Pearson's Candy Company

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Pearson's Candy Company
Type Private company
Industry Confectionery/Chocolate
Founded 1909
Founder(s) P. Edward Pearson
Headquarters Saint Paul, Minnesota
Key people Larry Hassler
President and CEO[1]
Judith Johnston
EVP and COO[2]
Products See products section
Revenue US $40 Million[1]
Owner(s) Brynwood Partners
Employees 170[1]
Website www.pearsonscandy.com

Pearson's Candy Company is an American chocolate and confectionery manufacturer headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded as a confectionery distribution firm in 1909, the company began to manufacture its own products in 1912. Originally a family-owned company, Pearson's experienced changes in ownership, acquisitions and product alterations in the 1960s and 70s, before being purchased in 1989[2] and resold in 2011.

Pearson's products are produced on three production lines in the company’s Saint Paul plant. The company sells its Mint Patties, Salted Nut Roll and Bit-O-Honey nationally and its Nut Goodie and Bun Bars products in several Midwestern states. Measured by revenue, Pearson's is among the top 100 global confectionery companies.[3]

History

Pearson family

Pearson's Candy Company was founded as a confectionery distribution firm in 1909 by P. Edward Pearson and his brothers, John and Oscar. Two more brothers, Waldemar and C. Fritz, joined the company several years later.[4] The five brothers determined manufacturing would be more profitable than distribution and, in 1912, introduced their first confection, the Nut Goodie.[5]

Pearson's grew and began manufacturing for other companies, including Whitmans and Planters. Pearson's introduced the Salted Nut Roll in 1933, at the height of The Great Depression.[5] The success of the Salted Nut Roll prompted other manufacturers to mimic the confection. Pearson's subsequently changed the roll's name to the Choo Choo Bar, to distinguish the product. The Choo Choo name, however, was not as successful, and the original name was restored with the Pearson's logo more prominently displayed.[4]

By the end of World War II, the Pearson brothers had dropped the distribution aspect of the business. The youngest brother, William Pearson, joined the family business in 1944, as did George Pearson, son of founder P. Edward Pearson. In 1951, Pearson's acquired the Trudeau Candy Company, which brought Mint Patties and the Seven Up bar to Pearson's product line. The company moved to a new manufacturing plant at its current address in 1959.[5] In 1962, Pearson’s acquired Milwaukee-based Sperry Candy Company, a company known for its Chicken Dinner Bar. Pearson's, however, sold Sperry Candy to the Schuler Chocolate Factory of Winona, Minnesota five years later.[6]

Ownership changes

The Pearson family sold the company in 1968 to ITT/Continental Baking, a New York firm. ITT/Continental Baking sold the company to an out-of-state confectionery partnership in 1979. During this time, sales declined due to problems with availability and product changes, such as a wrapper redesign and recipe change of the Nut Goodie.[4]

In 1985, the company was purchased by Larry Hassler and Judith Johnston, the current CEO and COO, respectively. The company’s previous owners had split up, causing the bank to offer the company in the leveraged buyout. The Nut Goodie's original wrapper and recipe were restored and, despite the loss of a label contract with General Mills to produce Nature Valley granola bars, which accounted for 1.4 million bars daily and 85 percent of the company's total tonnage, Pearson's became profitable again in December 1992.[2] In early 1998, Pearson's acquired the Bun Bar trademark from Clark Bar America. Pearson's introduced Flurries in 2004.[4]

In 2011, Pearson's was acquired by Brynwood Partners.[7]

Products

Current products

Salted Nut Rolls and Mint Patties account for approximately 80 percent of the company’s sales; Nut Goodie and Bun Bars account for the remainder. Mint Patties are sold nationally and Salted Nut Rolls are available in approximately 60 percent of the company's outlets. The Bit-O-Honey brand was acquired from Nestle in 2013. In the Twin Cities, Salted Nut Rolls consistently rank number one or number three in sales.[2] Although the products are not sold internationally, the company is the 99th largest confectionery company in the world by revenue.[3]

Pearson's utilizes 200 tons of peanuts, 400 tons of sugar, 100 tons of chocolate and 350 tons of corn syrup per month. Products are produced in the company’s 130,000 sq ft (12,000 m2). plant on three production lines.[2] Current products include:

Product Introduced Description
Bit-O-Honey 2013 Almond bits embedded in a honey-flavored taffy
Bun Bars 1998 Maple, vanilla or caramel center covered with chocolate and peanuts
Mint Patties 1951 Mint-flavored patty covered with dark chocolate
Nut Goodie 1912 Cluster with a maple-flavored center covered with chocolate and peanuts
Salted Nut Roll 1933 Roll of nougat covered with caramel and salted peanuts

Discontinued products

Seven Up Bar

The Seven Up Bar was a candy bar comprising seven different chocolate "pillows", each filled with a different flavor. Flavors changed with the availability and popularity of ingredients, which included, among others, brazil nut, buttercream, butterscotch, caramel, cherry, coconut, fudge, mint, nougat and orange.[5] The high manufacturing costs and trademark issues with a soda manufacturer (The American Bottling Company, today Cadbury Schweppes), caused the bar to be retired in 1979.[8]

Chicken Dinner Bar

The Chicken Dinner Bar had been a product of the Sperry Candy Company, which was acquired by Pearson’s in 1962. The bar, introduced during The Great Depression, was so called in reference to President Herbert Hoover’s promise of “a chicken in every pot”.[9] The bar did not contain chicken or other poultry products, but was, rather, a chocolate-covered nut roll. Pearson’s discontinued the bar’s production after the acquisition.[8] Early TV commercials sang "Chick - Chick - Chick - Chick - Chicken Dinner" similar to, and in the cadence of a rooster crowing.

Flurries

Flurries were chocolate mint fudge with a white coating that were introduced in 2004 and discontinued sometime later.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Manta. "Pearson Candy Company". Dun and Bradstreet, Inc. Retrieved 2008-01-01. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Pacyniak, Bernard. "On A Roll". BNP Media. Retrieved 2008-01-01. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Rogers, Paul (January 1, 2003). "Income generation gap. (Top 100 Global Confectionery Companies)". Candy Industry (The Gale Group, Inc.). Archived from the original on 2008-02-21. Retrieved 2008-03-19. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Pearson's Candy Company. "About Us". Retrieved 2008-01-01. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Kimmerle, pp. 138–139
  6. ↑ Moskowitz, Dara (1998-12-23). "The Ghost of Candy Bars Past". City Pages. Retrieved 2008-01-01. 
  7. ↑ "St. Paul's Pearson's Candy Co. sold". KARE-11. August 22, 2011. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lewis, p. 68
  9. ↑ Hale, p. 55

Bibliography

  • Hale, James (2006). The Wonderful Wacky World of Marketingmobiles. Veloce Publishing Ltd. ISBN 1-84584-003-8. 
  • Kimmerle, Beth (2003). Candy: The Sweet History. Collectors Press, Inc. ISBN 1-888054-83-2. 
  • Lewis, Matt (2004). Chocolate Bar. Running Press. ISBN 0-7624-1921-0. 
Confectionery products of Pearson's Candy Company
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