FILE: A worker empties out gummy bears for packaging at the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, California, on April 2, 2007.
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Bay Area candy giant Jelly Belly has been purchased by Ferrara Candy Company, a Chicago candy factory.
Jelly Belly, headquartered in Fairfield, announced the acquisition in a news release Wednesday. Once the transaction closes, nearly 800 Jelly Belly employees will become Ferrara employees. Ferrara already owns a number of famous candy brands, including Nerds, Laffy Taffy, SweeTarts and Trolli gummies. Ferrara, a private company, has not disclosed how much it is paying to acquire Jelly Belly.
“As we have considered the future of Jelly Belly Candy Company, we have remained steadfast in our commitment to creating a win-win situation for our employees, consumers and products,” said Herman Rowland Sr., Jelly Belly CEO, in an opinion opinion. “When I met with the Ferrara team, I recognized a like-minded group that shared our knowledge and passion for the confectionery business.”
Jelly Belly has been owned by a family for six generations. In 1869, Gustav Goelitz opened his first candy store in Belleville, Illinois. In the 1920s, his son Herman Goelitz moved the company to Oakland, and 40 years later it became a California institution thanks to an unlikely celebrity patron, the actor and politician Ronald Reagan.
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FILE: A family walks past the visitor center at 1 Jelly Belly Lane at the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, California, June 7, 2017.
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According to the Sacramento Bee, Reagan kicked his smoking habit by snacking on Jelly Bellies. “For more than a decade,” The Bee wrote in 1981, “Reagan purchased 200 pounds of the company’s ‘mini’ jelly beans each year for his employees, his guests and himself.” As president, he was known for doing so Oval Office well supplied with beans. His favorite flavor was licorice.
In 1985, the company announced its move from Oakland to Fairfield. The factory and headquarters have been located in Fairfield ever since, and generations of Solano County children have grown up taking the factory tour, receiving free samples and seeing the giant Reagan portrait made out of gummy bears. The Rowlands are also well known in the city, sometimes controversially. It is not clear whether this acquisition will ultimately mark the end of the family’s involvement in the company or result in layoffs; Jelly Belly has referred media inquiries to its press release for now.
FILE: A tourist takes a photo of portraits made from jelly beans of President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan at the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, California, on June 10, 2004.
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