Jelly Belly - History

History

David Klein, the subject of the 2010 documentary film Candyman: The David Klein Story, created the Jelly Belly jelly bean and a new kind of marketing for a jelly bean to be sold in single flavors in 1976. Klein approached the Herman Goelitz Candy Company and asked them to make him a version of the mini gourmet jelly bean to be called Jelly Belly, and to make this jelly bean using natural flavors if possible.

Kathy Fosselman designed the Jelly Belly logo, which is still being used today. David Klein became Mr. Jelly Belly. The product achieved a great deal of exposure due to a nationwide publicity campaign including an article in People (magazine) which featured a full page photo of Klein taking a bath in Jelly Bellies and several appearances on national television programs such as The Mike Douglas Show.

In 1980, Klein and his business partner sold out to the Goelitz Candy Company for $4.8 million. David Klein states that Goelitz was determined to take over the trademark. Goelitz had a plan B if Klein would not sign over the trademark: they would stop manufacturing his Jelly Belly beans, and hope that Klein would run out of money with legal costs, and squeeze him out. The documentary portrays the takeover as hostile. The payout was spread over a twenty-year period and was based upon future sales with a cap of 120,000 pounds per month. As part of the original contract Klein had to agree to a 20-year non-competition clause, which meant he could not be involved with another jelly bean until the year 2000. Klein is back in the jelly bean business with his own brand, David's Signature Beyond Gourmet Jelly Beans.

Fourth generation Goelitz descendent Herman G. Rowland, Sr., and his parents had decided to expand the company's products more than a decade before. The company was the first American manufacturer to make a gummi bear for the US market. They also made candy corn, mellocremes, gummi worms, giant jelly beans and mini jelly beans, which were the precursor to the Jelly Belly. Confectioner Marinus van Dam was employed by the company to manage the plant and oversee new product development with Herman Rowland. Marinus van Dam was born in Ooltgensplaat, a township in Oostflakkee, Netherlands, on October 24, 1929. After obtaining a candy manufacturing degree in the Netherlands, he emigrated to the United States and went to work for the Herman Goelitz Candy Company in the 1960s. He rose to the level of vice president before moving on to other companies and finally starting his own business, Marich Confectionery.

Traditional jelly beans started out with plain, uncolored pectin centers that were merely sweetened with sugar. Only the outer candy coating was colored and flavored. The third and fourth generation of the candy family decided to produce a superior jelly bean to set itself off from traditional jelly beans. The centers for the company's mini jelly bean were colored and flavored. This flavor enhancing process was also used on the outer candy shell. With the new generation of Jelly Belly beans the company used real fruit juices and natural flavors when possible to boost the taste experience further. The finished Jelly Belly beans contained about half the sugar of the regular jelly bean, and were more flavorful than the generic jelly beans sold in stores.

David Klein sold the first Jelly Belly jelly beans in an ice cream parlor, Fosselman's, in Alhambra, California in 1976. The first flavors were Very Cherry, Tangerine, Lemon, Green Apple, Grape Jelly, Licorice, Root Beer, and Cream Soda. Total sales for the first seven-day period was $44. The product was selling for $2 per pound, which was considered a very high price at the time.

Jelly Belly beans were most famously enjoyed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan, who kept a jar of them on his desk in the White House, Blair House and on Air Force One, and who also made them the first jelly beans in outer space, sending them on the 1983 Challenger shuttle as a surprise for the astronauts.