That Company Sold Necco Again in September to the Ohiobased Spangler Candy Company
Workers sort NECCO Wafers at the New England Confectionery Co. in Revere, Mass. The Ohio-based Spangler Candy Company made the winning bid for NECCO, which filed for bankruptcy in early April. Scott Eisen/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption
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Scott Eisen/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Workers sort NECCO Wafers at the New England Confectionery Co. in Revere, Mass. The Ohio-based Spangler Candy Company made the winning bid for NECCO, which filed for bankruptcy in early on April.
Scott Eisen/Bloomberg via Getty Images
NECCOmaniacs, have centre!
The broke New England Confectionery Co., primarily known for its chalky sugar wafers and Valentine'due south Day processed conversation hearts, received an $18.83 million winning bid from Ohio-based Spangler Processed Company, maker of Dum Dum lollipops and Circus Peanuts, at a federal defalcation auction in Boston on Wednesday.
And while the futurity of NECCO candy is even so uncertain, the bargain may go along the company's products — which also include Mary Janes, the Sky Bar and Processed Buttons — on the shelves a little while longer.
That's good news for fans of the 171-year-old Massachusetts candy maker, which traces its roots dorsum to 1847, when Oliver Chase, an immigrant from England, invented a lozenge cutter (the get-go American processed automobile, according to NECCO). He and his brother, Silas, so founded Hunt and Co., which became the New England Confectionery Co. after a merger in 1901.
NECCO claims to be the country's oldest continuously operating candy company. Civil War soldiers carried NECCO wafers. During WWII, the U.S. government bought them in bulk and shipped them off to soldiers, because the candy didn't melt and was able to survive transport without breaking. In the 1930s, Richard Byrd, an American navy admiral and polar explorer, took more two tons of NECCO wafers with him for his two-year trek in Antarctica.
A candy visitor so entrenched in American history triggered somewhat of a panic when the news broke that it might shut shop. As NPR reported in April, NECCO fans hoarded every bit much of the candy as they could, causing sales to fasten.
"Nosotros're selling a lot," said Jon Prince, who runs the online retailer Candyfavorites.com, during the rush. One caller wanted to buy his whole inventory, but Prince was limiting sales. "And the person actually started to cry and they said they couldn't imagine a globe without their NECCO wafers," Prince said.
And 23-year-old Katie Samuels offered a processed wholesaler her 2003 Honda Accord for its entire stock of NECCO, Morn Edition's Noel King reported. The wholesaler declined, but Samuels got her candy anyway — by charging it to her credit carte du jour.
Though not everyone is a fan of the way the wafers gustatory modality — they are oft described as having a chalky, antacid-similar flavour — some people honey them for other reasons.
As NPR reported terminal month, Spencer Ordway, who runs an overnight army camp in Maine, said he stocked upward because campers utilize the wafers as currency to play games and purchase prizes at the end-of-summer funfair.
"I had so many alumni and electric current staff contacting me ... saying, 'What are we going to practise? How can we save enough NECCO wafers to cover united states for years to come?'" Ordway said.
And many people on social media take remarked that the wafers make first-class shingles for the roofs of gingerbread houses.
Aside from the wafers, the company's Sweethearts are a Valentine'south Day staple, bearing a selection of near 80 messages, from the classics "Be MINE" and "Osculation ME" to more modern phrases, such as "Electronic mail ME" and "CHILL OUT."
The beleaguered candy maker, which will nonetheless operate out of Revere, Mass., for now, has recently faced other difficulties: In a letter dated May 15, the FDA detailed unsanitary conditions throughout the plant, maxim that inspectors had found rodent droppings "too numerous to count" as well as dirty equipment and work spaces.
And layoffs of upward to 400 people were expected if a buyer was non found.
The winning bidder, Spangler Candy Visitor, which was also founded past a pair of brothers, has been family owned and operated since 1906. Its current CEO, Kirkland B. Vashaw, is a fourth-generation family fellow member.
Mike McGee, CEO of NECCO, told the Boston Herald, "We started as a family-owned candy company. Nosotros're thrilled to work with a fourth-generation candy company that'due south going to bring some new stewardship to our brand. We'll piece of work really hard to brand sure we become a successful transition."
Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/05/24/614140906/saved-in-the-necco-time-bankrupt-candy-company-sold-at-federal-auction
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