Jelly Belly

Jelly Belly Candy Company

Type	Private
Industry	Confections
Founded	1898
Headquarters	Fairfield, California
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Herman G Rowland, Sr., Chairman
Products	Jelly beans, candy corn, mellocremes, gummis, jells, chocolate confections
Revenue	$190 million
Number of employees	800
Website	jellybelly.com

Jelly Belly Candy Company, formerly known as Herman Goelitz Candy Company and Goelitz Confectionery Company, manufactures Jelly Belly jelly beans and other candy. The company is based in Fairfield, California, with a second manufacturing facility in North Chicago, Illinois and a distribution center in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. In October 2008, the company opened a 50,000 sq ft (4,645 m²) manufacturing plant in Rayong, Thailand where it produces confectionery for the international market.

Gustav Goelitz came to the United States in 1866 and in 1869 started the confectionery business Gustav Goelitz in Belleville, Illinois. His younger brothers Albert and George emigrated to America soon after and joined him in the business. In 1898, the company began manufacturing mellowcreme candies (also called mellow cream, and butter cream). Candy corn, a type of mellowcreme candy, was likely developed by George Renniger, an employee of Wunderlee Candy Company in Philadelphia. The Goelitz Confectionery Company was successful in selling a variety of mellowcreme candy including candy corn. In 1904, the company relocated to Chicago, and then to North Chicago in 1913.

Herman Goelitz, the son of Gustav, moved to the West Coast to start his own business, Herman Goelitz Candy Company. The company eventually settled in Oakland, California, in 1924. In 1960, the company expanded to jelly beans, gummy bears, and various jells. “One of those new products was a small and very flavorful Mini Jelly Bean [developed in 1965].” The Mini Jelly Bean center had natural flavoring, innovative for the time when only the outer shell was flavored.