The Jelly Belly Candy Company, or simply Jelly Belly, is a maker of jelly beans and other candy, formerly known as The Herman Goelitz Candy Company. The company is based in Fairfield, California and produces more than 34 million pounds (15,000 tonnes) of candy annually at its Fairfield, North Chicago, Illinois, and Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin facilities, which have nearly 800,000 square feet (74,000 m2) of production space between them.
David Klein, who is the subject of the 2010 documentary film Candyman: The David Klein Story, created the marketing concept of a new kind of jelly bean to be sold in single flavors in 1976. David approached Herman Goelitz Candy Company and appointed them as his only contract manufacturer. David told them to make him a mini gourmet jelly bean that he would call Jelly Belly. David asked his manufacturer to make this jelly bean using natural flavors if possible and to flavor the inside as well as the outside shell. Kathy Fosselman designed the Jelly Belly logo which is still being used today. David became Mr. Jelly Belly for the next four years. The product got off to a very slow start because the $2 per pound retail price was considered very high. The product achieved a great deal of exposure due to a nationwide publicity campaign including an article in People magazine which featured a full page photo of David taking a bath in Jelly Bellies and several appearances on national television shows such as Mike Douglas.
In 1980, Klein and his business partner sold the trademark to Jelly Belly for $4.8 million. The payout was spread over a twenty year period and was based upon future sales with a cap of 120,000 pounds per month. As part of the original contract David had to sign a 20 year non competitive clause which meant he could not be involved with another jelly bean until the year 2000. David Klein has his own candy company Can You Imagine That Confections in Covina California where he is making Sandy Candy a product created by his daughter Roxanne. David is back in the jelly bean business with a new line of mini gourmet jelly beans ( David's Signature Beyond Gourmet) which are being made by two sons of Marinus van Dam who developed the original formula for Jelly Belly. These jelly beans will only contain natural flavors. Fourth generation Goelitz descendent Herman G. Rowland, Sr., and his parents had decided to expand the company's products more than a decade before. The company was the first American manufacturer to make a gummi bear for the US market. They also made candy corn, mellocremes, gummi worms, giant jelly beans and mini jelly beans, which were the precursor to the famous Jelly Belly jelly bean. Confectioner Marinus van Dam was employed by the company to manage the plant and oversee new product development with Herman Rowland. Marinus van Dam was born in Ooltgensplaat, a township in Oostflakkee, Netherlands, on October 24, 1929. After obtaining a candy manufacturing degree in the Netherlands, he emigrated to the United States and went to work for the Herman Goelitz Candy Company in the 1960s. He rose to the level of vice president before moving on to other companies and finally starting his own business, Marich Confectionery.
Traditional jelly beans started out with plain, uncolored pectin centers that were merely sweetened with sugar. Only the outer candy coating was colored and flavored. The third and fourth generation of the candy family decided to produce a superior jelly bean to set itself off from traditional jelly beans. The centers for the company's mini jelly bean were colored and flavored. This flavor enhancing process was also used on the outer candy shell. With the new generation of Jelly Belly beans the company used real fruit juices and natural flavors when possible to boost the taste experience further. The finished Jelly Belly beans contained about half the sugar of the regular jelly bean, and were more flavorful than the generic jelly beans sold in stores.
David Klein sold the first Jelly Belly jelly beans in an ice cream parlor, Fosselman's, in Alhambra, California in 1976. The first flavors were Very Cherry, Tangerine, Lemon, Green Apple, Grape Jelly, Licorice, Root Beer, and Cream Soda. Total sales for the first seven day period was $44. The product was selling for $2 per pound which was considered a very high price at the time.
Jelly Bellies were most famously endorsed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan, who kept a jar of them on his desk in the White House and on Air Force One,[2] and who also made them the first jelly beans in outer space, sending them on the 1983 Challenger shuttle as a surprise for the astronauts.
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