Farley's & Sathers Candy Company was created as an umbrella company to roll up many small companies, brands and products under a common management team.About Farley and Sathers Candy Company. Farley and Sathers Company web site. October 8, 2009. | Accessed: October 8, 2009. (Archived at WebCite). The confectionery business segment is made up of many small companies, often with intertwined relationships and histories.
Catterton Partners formed the Farley's & Sathers Candy Company in 2002 as a vehicle for the purchase of some of the former Farley Foods Company and Sathers Candy Company assets and brands from Kraft.
Since that time, additional brands and businesses have been added to the roster.
In 2012, the owners of Farley's & Sathers, L Catterton Partners, merged Farley and Sathers with Ferrara Pan Candy Company. L Catterton Partners retained controlling interest in the company, and the name of the company was changed to the Ferrara Candy Company.Farley's & Sathers to merge with Ferrara Pan. Star Tribune, accessed June 16, 2015.
In November 2017, The Ferrero Group announced that they were going to acquire the Ferrara Candy Company, which was finalized in December 2017.
History Under Favorite Brands ownership, the formerly independent Farley's and Sathers companies were combined with the Dae Julie Company and with Trolli. Under Favorite Brands' management, Dae Julie was rolled into the Farley division while Sathers and Trolli remained as separate divisions. Favorite Brands was eventually acquired by Nabisco, and then shortly afterwards, Nabisco itself was merged with Kraft Foods.
After the merger, as Kraft divested brands, divisions, and assets, Farley & Sathers emerged as a new company in its own right though shorn of a few key business units. The North American Trolli operation, which had been retained by Kraft, was eventually sold to the Wrigley Company, who subsequently sold it to Farley & Sathers. Much of the history of these companies is intertwined: Sathers bought much of its bulk candy supplies from Farley; the growth of Farley Foods before Favorite Brands was in no small part due to the implosion of E.J. Brach's which itself became part of the new Farley's and Sathers organization; the problems at Favorite Brands could be partially attributed to a resurgent E.J. Brach's after it merged with the Brock of Chattanooga candy company to become "Brach and Brock". When sold by Kraft, Farley lost its fruit snack businessKellogg Announces Agreement to Acquire Kraft's Nabisco Fruit Snacks Manufacturing Facility but kept the Dae Julie gummi plant; with Farley & Sathers' purchase of the Brach and Brock company, it regained a fruit snack business though it had lost its advantage as first to market in the category. Many plants and distribution facilities were closed, consolidated, or replaced over time.
Company roots Sathers John Sather, a local grocer in Round Lake, Minnesota, established the Sather Company in 1936. He purchased trainloads of cookies to sell to stores throughout southwestern Minnesota.Rural candy factory is Minnesota's sweet spot. Dee DePass. Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, October 29, 2003.
By the early 1960s, Sathers distributed products to the five-state Midwest region. The territory grew and product lines and operations changed to include the addition of a nut roasting operation in the 1960s. With the addition of telemarketing in 1967, the customer territory expanded to eleven Midwest states. With this increase, Sathers added tractor trailer units to its trucking fleet.About Farley and Sathers Candy Company - Sathers. Accessed: October 8, 2009. Farley and Sathers Company web site. October 8, 2009. (Archived at WebCite).
Sathers was primarily a rebagger.Joyce Smith. Bitterman's Sweet Success. The Kansas City Star, Mo. October 8, 2009. Accessed: October 8, 2009. For an example and explanation of "rebagger". (Archived at WebCite). Rebaggers purchase product in bulk, in pallet-quantities or container loads if imported, and repackage it into smaller retail packaging. One source Sathers used was Farley Candy Company though many other sources were used as well. Many of its chocolate products were provided by the Haviland Candy Company, a division of NECCO.The Sathers company is considered to be the innovator behind packaged "pegboard" or "hanging bag" candy, now one of the candy industry's primary marketing programs for general line candies. Another innovation was the telemarketing system it implemented when its sales force quit en masse due to low wages. The sales people had been required to not only sell the product, but also to deliver it and stock it on store shelves. Sathers' telemarketing initiative is considered one of the earliest implementations of this process, where orders were taken by phone and the customers would unpack and stock the shelves themselves.Ed Dinger. Farley's & Sathers Candy Company, Inc - Introduction. Accessed: October 23, 2009. (Archived at WebCite).
The company continued to expand and in 1972, Sathers went nationwide with product distribution when it secured half of the national Kmart business. When it acquired Chattanooga-based Kitchen Fresh Company in 1983, the remainder of Kmart's national business became Sathers'. Sathers' expansion continued with the company purchasing the Bayou Candy Division of the American Candy Company in 1985; Powell's Candy Company (of Hopkins, Minnesota) and Northstar Candy Company (of Rogers, Minnesota) were both acquired in 1991. Sathers now had three manufacturing facilities—(a nut roasting and processing plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee and two confectionery plants in Hopkins, Minnesota and in New Orleans, Louisiana)—in addition to their two distribution centers.Fink, Laurie, "Sweet Success", Corporate Report-Minnesota, March 1992, p. 28.Tiffany, Susan, "Sathers Secures Niche as Manufacturer", Candy Industry, July 1995, p. 51.
