Jelly Belly, which is headquartered in Fairfield and one of that city’s largest employers, announced the bittersweet sale to Chicago-based Ferrara Candy Company Wednesday.

In a bittersweet twist, one of Fairfield’s biggest hometown companies, Jelly Belly, has been acquired by the Chicago-based Ferrara Candy Company, which owns several candy brands such as Nerds, Laffy Taffy, SweeTarts, and Trolli gummies.

Jelly Belly, which is headquartered in Fairfield and one of the city’s largest employers, announced the sale in a press release Wednesday, according to the Bay Area News Group.

It's a pivotal moment in the history of the company, which was founded in Illinois in 1896. Jelly Belly has been owned by the same family for six generations and expanded its reach to California and even Thailand, according to SFGATE. Founder Gustav Goelitz reportedly first opened the company’s original candy shop in Belleville, Illinois, after which his son Herman moved the company to Oakland, and was somewhat surprisingly endorsed by California celebrity and politician Ronald Reagan in the 1960s. He apparently replaced his smoking habit with jelly beans, and particularly loved the licorice flavor (controversial). In 1985, the company reportedly moved its headquarters to Fairfield.

As the release reads, “Once the acquisition closes, nearly 800 global Jelly Belly employees and its facilities in California, Illinois, and Thailand will join the Ferrara organization.”

While the financial details of this deal are yet to be disclosed, the acquisition is projected to conclude by the end of the year, pending standard closing conditions, according to the Mercury News. And Jeff Brown, the current Executive Vice President of Global Operations and Distribution for Jelly Belly, is reportedly set to become the CEO upon finalization of the deal.

The vibrant and quirky Jelly Belly factory has been an emblem of Fairfield, alongside landmarks like Travis Air Force Base and the Budweiser plant. The mayor acknowledged to the Mercury News that the company represents a significant part of Fairfield's identity and charm, and that while she was nervous to see one of the city’s most famous companies acquired, she was relieved by reassurances that employees' jobs will remain secure.

Image via Fickr/Ken Lund under Creative Commons.

Dear Rain,

I've lived in San Francisco for over 10 years, and every Halloween I buy a big bag of mini candy bars, and load a bowl up to keep next to my front door in the chance that a trick-or-treater may show up.

None ever have.

Disregarding how pathetic it is that I still pretend those mini candy bars are for anyone but me, I really do want to know why I've never seen a trick-or-treater. True, I live in an apartment building, so maybe kids have tried to get in, but I can assure you my buzzer has never rung!

Is trick-or-treating even a thing San Francisco kids do? Did you trick or treat as a kid? If so, where did you go?

Signed,
Save Me From This Candy

Dear SMFTC,

You're not the only person wondering about this! Though a certain website has regularly claimed that SF is the best city in the country for trick-or-treating (though we slipped to second this year), as Jay said in 2014, "trick-or-treaters are about as rare a sight in most places around town as koalas."

When I was a kid, I was an avid trick-or-treater, way past the age where it would be considered appropriate. (I think I finally stopped about sophomore year in high school.) I lived in the Mission, in a Victorian flat, until about 1980, and there were plenty of similarly-sized houses to visit in our neighborhood. But when we moved to an apartment on Potrero Hill, it became a little trickier. We'd usually pass by the bigger apartment buildings and stick to two-story flats or single family homes.

When I got a little older, (again, too old to be trick-or-treating), friends and I would take the bus out to St. Francis Wood, or other "rich" neighborhoods, under the impression that the one percenters would be giving out better candy than they were in our hoods. But the truth is, they didn't! Our bags weren't filled with full size candy bars by the end of the night, just your usual "fun sized" treats, and way more Sweettarts than anyone would ever really want.

I've lived in the same apartment building for over 20 years, and I, too, have never had any trick-or-treating kids wander the halls, knocking on doors. The closest I ever got was some teenagers dressed in black who somehow got inside the building, and pounded on doors demanding candy, but I don't think anyone was dumb enough to fall for that. I know I wasn't, and kept my lights off and door firmly closed.

I live on Nob Hill, in an area that is primarily apartment buildings, which is always tough for trick-or-treating. But there was a time, about 15 years ago, when our local store, Le Beau, would help put together a neighborhood map of all the homes that would be welcoming visits on Halloween night. I took a cousin, who also lived in the neighborhood, trick-or-treating using that map, and we did that for at least two Halloweens. It was a great idea, but they stopped doing it a number of years ago. I guess all the kids grew up and none took their place?

I don't have kids myself, but I imagine the same holds true now. Apartment buildings are just kind of intimidating. A house will usually have a jack o'lantern and decorations outside, letting you know it's OK to ring that doorbell, while an apartment building just seems to promise a lot of rejection.

