Frango

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Frango and Frangos are brand names of chocolate meltaway truffles sold by department stores in the Pacific Northwest and Chicagoland areas of the United States. Originally a creation of the Seattle-based Frederick & Nelson department store chain, the Frango was introduced to Chicago using a similar recipe and each store developed its own regional variation of the original mint truffle. Today, Frangos in hexagonal boxes are sold in Macy's Northwest stores, while Marshall Field's sells its Frango (no "s") in rectangular boxes.

[edit] Origins

Frango origins go back to 1918, according to a trademark document from the U.S. Patent Office. Originally, the Frango was the name for a frozen dessert sold at the sophisticated Tea Room at Frederick & Nelson's new department store at Sixth Avenue and Pine Street in Downtown Seattle, a building now occupied by Nordstrom's flagship store. The first Frango frozen dessert was available in maple and orange flavors.

The name probably originated by the combination of "Fr" from Frederick’s and the "ango" from the word tango. Another theory it that Frango is an acronym for FRederick And Nelson GOodness. Yet another variation, according to a paper in a box of modern-day Field's Frangos, is that they were originally known as Franco mints, and were changed to Frango after the Spanish Civil War, when Generalísimo Franco met with Hitler.

In 1926, the consistency of the Frango Dessert was described as flaky, requiring the use of a fork, not a spoon, as you would use with ice cream. The Frango name eventually was extended to ice-cream sodas, pies and milkshakes sold at the store. It wasn't until 1927 that Ray Alden, who ran Frederick's in-store candy kitchen, developed the Frango mint meltaway chocolate. Alden's secret recipe used chocolate made from both African and South American cocoa beans as well as oil of Oregon peppermint and local butter.

[edit] Two Forms

A few months after F&N was sold to Marshall Field's in 1929, the F&N candy makers in Seattle were summoned to Chicago to introduce Frangos to Marshall Field's to help build slumping sales during the great depression. Soon the candy kitchen at Marshall Field's had produced their own Midwestern interpretation of the Frango Chocolate recipe. Any difference in taste between the West Coast version and the Midwestern Frango could be attributed to the use of local ingredients and equipment or a slight change in the two recipes over time as generations of candy-makers have continued the Frango tradition.

One crucial distinction between the two types of Frangos is the packaging. Midwestern Frangos are sold in traditional flat candy boxes, with the chocolates set in candy papers. By contrast, West Coast Frangos are individually wrapped, and sold in distinctive tall hexagons.

[edit] Corporate changes

The 1982 the purchase of Marshall Field's by BATUS Retail Group (a unit of British American Tobacco - US) proved ill-fated for the Frederick & Nelson subsidiary. By 1986, an overstretched BATUS decided to dispose of Frederick & Nelson, selling it and Spokane, Washington based retailer The Crescent to a Washington state-based investor group. Despite this ownership turmoil, Frederick's continued to distribute Frangos, albeit under license from Field's. In 1992, continued financial difficulties led to the final closure of all Frederick's locations. By that time, Field's itself had changed hands, becoming a unit of Minneapolis-based Dayton Hudson stores (since renamed for its discount unit, Target). Seattle civic leaders quickly engineered a deal under which Dayton Hudson agreed to let Seattle's remaining full-line department store, The Bon Marché, continue to sell Frangos in the northwest.

This solution proved highly problematic. While Frederick & Nelson was still in business, the candies were made on the 10th floor of the chain's flagship Pine Street store — a building that now stood empty. Ultimately, a former Frango candymaker founded Seattle Gourmet Foods, which won a production contract with the Bon and moved candymaking to a new site. But in 2003, the Bon terminated the contract. The candymaker retaliated by producing its own line of "Frederick & Nelson Fine Chocolates," using hexagonal packaging similar to that of the traditional Frangos box. The Bon promptly sued, but Seattle Gourmet Foods countersued, claiming that the contract termination was unlawful. Late in 2004, the parties reached a settlement in which the Bon made an undisclosed payment to Seattle Gourmet, in exchange for exclusive rights to the recipe, the use of hexagonal boxes, and the Frederick & Nelson and F&N names.

In 2004, Marshall Field's and the Frango name were sold yet again, this time to St. Louis-based May Department Stores. Meanwhile, The Bon Marché name had disappeared in favor of Bon-Macy's and later Macy's. In January 2005, May refused to renew Macy's license to the Frango name. The West Coast candy was therefore re-branded "Frederick & Nelson, the Original" in February 2005 — but this name would prove unusually short-lived. On August 30, 2005, Macy's corporate owner, Federated Department Stores, completed its acquisition of May — reuniting the two branches of the Frango family for the first time in two decades, and the West Coast variant was named back to "Frangos".

As of late 2005, it was not yet clear what plans Federated has with its Frango assets.

See also Mint chocolate.