Jolly Rancher

Jolly Rancher is a brand of candy, including hard candy, gummies, fruit chews, jellybeans, lollipops, and sodas.cite web |url=http://www.elizabethbeverage.com/jollyrancher.htm |title=Jolly Rancher |author=Elizabeth Beverage Company |accessdate=2007-06-25 |format= |work= ]

The product was originally produced by the Jolly Rancher Company, founded in 1949 by Bill and Dorothy Harmsen of Golden, Colorado.cite web |url=http://www.hersheys.com/products/details/jollyrancher.asp |title=JOLLY RANCHER hard candy |accessdate=2007-06-25] The Jolly Rancher Company made ice cream, chocolate and candy sold at several "Ranch Maid Ice Cream" stores in the Denver area. The name was meant to suggest western hospitality.

Jolly Rancher began concentrating on hard candies as sales grew. In 1951, production was eventually moved to Wheat Ridge, Colorado.Fact|date=September 2008 In 1966, the Harmsens sold the company to Beatrice Foods. In 1983, the Jolly Rancher Candy Company was purchased from Beatrice Foods by Leaf Candy Company. Huhtamaki, a global consumer and specialty packaging company originating from Finland, in turn bought Leaf, and in 1996, sold it to Hershey Foods Corporation. Production in Colorado ceased in October 2002. ["http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2002/10/14/daily42.html"] All of the machinery in the factory was auctioned off two months later ["http://archive.dovebid.com/brochure/bro1474.pdf"] and the factory demolished in March 2005. The candies are now manufactured in plants in Canada and Mexico.Fact|date=August 2008

References

External links

* [http://www.hersheys.com/products/details/jollyrancher/ Jolly Rancher at Hersheys.com]
* [http://www.goldenpioneermuseum.com/documents/jollyrancher_ae.htm History of the Jolly Rancher Candy Company]