But, you could always tape a sign outside your building that says "Kids Welcome! Candy inside!" Problem is, you might get a visit from the SFPD SVU squad before you saw an actual trick-or-treater.

Any parents want to clue us into how you handle trick-or-treating if you live in a predominantly apartment building-filled area? Do you take the kids elsewhere? Arrange some kind of neighborhood crawl? Or withhold candy altogether in favor of kale chips and carob bars?

Rain Jokinen was born and raised in San Francisco and, miraculously, still calls the city home. Her future plans include becoming a millionaire, buying a condo complex, and then tearing it down to replace it with a dive bar. You can ask this native San Franciscan your questions here.

At least 19 people fell so ill they had to be hospitalized Saturday, after consuming candy at a Mission District quinceañera party that authorities believe contained edible cannabis.

According to the San Francisco Fire Department, crews were called to the Women's Building, located at 3543 18th Street between Valencia and Guerrero Streets, at around 10:22 p.m. Saturday after guests at the quinceañera began to get sick, SFFD spokesperson Jonathan Baxter says.

Raul Hernandez, a Women's Building security guard who spoke to ABC 7 says that the first victim to report symptoms was a 61-year-old man.

"I see this gentleman sitting down and I walk over to him and ask him what's going on in Spanish and he says, 'I feel pain.' And I asked the wife, 'what did he eat?' But he responded and he said, 'I ate a candy.'"

Speaking with NBC Bay Area, Hernandez says that after that, "It was just one after another and another...A gentleman was holding his chest. The young lady, she couldn’t talk and was gasping for air."

The victims, Baxter says, experienced symptoms including heart palpitations, shortness of breath, vomiting, a swollen tongue and a rash. A witness told NBC Bay Area that "those who got sick had a foamy-type substance coming from their mouth."

Baxter tells Bay City News that the common denominator between the victims appears to be that they all ate "a gummy candy left out at the party" that "did not have any labels or markings that investigators could use to trace where it came from."

In a text conversation with the Ex, Department of Public Health spokesperson Rachael Kagan said “We are interviewing people who were sickened to learn more about what happened,” and will be "testing food consumed at the party to determine what made people sick."

On Monday morning, the DPH sent a media alert saying that "the candy that sickened 19 people at a Quinceañera in the Mission District on Saturday night is suspected to be edible marijuana."

"Final lab results on the gummy ring candies themselves are not yet available, but the lab work of 12 hospitalized patients was positive for THC, (tetrahydrocannabinol), the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana."

“If these candies are confirmed as edible marijuana, then this event is a strong warning about the dangers of edibles, which can be very potent and hard to control dosage in the best circumstances,” Dr. Tomas Aragon, Health Officer for the City and County of San Francisco, says.

“A situation like this, where they were consumed by unsuspecting people, and many children, is greatly concerning.”

According to the DPH, all of the 19 patients taken to hospitals Saturday night had been discharged by Monday morning. "Of the patients that were evaluated, 10 were male and 9 were female. Thirteen of the patients were 18 or younger, ranging in age from 6 to 18. The patients were taken to several San Francisco hospitals, including Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, California Pacific Medical Center and St. Luke’s Campus."

The SF office of the California Poison Control Center has been collecting information on patient lab results, according to the DPH, and is working with SF General to test the suspect candies.

"At this time," DPH spokesperson Rachael Kagan says, "we do not know when those results will be available."

The party was catered by a company in Oakland, Kagan says, "and the Alameda County Department of Public Health has been informed and will investigate."

“The question remains, where did the candies come from?” said Aragon. “We are working with the catering company and our colleagues in Alameda to find out.”

"Could this have been a willful act to harm people at this party? We don’t know but we’re investigating that," San Francisco Police Department Sergeant Michael Andraychak told NBC.

"So far, however, we’ve found nothing to indicate that this was an intentional act."

“Anyone who attended the Quinceañera and may have taken some of the gummy rings is urged to discard them immediately,” Aragon says.

“If they are sickened, they should report to the California Poison Control Center (1-800-222-1222) for advice. If they are feeling severely ill, they should call 911.”

A man's life got a little less sweet Wednesday evening, when two men jumped him and stole his bag of candy.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, the 49-year-old man was walking on Madrid Street near Geneva Street at 6:45 Wednesday evening, carrying a black bag of sweets.

Police say that the man heard someone yelling behind him, so he quite reasonably turned around to see what the commotion was. But when he turned, he was struck in the face with a 20-something man's "closed fist," police say.

A second man, also described as in his 20s, joined in the attack. The blows of the two ruffians caused the victim to "fall to the ground and sustain injuries."

