of Ferrara Candy Company started in 1908. A man named Salvatore Ferrara came to New York from Italy in 1900. He later opened a bakery in Chicago with his brother-in-law, Salvatore "Sal" Lezza. They were in a part of Chicago known as "Little Italy."
Salvatore Ferrara sold "confetti," which are candy-coated almonds often used at Italian weddings. Sal Lezza knew how to make "pan candy" from Italy. This is a way of making candy by tumbling it in large, spinning kettles. He taught Salvatore Ferrara this skill. Later, the family decided to split the business. Lezza kept the bakery, and Ferrara focused on making candy.
Growing the Candy Business
Salvatore Ferrara teamed up with two more relatives, Salvatore Buffardi and Anello Pagano. They built a two-story building just for making candy. The second floor had many large, spinning kettles that made the pan candy. The finished candy would drop through a hole to the shipping area below.
In 2012, a company called Catterton Partners helped Ferrara Pan Candy Company join with Farley's & Sathers Candy Company. Even though Ferrara Pan was smaller, the new company was named Ferrara Candy Company. Salvatore Ferrara II, a leader from Ferrara Pan, became the head of the new company.
Today, Ferrara Candy is based in Chicago, Illinois. It has seven factories in the U.S. and Mexico. It also has many places across the United States where it stores and sends out candy.
Ferrara's Big Candy Production
Ferrara Candy Company makes a huge amount of candy. They sell most of the mellowcreme candies in the U.S., like candy corn. They are also the biggest maker of candy canes and sell a lot of conversation hearts. They produce a large amount of the jelly beans eaten in the United States.
The company uses many special machines called "starch moguls" to make gummy candies. They have hundreds of candy-making pans running all the time. Ferrara says it makes about 1 million pounds of gummy candy every week! The company has around 6,000 employees.
Key Moments in Ferrara Candy History
- 1860s: Henry Heide Candy Company started.
- 1890s: Farley Candy Company was created.
- 1904: Brach's Candies began making candy in Chicago.
- 1908: Ferrara Pan Candy Company was formed.
- 1919: Bobs Candies was formed.
- 1921: The Baby Ruth candy bar was introduced.
- 1930s: Sathers Candy Company started.
- 1962: Lemonheads candy was introduced.
- 1980s: Trolli Gummis began making candies in the U.S.
- 1994: Brach's Candy bought a big part of Brock's Candy.
- 1995: Favorite Brands International was created.
- 1996: Favorite Brands International bought Farley Foods, Sathers Candy, and Kidd Marshmallow.
- 1997: Favorite Brands International bought Dae Julie and the Trolli Gummi businesses.
- 2002: Farley's & Sathers Candy Company was formed. It included parts of Farley Foods, Sathers Candy Company, and some Kraft candy brands.
- 2005: Farley's & Sathers bought the Trolli Gummi business and Bob's Candies.
- 2007: Farley's & Sathers bought Brach's Candy.
- 2012: Catterton Partners bought Ferrara Pan Candy Company and renamed it Ferrara Candy.
- 2017: The Ferrero Group bought Ferrara Candy Company.
- 2018: Ferrero bought Nestlé's U.S. candy business, and Ferrara took over many of those brands.
- 2023: Ferrara Candy Company bought Dori Alimentos.
- 2023: Ferrara Candy Company bought Jelly Belly Candy Company.
- 2024: Ferrara stopped making Fruit Stripe gum.
Popular Ferrara Candy Products
- Atomic Fireball: These are round, very spicy cinnamon-flavored hard candies. They were invented in 1954. They are a type of jawbreaker. The outside is bright red, and the inside is white.
- Black Forest: This brand makes fruit juice snacks and treats in different shapes, like Gummy Bears and Gummy Worms.
- Bobs Candies: This brand makes soft mints, candy canes, and mint "lumps."
- Boston Baked Beans: These are peanuts covered in a sweet candy coating.
- Brach's: This candy brand has made many famous candies. These include candy corn, Conversation Hearts, Jelly Bird Eggs, and malted milk balls.
- Chuckles: These are soft, jelly candies covered in sugar. They come in five original colors: red, orange, yellow, green, and black.
- Fruit Stripe: This was a fruit-flavored chewing gum created in the 1960s. It also came in a bubble gum version.
- Jaw Busters: These are the original jawbreakers, first made in 1919. As you eat them, they change color and flavor with each of their five layers.
- Jelly Belly: These are fancy, high-quality jelly beans.
- Jujyfruits: These are small, chewy, fruit-flavored candies. They come in different fruit shapes and flavors like raspberry, orange, and lemon. Jujubes are a firmer candy from 1920 with flavors like lemon, violet, and cherry.
- Laffy Taffy: These are rectangular taffy candies famous for the jokes on each wrapper. Flavors include banana, strawberry, and sour apple.
- Lemonhead: Introduced in 1962, Lemonheads are round, lemon-flavored candies. They have a sweet coating, a soft sour shell, and a hard candy center. Other types include Appleheads and Grapeheads.
- Nerds: These small, pebble-like candies were introduced in 1983. They usually have two flavors in one box, each with its own section. Larger boxes might have many colors, called Rainbow Nerds. The brand also makes Nerds Gummy Clusters.
- Now and Later: These are bite-sized squares of taffy that come in many fruit flavors. They are sold in bars and assorted jars.
- Rain-Blo: These are bubble gumballs where the color on the outside matches the flavor on the inside.
- Red Hots: These are small, spicy cinnamon-flavored candies. They were created by Ferrara Pan Candy Company in the 1930s.
- Super Bubble: This is individually-wrapped bubble gum first made in 1946. It comes in original, grape, apple, and watermelon flavors.
- Trolli (U.S.): This brand makes gummy candies that are both sour and sweet. They often come in unusual shapes.
