Bay Area candy giant Jelly Belly bought by Chicago company

Bay Area candy giant Jelly Belly has been purchased by Ferrara Candy Company, a Chicago confectionery. 

Jelly Belly, which is headquartered in Fairfield, announced the acquisition in a press release Wednesday. Once the transaction is completed, almost 800 Jelly Belly workers will become Ferrara employees. Ferrara already owns a number of famous candy brands, including Nerds, Laffy Taffy, SweeTarts and Trolli gummies. Ferrara, which is a private company, has not disclosed how much it is paying to acquire Jelly Belly.

“As we considered the future of Jelly Belly Candy Company, we have been steadfast in our commitment to create a win-win situation for our employees, consumers, and products,” Herman Rowland Sr., chairman of Jelly Belly’s board, said in a statement. “When I met with the Ferrara team, I recognized a like-minded group that shares our knowledge and passion for the candy business.”

Jelly Belly has been owned by one family through six generations. In 1869, Gustav Goelitz opened his first candy shop in Belleville, Illinois. In the 1920s, his son Herman Goelitz moved the company to Oakland, and 40 years later, it became a California institution thanks to an unlikely celebrity endorser: actor and politician Ronald Reagan. 

According to the Sacramento Bee, Reagan subbed out his smoking habit for munching on Jelly Bellies. “For more than a decade,” the Bee wrote in 1981, “Reagan has bought 200 pounds of the firm’s ‘mini’ jelly beans each year for his staff, his guests and himself.” While he was president, he was famed for keeping the Oval Office well-stocked with the beans. His favorite flavor was licorice. 

In 1985, the company announced it was moving from Oakland to Fairfield. Its factory and headquarters have been in Fairfield ever since, and generations of Solano County kids have grown up going on the factory tour, getting free samples and seeing the massive Reagan portrait made of jelly beans. The Rowlands are also well-known around town, sometimes controversially. It’s not clear whether this acquisition will eventually spell the end of the family’s involvement in the business or lead to layoffs; for now, Jelly Belly has directed media inquiries back to its press release.