Ferrara Candy Co. Closing Jelly Belly’s North Chicago Plant
Chicago’s Ferrara Candy Co. will close the Jelly Belly plant in North Chicago in October, possibly laying off 66 employees. Ferrara and its Italian parent Ferrero bought the fabled, family-owned Jelly Belly Candy Co. last November for an undisclosed sum.
Jelly Belly once made its signature product in North Chicago before moving production in 2014 to Fairfield, Calif. It kept the North Chicago facility for private-label and contract candy production, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
“After careful review of the current volumes produced here, we are moving our manufacturing into another facility,” a company spokesman said in an email to the Chicago newspaper.
“For our 66 impacted employees, we are hopeful they will stay with Ferrara in different positions and are offering the opportunity to move to open roles in our five other [Ferrara] Chicagoland manufacturing facilities,” Ferrara said to the Sun-Times. The company has more than 2,200 employees at its five manufacturing facilities and Chicago headquarters.
About the Author
Dave Fusaro
Editor in Chief
Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.