When he fell, the duo grabbed the victim's candy bag and ran east on Geneva toward Bayshore, police say. The sugar swipers have not been seen since, according to the SFPD.

The now-candyless man was treated for his injuries, which police say are not life threatening. Here's hoping that following the attack, someone hooked him up with a couple more treats.

Oh my god, shut up. I know, multiple studies say that sugar is bad for you, and 48-year-old Halle Berry attributes her glowing good looks to a sugarless life. That's great. But it's almost Halloween, which means it's junk food time, and like Evillene in The Wiz, I have absolutely no interest in bad candy news...like a report today that California's favorite Halloween candy is Life Savers?!?

I mean, what the fuck, you guys? This is obviously insane, because no one's favorite candy is Life Savers. In fact, are Life Savers even candy? I think of them more as items used to collect lint in your aunt's purse, or to for that sparks-fly-out-of-your-mouth trick at summer camp. But has any trick-or-treater, regardless of age, thrilled to a bowl of Life Savers? (They're better than raisins, but, still.)

According to Influenster (I dunno) and reported on CBS5's website, after surveying 40,000 people across the US, they established that while Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are the most popular Halloween candy in the country, Californians picked Life Savers as their top treat.

Can this be true? To bunk or debunk this assertion, I've created a little poll. Do not disappoint me, California.

Related: The 13 Spookiest Halloween Storefronts In San Francisco

Over the weekend at the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, massive Fairfield, California-based jelly bean purveyor Jelly Belly tapped into a new market of people who like candy that tastes like other non-candy foods. The same confectionary minds that brought you the questionably accurate and contentious buttered popcorn flavor are now selling "Draft Beer" flavored jelly beans, meant to taste like a German Hefeweizen.

According to Jelly Belly's bubbling press release, the flavor took nearly three years to perfect, but has been requested by jelly bean fans for decades more. It contains "top secret ingredients," but disappointingly for fans looking to get more than a sugar buzz, it has exactly zero alcohol in it. The flavor reportedly tastes wheaty and "mildly bready" with a touch of sweetness.

Over at Foodbeast, the site compared the Fancy Food Show to a Saturday morning at Costco, "if Costco took Alex Rodriguez levels of HGH and found a way to rain down samples from the heavens," and had a chance to give an independent tasting of the beer beans. They reportedly "do actually taste like beer," and the Jelly Belly flavor guy probably deserves a promotion, but they're a far cry from being your favorite flavor. Imagine reaching for a Tutti Fruitti but getting a Hefeweizen while snacking in the dark.

Anyhow, beer nuts and/or jelly bean aficionados can try the new flavor in San Francisco tomorrow at 21st Amendment on 2nd Street in SoMa. For those playing at home, you can also make a tony, sugar-based Michelada with two draft beer, one lemon-lime and one Tabasco flavored jelly bean.

Meanwhile, Jelly Belly CEO Herman Rowland Sr. isn't cool with Trans Rights, which might be a good enough reason to skip the candy and go for a real beer.

Previously: Jelly Belly CEO Doesn't Like Trans Rights
[Foodbeast]

Candy bars are meant to be consumed during your walk from the liquor store to your apartment's front door. Typically after having too many beers. But what about an $11 candy bar? When we came across Coracoa's Caramel Bar (81% raw cacao, if you're an asshole) at Small Foods in South Park, we couldn't resist.

First, we know that, according to many, our first reaction at that price should've been disgust. Anger. We should have shook our head at the over San Francisco's twisted relationship with food. But we didn't. We felt neither horror nor ire. If anything, the $11 price tag—sitting there nonchalantly, acting like it didn't do anything—intrigued us. "I bet that's what'll finally make us happy," we thought. Bullshit's siren song. It's like the clothing items up on the wall at Crossroads. We're drawn to those pieces, leaving behind the pit-stained Banana Republic and Diesel for you. Things that cost more are better and thus make you a better person, or so we'd like to believe.

Anyway, we bought it. Ate it. Enjoyed it pretty damn quick. Did not savor it. (Savoring chocolate is for women in Dove Chocolate commercials.) And we can report that, alas, it didn't taste like $11. The candy bar, made by Emeryville's Coraco Confections, boasts organic raw cacao, cashew butter, organic coconut palm sugar, "wild-crafted vanilla bean," yacon syrup, and Himalayan crystal salt. The candy bar was pleasant. Gritty but smooth caramel, with a deep chocolate taste. It tasted like sustainability. It tasted like Caramello's wealthy cousin that goes to UCSC.

According to an employee at Small Foods, Coracoa's Caramel Bar does sell pretty well. Makes sense, we suppose, since the quaint neighborhood turns into a tech-industry feeding frenzy at lunch hour. So if you've got money to burn, buy it. Just make sure people see you eating it. Otherwise, what's the point?

