Known as a private-label and contract manufacturer of candies and nuts, El Paso-based Mount Franklin Foods has decided to complement its manufacturing capabilities and prowess with the introduction of its own brands.
At this year’s Sweets & Snacks Expo, the company debuted its new line of branded products. In response to the growing demand for “clean ingredients” by consumers, Mount Franklin launched a Simply Sunrise line of assorted jelly beans, fruit slices, gummy bears and worms, peach rings, sour neon worms and peppermint Starlight mints.
The line’s packaging boldly proclaims no artificial flavors or synthetic colors while simultaneously featuring a gluten-free, peanut-free and dairy-free designation. On-pack labeling provides calories, fat, sodium and sugars per serving information.
The company’s Softer than Brittle line, which it acquired in September 2015, features new packaging touting its no preservatives, cholesterol, gluten, dairy, or hydrogenated oil and even vegan claims. Available in almond, cashew, pecan and original peanut varieties, the product continues to be made in small batches in copper kettles.
It’s Mount Franklin’s Sweet Valley Organics line, however, that breaks new ground for the company. Designed to be both indulgent as well as better-for-you, the SVO lineup includes the following: Chewy Bananas Dark Chocolate, Cinnamon Praline Pecans Dark Chocolate; Sea Salt Cashews Dark Chocolate, Sea Salt Toffee Almonds Dark chocolate and Tart Cherries Dark Chocolate.
To round out the flurry of new products coming from Mount Franklin, the company looks to debut its new line of snack mixes under the Brewhouse Legends label this July.
The company also produces confectionery nutraceutical products after having acquired Au’some Candy Co.’s 100,000-sq.-ft. plant in Sumter, S.C. plant toward the end of 2016. In addition to multivitamins, the Sumter facility can produce energy gummies, prenatal gummies, gummies with melatonin, gummies with biotin as well as other “active” ingredients.
