Jolly Ranchers

Jolly Rancher

Assorted flavors of Jolly Rancher candies
Product type	Fruit flavored hard candy
Owner	The Hershey Company
Country	United States
Introduced	1949
Markets	U.S.
Previous owners	Jolly Rancher Company Beatrice Foods Leaf, Inc.
Website	Jolly Rancher at thehersheycompany.com

Jolly Rancher is a brand of sweet, somewhat tangy or sour/sweet hard candy,gummies, fruit chews, jelly beans, lollipops, gelatin desserts, gum, and sodas. It is currently owned by The Hershey Company. The product was originally produced by the Jolly Rancher Company, founded in 1949 by Bill Harmsen of Golden, Colorado. The Jolly Rancher Company made ice cream, chocolate and candy sold at several "Ranch Maid Ice Cream" stores in the Denver area. The name was meant to suggest a hospitable, western company.

Jolly Rancher was sold to Beatrice Foods in 1966 and to Leaf Brands in 1983. In 1996, Leaf North America was acquired by the Hershey Company.

In 2002, Hershey closed the Wheat Ridge, Colorado plant and moved the manufacturing of the candy to Mexico to save costs.

Bill Harmsen founded the Jolly Rancher Company in 1949 with the goal of having a name that seemed friendly and welcoming to customers. His candies were originally sold in Denver, Colorado, making his other products like ice cream hard to sell in the cold winter months. Since this became an issue, Harmsen decided to put his main focus into his hard candies. He figured that this would be something that could be enjoyed year-round, no matter the cold temperatures.

Jolly Rancher candies original flavors were watermelon, grape, apple, and Fire Stix. They then introduced cherry, orange tangerine, lemon, peach, and sour apple. Eventually, blue raspberry replaced lemon. In 2013, lemon was reintroduced in an all-lemon bag. Current flavors include cherry, blue raspberry, grape, green apple and watermelon. There are also sour, berry, cinnamon, and smoothie varieties. In 2015, Jolly Rancher offered a "Fruity Bash" variety bag which includes strawberry, mountain berry, lemon, orange, and pineapple. They also offer a "red" bag, with flavors such as strawberry and fruit punch, along with other "red" flavors. As of 2012, the peach flavor and wild berry flavors were discontinued by The Hershey Company.