Pearson's Candy Company - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Pearson's Candy Company is a chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...

and confectionery

Confectionery

Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...

manufacturer headquartered in Saint Paul

Saint Paul, Minnesota

Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

. Founded as a confectionery distribution

Distribution (business)

Product distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. An organization or set of organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by a consumer or business user.The other three parts of the marketing mix are product, pricing,...

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 by the current owners in 1989.

Pearson's products are produced on three production lines in the company’s Saint Paul plant. The company sells its Mint Patties and Salted Nut Roll

Salted Nut Roll

Pearson's Salted Nut Roll is a candy made by the Pearson's Candy Company of Saint Paul, Minnesota and is available in the Midwestern United States. It has a nougat center that is surrounded in a layer of caramel and then covered with salted Virginia peanuts...

nationally and its Nut Goodie

Nut Goodie

Nut Goodie is a candy bar manufactured by Pearson's Candy Company of Saint Paul, Minnesota and available in the United States. It is a concoction of chocolate, maple, and peanuts and is distantly related in construction to Pearson's Bun candy bars. The Nut Goodie was once a 2 oz...

products in several midwestern states. Measured by revenue, Pearson's is among the top 100 global confectionery companies.

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. The five brothers determined manufacturing would be more profitable than distribution and, in 1912, introduced their first confection, the Nut Goodie

Nut Goodie

.

Pearson's grew and began manufacturing for other companies, including Whitmans and Planters

Planters

Planters is an American snack food company, a division of Kraft Foods, best known for its processed nuts and for the Mr. Peanut icon that symbolizes them. Mr. Peanut was created by grade schooler Antonio Gentile for a 1916 contest to design the company's brand icon...

. Pearson's introduced the Salted Nut Roll

Salted Nut Roll

in 1933, at the height of The Great Depression. 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

Logo

A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...

more prominently displayed.

By the end of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, 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. 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

Winona, Minnesota

Winona is a city in and the county seat of Winona County, in the U.S. State of Minnesota. Located in picturesque bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf....

five years later.

Ownership changes

The Pearson family sold the company in 1968 to ITT/Continental Baking

Continental Baking Company

The Continental Baking Company was one of the first bakeries to introduce fortified bread. It was the maker of the Twinkie and Wonder bread. Through a series of acquisitions and mergers it became Hostess Brands.-History:...

, a New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

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

Recipe

A recipe is a set of instructions that describe how to prepare or make something, especially a culinary dish.-Components:Modern culinary recipes normally consist of several components*The name of the dish...

change of the Nut Goodie.

In 1985, the company was purchased by Larry Hassler and Judith Johnston, the current CEO and COO

Chief operating officer

A Chief Operating Officer or Director of Operations can be one of the highest-ranking executives in an organization and comprises part of the "C-Suite"...

, respectively. The company’s previous owners had split up, causing the bank

Bank

A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...

to offer the company in the leveraged buyout

Leveraged buyout

A leveraged buyout occurs when an investor, typically financial sponsor, acquires a controlling interest in a company's equity and where a significant percentage of the purchase price is financed through leverage...

. The Nut Goodie's original wrapper and recipe were restored and, despite the loss of a label contract with General Mills

General Mills

General Mills, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 corporation, primarily concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The company markets many well-known brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totinos, Jeno's, Pillsbury, Green...

to produce Nature Valley granola

Granola

Granola is a breakfast food and snack food, popular in North America, consisting of rolled oats, nuts, honey, and sometimes rice, that is usually baked until crisp. During the baking process the mixture is stirred to maintain a loose, breakfast cereal-type consistency...

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. In early 1998, Pearson's acquired the Bun Bar trademark from Clark Bar

Clark Bar

The Clark Bar is a milk chocolate peanut butter bar that is similar to a Butterfinger. It is manufactured by the New England Confectionery Company ....

America. Pearson's introduced Flurries in 2004.

In 2011, Pearson's was acquired by Brynwood Partners

Brynwood Partners

Brynwood Partners is a private equity investment firm focused on leveraged buyout and other control investments.Since its founding in 1984, the firm—headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut—has raised five investment funds, most recently raising a $250 million fund in 2005. Through these funds, the...

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. In the Twin Cities

Twin cities

Twin cities are a special case of two cities or urban centres which are founded in close geographic proximity and then grow into each other over time...

, Salted Nut Rolls consistently rank number one or number three in sales. Although the products are not sold internationally, the company is the 99th largest confectionery company in the world by revenue.

Pearson's utilizes 200 tons of peanut

Peanut

The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...

s, 400 tons of sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...