Previously: Would You Pay $11 for a Pint of Juice?

Photo at the ballpark by Troy Holden.

In 2010, SFist readers selected Reese's Peanut Butter Cups as their favorite Halloween candy. (We should point out that the noted peanut butter-chocolate orgasms are also French Laundry master chef Thomas Keller's favorite junk food!) But now we must know, connoisseurs of fun-size delights, what is the worst Halloween treat? (Besides razorblades, of course.) Is it a box of raisins? Jolly Ranchers? a fistful of pennies? those vile little rolls of chalky Smarties? Nik-L-Nips?

When asked to divulge his least favorite All Hallow's Eve candy, SFist associate editor Andrew Dalton said, "The grossest has to be those peanut butter taffy things that come in unmarked wax paper. It's the worst taffy and probably a great vehicle for GHB or razor blades." Your editor, however, must go with Hershey's Special Dark since that's mom's chocolate. And that chocolate mom keeps in her special drawer is gross.

Let us know your worst pick in the comments. On Monday we will conduct a poll so that, come Halloween, you'll know what not to hand out the year. You're welcome.

Finally, definitive proof that black licorice is gross and will most likely kill you if you eat it. [Ed note: "Some of us find black licorice nothing short of heavenly!"] The California Department of Public Health warned yesterday that the black licorice variety of Red Vines candy made at a Union City, California factory contains amounts of lead in excess of state standards and should not be eaten, even if you're one of those weirdos who actually likes the stuff.

The affected one-pound bags, which look something like the ones pictured above (although that's a 5 oz tray — a product apparently not recalled), are marked "Best Before 020413" and could contain over 13 micrograms of lead per serving according to the Chronicle. That would be more than twice the daily limit of lead for little tykes age six and younger, who probably won't eat it anyway (because it is gross).

Union City's American Licorice Company has issued the voluntary recall and candy hounds who discover the lead-laden treat on local store shelves are encouraged to call the health department's complaint headline at (800) 495-3232.

[Chron]

See's Candies will celebrate National Lollipop Day on July 20th. How so? Well, the candy company will reveal a 7,000-pound lollypop in the city of San Francisco in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the World's Largest Lollipop. As it now stands, at least according to '90s-era site JunkFoodNews.net, Jolly Rancher has the standing record for the World's Largest Lollipop, certified by Guinness World Records at 4,016 pounds and measuring 62.8 inches in diameter (over 5 feet square) and 18.9 inches thick.

See's Candies' concoction promises to be even bigger.

Though the company cannot yet confirm, the massive sucker could be unveiled in Justin Herman Plaza. Which seems ideal since it's now the go-to place for all things wacky. The creation of the well-endowed candy will happen on July 10th, with a judging by Guinness on July 12th. Just what flavor said lolli will be shall be revealed on July 20th.

On Thursday, real estate site Zillow will officially announce that San Francisco ranks tops when it comes to trick or treating. San Francisco climbed to 2nd on the 2010 list, trailing behind Seattle, but now Baghdad by the Bay reigns supreme when it comes to handing out fun-size, high fructose, corn syrupy treats. The "Zillow Trick-or-Treat Housing Index" uses four data variables: Zillow Home Value Index, population density, Walk Score and local crime data from Relocation Essentials.

For your amusement, here are the top 20 U.S. cities in which to trick and/or treat:

1 San Francisco
2 Boston
3 Honolulu
4 Seattle
5 Chicago
6 San Jose, Calif.
7 Washington
8. Los Angeles
9 Philadelphia
10 Portland, Ore.
11 Minneapolis
12 Pittsburgh
13 San Diego
14 Cleveland
15 Miami
16 Denver
17 Milwaukee
18 Virginia Beach, Va.
19 Baltimore
20 Albuquerque, NM

Zillow's theory? Here you go:

We theorized that homes in more expensive neighborhoods would give out bigger, better candy. However, wealthy neighborhoods are not always the best for harvesting the most Halloween candy. For parents and kids alike, the walkability and density of a neighborhood is key to covering the most ground, in the fastest time, to collect the most candy. Safety, of course, is also a primary concern for parents on Halloween, thus adding crime data to the Index was a no-brainer.

Keep an eye out for more tasty V-Day treats in the coming weeks!

by Aislinn Fletcher

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and the obligatory heart shaped candy boxes are on the shelves in overwhelming numbers.

You may not have heard of Droga Confections. They don’t have a storefront and their chocolates and caramels are only available from a few retail locations and their online store, but they’re worth checking out. Run by a Bay Area native and Berkeley graduate, they use 100% natural ingredients to make small batches of handmade candies.