The last several years haven’t been kind to Chicago’s candy-making industry. In 2001, Mayor Richard M. Daley pleaded with Congress to revise the U.S. sugar policy after Brach’s Confections Inc. announced it would cease operations at its Chicago confections plant by 2003.
Most recently, the Archibald Candy Corp., the parent company of Fannie May and Fannie Farmer candy, closed and filed for bankruptcy in January. Employment by Chicago’s candy manufacturers has fallen from approximately 15,000 workers to 8,000 since 1970, according to published reports. Yet, somehow, Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. continues to thrive in a struggling market.
Headed by the husband and wife team of Melvin and Ellen Gordon, the company’s 2003 fourth-quarter sales of $92.1 million were 2 percent higher than fourth quarter 2002 sales, according to the company’s most recent financial statement. With approximately 1,950 workers and annual sales close to $400 million, President and COO Ellen Gordon attributes much of Tootsie Roll’s continued success to effective promotions and marketing, and selective acquisitions.
Whether it’s the legendary Tootsie Roll — the company produces more than 60 million a day — or more recently acquired brands such as Junior Mints, Charleston Chew or Sugar Daddies, the Gordons stick with tradition by packaging all of the company’s brands in its brown, red and white image. And the Tootsie Roll, though slightly smaller than the original, still sells for the same one-cent unit price that it did more than 100 years ago. Automation and technology have helped keep the Tootsie Roll at the same price, Gordon says.
“We update our products to make our packaging contemporary and fresh, while we also maintain some of the old nostalgia,” Gordon says. “And that’s really important because, while we want to perpetuate some of our products as part of Americana from generation to generation, we have to make sure we’re contemporary, awesome, cool.”
Even diet fads don’t seem to affect business. Most of the candy is low fat, and Tootsie Pops contain no fat.
“There is a place in a well-balanced diet for a sweet or a treat,” she says. “We believe that, and our sales have been very, very good.”