, 100 tons of chocolate

Chocolate

and 350 tons of corn syrup

Corn syrup

Corn syrup is a food syrup, which is made from the starch of maize and contains varying amounts of maltose and higher oligosaccharides, depending on the grade. Corn syrup is used in foods to soften texture, add volume, prevent crystallization of sugar, and enhance flavor...

per month. Products are produced in the company’s 130000 sq ft (12,077.4 m²). plant on three production lines. Current products include:

Product	Introduced	Description
Bun Bars Bun Bars Bun Bars are a line of candy bars currently manufactured by Pearson's Candy Company of Saint Paul, Minnesota and available in the United States. Originally created in the 1920s by the Wayne Bun Candy Company and later bought out by Clark Bar, Pearson's picked up the brand in 1998...	1998	Maple Maple Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in... , vanilla Vanilla Vanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily from the Mexican species, Flat-leaved Vanilla . The word vanilla derives from the Spanish word "", little pod... or caramel Caramel Caramel is a beige to dark-brown confection made by heating any of a variety of sugars. It is used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons, and as a topping for ice cream, custard and coffee.... center covered with chocolate and peanuts
Mint Patties	1951	Mint-flavored patty covered with dark chocolate
Nut Goodie Nut Goodie Nut Goodie is a candy bar manufactured by Pearson's Candy Company of Saint Paul, Minnesota and available in the United States. It is a concoction of chocolate, maple, and peanuts and is distantly related in construction to Pearson's Bun candy bars. The Nut Goodie was once a 2 oz...	1912	Cluster with a maple-flavored center covered with chocolate and peanuts
Salted Nut Roll Salted Nut Roll Pearson's Salted Nut Roll is a candy made by the Pearson's Candy Company of Saint Paul, Minnesota and is available in the Midwestern United States. It has a nougat center that is surrounded in a layer of caramel and then covered with salted Virginia peanuts...	1933	Roll of nougat Nougat Nougat is a variety of similar traditional confectioneries made with sugar and/or honey, roasted nuts , and sometimes chopped candied fruit. The consistency of nougat can range from soft and chewy to hard and crunchy depending on its composition, and it is used in a variety of candy bars and... covered with caramel and salt Salt In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral... ed peanuts

Seven Up Bar

The Seven Up Bar was a candy bar

Candy bar

A chocolate bar is a confection in bar form comprising some or all of the following components: cocoa solids, cocoa butter, sugar, milk. The relative presence or absence of these components form the subclasses of dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate. In addition to these main...

comprising seven different chocolate "pillows", each filled with a different flavor

Flavor

Flavor or flavour is the sensory impression of a food or other substance, and is determined mainly by the chemical senses of taste and smell. The "trigeminal senses", which detect chemical irritants in the mouth and throat as well as temperature and texture, are also very important to the overall...

. Flavors changed with the availability and popularity of ingredients, which included, among others, brazil nut

Brazil Nut

The Brazil nut is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae, and also the name of the tree's commercially harvested edible seed.- Order :...

, buttercream, butterscotch

Butterscotch

Butterscotch is a type of confectionery whose primary ingredients are brown sugar and butter, although other ingredients such as corn syrup, cream, vanilla, and salt are part of some recipes...

, caramel, cherry

Cherry

The cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy stone fruit. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium....

, coconut

Coconut

The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...

, fudge, mint, nougat and orange

Orange (fruit)

An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....

. The high manufacturing costs and trademark

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

issues with a soda

Soft drink

A soft drink is a non-alcoholic beverage that typically contains water , a sweetener, and a flavoring agent...

manufacturer (The American Bottling Company, today Cadbury Schweppes), caused the bar to be retired in 1979.

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

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...

’s promise of “a chicken in every pot”. The bar did not contain chicken

Chicken

The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...

or other poultry

Poultry

Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of producing eggs, meat, and/or feathers. These most typically are members of the superorder Galloanserae , especially the order Galliformes and the family Anatidae , commonly known as "waterfowl"...

products, but was, rather, a chocolate-covered nut

Nut (fruit)

A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...

roll. Pearson’s discontinued the bar’s production after the acquisition. 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

Mentha

Mentha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae . The species are not clearly distinct and estimates of the number of species varies from 13 to 18. Hybridization between some of the species occurs naturally...

fudge

Fudge

Fudge is a type of Western confectionery which is usually very sweet, and extremely rich. It is made by mixing sugar, butter, and milk and heating it to the soft-ball stage at , and then beating the mixture while it cools so that it acquires a smooth, creamy consistency...