Jelly Belly to permanently close North Chicago plant

The plant's closure will impact 66 workers.

Last month, Ferrara announced the difficult decision to end manufacturing operations at its Jelly Belly plant in North Chicago. After careful review of the current volumes produced at the plant, the brand decided to move its manufacturing into another facility, and the final possible day of plant production will be October 11.

Jelly Belly, formerly known as Goelitz Confectionery Co., has been making candy at the North Chicago location for a century. First built in 1913, the North Chicago plant celebrated 110 years of candy making last year.

"We are focused on helping our North Chicago team members. For our 66 impacted employees, we are hopeful they will stay with Ferrara in different positions and are offering the opportunity to move to open roles in our five other Chicagoland manufacturing facilities," the brand says.

"We anticipate no impact to the Jelly Belly brand, our products or service to our customers. Jelly Belly remains a critical component of our growth trajectory," it finishes.

In August 2014, the North Chicago plant stopped making Jelly Belly branded confections, transferring those operations to its Fairfield, CA plant, and switched to making private-label and contracted confections. That move also resulted in the loss of 66 jobs.

Ferrara acquired Jelly Belly late last year, aligning Jelly Belly's more than 100 flavors of jelly beans and gourmet specialty confections with Ferrara's portfolio of sugar candies. Jeff Brown, who was the executive vice president of global operations and distribution of Jelly Belly, became its chief executive officer.

Liz Parker Kuhn is the senior editor of Candy Industry and Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery, and has worked at BNP Media since 2012. She has written for CBS Detroit as well as for her own blogs. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. Liz can be contacted at (248) 839-7156 or at parkere@bnpmedia.com.