Farley In 1870, Gunther Farley and two of his brothers founded Gunther Chocolate Company. Gunther Chocolate Company later merged with another, smaller, Farley-family-owned candycompany in 1891, becoming Farley Candy Company.About Farley and Sathers Candy Company - Farley. Farley and Sathers Company web site. October 8, 2009. Accessed: October 8, 2009. (Archived at WebCite.
As it grew, Farley Candy moved its operations from North Franklin Street in Chicago, then to Superior Street, and then, in 1951, to the north suburb of Skokie. It passed to a third generation of the Farley family, represented by Preston Farley, who managed it until 1968. In that year, Preston Farley sold a majority interest in the company to Raymond Underwood.Farley's & Sathers Candy Company, Inc. - Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Farley's & Sathers Candy Company, Inc. Accessed: March 29, 2011. (Archived at WebCite).
During the Preston Farley and Underwood years Farley was primarily a manufacturer of jell and other products, manufactured in starch moguls; Farley also produced cinnamon imperials, a panned product, and a line of hard candies including sanded lemon hard candy. Preston Farley invented the Farley Jet Cooker, subsequently licensed to the Staley Company. The Jet Cooker is now known as the Staley Jet Cooker per the licensing agreement, and is still used today in the manufacture of confections and paper.
In 1974, William Ellis purchased 100% of the company. In the same year he purchased the Lakeside Candy Company, located in Zion, Illinois and commonly known as Zion Candy, which produced a full line of individually wrapped hard candies such as starlight mints and butterscotches.
In 1981, Farley was operating out of its plants in Skokie and Zion, Illinois when a third plant was added. A plant, formerly used to produce the York Peppermint Pattie and Power House bar was purchased from Peter Paul-Cadbury. This plant became Farley Candy Company's primary chocolate manufacturing site, though it also produced other products.
In 1985, Farley bought a vacant warehouse in Chicago on 31st Street, and converted it for confection manufacturing. This large plant became the primary manufacturing facility for Farley when it came online in June 1986. This plant was used primarily to manufacture a newly emerging category of candy: Fruit snacks, and later, Fruit Rolls. Fruit Snacks were manufactured using the same equipment and processes as gummy candies, using real fruit juice as an ingredient and vitamins added, formed and molded in starch moguls. As gummy candies became more popular, this plant and equipment was used to meet rising demand for those products as well.Grist Mill Company -- Company History. International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 15. St. James Press. March 29, 2011. Accessed: March 29, 2011. (Archived at WebCite).
In 1988, Farley took over the operations of Jaffe Candy, located in Compton, California, establishing a packaging and distribution center on the West Coast. Also in 1988, Farley's leased a warehouse distribution center in Bedford Park, Illinois. With four candy manufacturing plants and two distribution centers, Farley Candy Company was the second largest bag candy manufacturer in the United States and was the largest private label general line candy manufacturer.
In 1990, Farley purchased a , former E.J. Brach's factory, located in Melrose Park, Illinois. This plant was used for a wide range of products, but primarily produced hard candies, eventually replacing the plant in Zion, Illinois and concentrating production facilities within a smaller radius of the company's warehouse/distribution center."The Case For Private Placements: How Sophisticated Investors Add Value To Corporate Debt Issuers", Journal of Applied Corporate Finance Vol. 5(3), Fall, 1992, Morgan Stanley, pages 83-91. One of the main products produced on state-of-the-art equipment at this plant was Starlight Mints, at a much lower cost than those from competitors such as E.J. Brach, for which it was a mainstay product.
In 1993, facing capacity shortages, Farley (which had changed its name to Farley Foods USA to allow for future expansion to products outside of confections) purchased a manufacturing plant in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma along with a warehouse in Moore, Oklahoma. These buildings had been the main production and warehouse facilities of the Bunte Candy Company. They were sold to the American Candy Company in 1990, which then sold them to Farley.Lackmeyer, Steve. Family Hopes to turn factory into sweet deal. Bricktown, Downtown, August 18, 2003.
In 1994, Farley leased a warehouse and distribution center on 43rd Street in Chicago which was closer to expressways and to its major production facility at 31st Street. This new warehouse replaced the Bedford Park facility.
In September 1995, William Ellis received a heart transplant at age 71.Mother meets recipient of son's heart. Congressional Record, Volume 143, Number 123 (Tuesday, September 16, 1997) Extensions of Remarks. Page E1756-E1757. In August 1996, Farley Foods was sold to Favorite Brands International with Ellis taking a 14.3% ownership stake in the new company.S-4/A SEC Filing, filed by Favorite Brands International Inc., April 2, 1999.
Favorite Brands International
Farley and Sathers first came together under the Favorite Brands International name in 1996. Favorite Brands had been created a year earlier, in 1995, with the purchase of confectionery business units from Kraft Foods.
Kraft business lines acquisition +Favorite Brands International - Acquisitions+(intercompany sales eliminated - million $'s)NameDatePrice SalesKraft Marshmallow & CandySeptember 25, 1995$204 $151Farley FoodsAugust 30, 1996$204 $284Sathers Candy & TruckingAugust 30, 1996$107 $166Kidd & CompanyAugust 30, 1996$30 $33Dae Julie & CandylandJanuary 27, 1997$42 $56Mederer U.S. - TrolliApril 1, 1997$117 $62