| Type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Confectionery |
| Predecessor | Chase and Company, Ball and Forbes, Bird, Wright and Company |
| Founded | 1901 |
| Headquarters | Revere, Massachusetts, USA |
| Number of locations | 2 (including Pewaukee, Wisconsin) |
| Products | Necco Wafers, Sweethearts, Clark Bar and Haviland Thin Mints, among others |
| Owner(s) | American Capital |
| Employees | 650 [1] |
| Website | http://www.necco.com/ |
Necco (or NECCO), pronounced "neck-o", is the acronym for the New England Confectionery Company, a manufacturer of candy. It was created in 1901 by the merger of several small confectionery companies located in the Greater Boston area; since December 2007 Necco has been owned by American Capital.[2]
The company is best known for its namesake candy, Necco Wafers, its seasonal Sweethearts Conversation Hearts, and brands such as the Clark Bar and Haviland Thin Mints.
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Necco dates its origins to Chase and Company, a company founded by brothers Oliver R. and Silas Edwin Chase in 1847.[3] Having previously invented and patented the first American candy machine, the Chase brothers continued to design and create machinery that made assortments of candy, such as their popular sugar wafers.
Two other confectionery companies, Ball and Forbes, founded by confectioner Daniel Forbes in 1848, and Bird, Wright and Company, a confectionery company based in Boston and founded in 1856, joined forces with Chase and Company in 1901 to become the three members of the original Necco family.[3] The three confectionery firms moved in to a newly constructed manufacturing plant in Boston, Massachusetts, one year later and become the largest establishment devoted entirely to confectionery production in the United States.[4]
Necco continued its production while the confectionery industry continued to boom through the turn of the century. Around the same time, businessman David L. Clark began experimenting with his own candy creations in his home outside of Pittsburgh, PA. He began selling the Clark candy bar for five cents and shipping his creation to soldiers fighting in World War I.[3] At the same time, Charles Miller started a business manufacturing and selling homemade candy in the Boston area. Clark’s creation and Miller’s Mary Jane quickly become two of the most popular candy creations in the country.[4]
In 1927, Necco moved into a new factory on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, which was then the largest factory in the world devoted entirely to candy.[3] They remained in the facility until 2003.
Necco continued its dominance of the candy-manufacturing business through much of the first half of the twentieth century until 1942, when the company closed much of its production and dedicated portions of its factory to manufacturing war materials. This continued until 1945, when World War II ended and the company could continue its development as the leading candy company in the United States.[4]
From the end of the war through the 1990s, Necco continued to acquire small candy companies throughout the United States and Europe, and with those companies, the rights to manufacture their trademarked candy bars. Two of the most noticeable acquisitions came in 1990 and 1999, when Stark Candy Company and Pittsburgh-based Clark Bar America, Inc. were purchased, respectively.[3]
At the time, Stark Candy Company and Clark Bar America, Inc. produced two of the most recognizable candies: Sweethearts Conversation Hearts and the Clark candy bar. The combination of the Conversation Hearts with Necco’s own Sweet Talk line of candies made Necco the leading manufacturer of conversation hearts, and the Clark bar was already a nationally recognized symbol.
In 2003, Necco consolidated its facilities to share a 52-acre (210,000 m2), 810,000-square-foot (75,000 m2) Revere, Massachusetts, plant and warehouse, where its international headquarters resides to this day.[5][6]
In April 2004 the Necco building at 250 Massachusetts Ave in Cambridge was occupied by the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research. The water tower was redesigned, with a double helix to represent the biomedical research being performed within.
Today, Necco is the oldest "continuously operating" candy company in the United States.[5] The company's production and headquarters in Revere, Massachusetts, and another facility in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, collectively employ approximately 650 workers.[1] Annual sales for the company frequently reach $100 million, backed primarily by their popular Valentine conversation hearts.[5]
In Fall 2010, The Necco company expects to produce its one trillionth Necco Wafer candy.[5]
The Haviland division of Necco produces many popular candies such as Haviland Thin Mints, Bridge Mix, and others.
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