120 YEARS OF CONFECTION

Friday, 29 January 2010

What’s in 120 years? Remember some of these events?  We send our editors down into the vaults of Kennedy’s to  take you back down memory lane and bring you up to date on some of the highs and lows of the international reporting at Kennedy’s since 1890. 1890 - Kennedy's Confection (then known as 'Confectionery') is launched. John and Violet Mackintosh launch Mackintosh's 1893 – Rowntrees Fruit Gums are introduced, William Wrigley, Jr. introduces Juicy Fruit Chewing Gum and Wrigley's Spearmint Gum. 1894 - Milton Hershey starts the Hershey Chocolate Company 1896 - Maynards is founded by Charles Riley Maynard. 1897 - Cadbury manufactured its first milk chocolate 1899 - Bassett's Liquorice Allsorts were born 1903 - Bazooka Bubble Gum is introduced 1905 -  Cadbury launch the world-famous Dairy Milk bar, Nestlé and the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company merge. 1909 - J.L. Kraft and Bros. Company is formed. Maynards Wine Gums go on sale. Woolworths opens its first stores in England. 1911 - Frank C. Mars starts The Mars Candy Factory. Thorntons is established by Joseph William Thornton. Alfred Winkler and Max Dünnebier form Winkler & Dünnebier AG. Otto Hänsel is founded. 1919 - Cadbury's merge with J S Fry and Sons. Bühler introduce their first chocolate refiners. 1920 - Jacob Perkins and Joseph Baker merge their companies to form Baker Perkins. 1922 - the first Industrially made emulsifier for the food industry is introduced by Palsgaard. 1923 - The Milky Way bar is created by Frank C. Mars 1925 - Callebaut began producing chocolate couverture 1928 - Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups make their debut. Matlow Bros. Ltd begin production in London. 1930 - the Mars family introduce its second product, Snickers, named after their favorite horse. Bendicks is formed by Oscar Benson and Colonel 'Bertie' Dickson. 1932 - Forrest Mars, Sr., opens what was then Mars (Europe) headquarters and introduces the Mars Bar 1933 - Swizzles Limited is formed. 1935 – Kit Kat is introduced by Rowntrees 1947 - F.B. Lehmann is founded by Franz Bernhard Lehmann 1956 - H.B. Reese Candy Company was sold to Hershey Chocolate Corp 1958 - First ever Interpack. 1960 - Starburst Fruit Chews are introduced by Mars 1963 - This year the confectionery industry experienced the full effect of the imposition of purchase tax in the 1962 budget. 1964 - During this year major acquisitions were made by Waller & Hartley - i.e. A Page & Sons, White Hudson, Lemons of Dublin and Alcrest of Poole. 1965 - The credit squeeze and the wage freeze. Mars of Slough launched Revels. 1966 - Margaret Long starts writing for CMM. Mars of Slough introduced Marathon and Twix to the UK. 1967 - Rose and Forgrove Companies are amalgamated to form Rose Forgrove Ltd. and OP bought Caxton. 1968 - Swizzels and Matlow got together to form Swizzels Matlow. General Mills acquired Smiths, and launched the first savoury snack product, Quavers. Robertson and Woodcock renamed as Trebor. 1969 - The bid from Rowntree for John Mackintosh took both the stock market and trade by surprise.  This year Cadbury and Schweppes also merged. Fifth Interpack took place in Dusseldorf. 1970 - Britain was the leading world exporter of confectionery - even Switzerland consumed nearly two tons of British chocolate! Adrian Cadbury was appointed director of the Bank of England. 1971 - A big year for the confectionery industry - the first ISM was held in Cologne. There were about 250 exhibitors. J.G. Kennedy bought CMM. Swizzels got Queens Award. Bob & Beryl Foskett founded Magna Foods. 1972 - Ter Braak introduced the Coolmix.. Bassetts bought Barratts. 1973 - A very bad year economically. Power cuts, the fuel crisis and to crown it all the three day week for industry. Interpack grew, with German machines dominating the show. First automated line for chocolate packaging shown by Loesch. Finally, sadly, at the end of the year John Kennedy, founder of JG Kennedy & Co, died. 1974 - We were still in the terrible winter of discontent, but things were looking up again. Barker and Dobson introduced Ferrero products to the UK. VAT was introduced for confectionery. 1975 - Another excellent ISM this time with 32 UK exhibitors. Interpack is bigger than ever. Gum Arabic price rose to over £2.50 per ton. 1976 - The sugar industry was investigated by the monopolies commission following the proposed takeover by Tate and Lyle of Manbre and Garton. Mr Derckx took over Aquarius of Holland.  J.S. Fry & Son was acknowledged the oldest established confectionery company in the world, and celebrated its 250th birthday. 1977 - First indication that there might be a swing to natural colours. Archibald Tunnock made his own golden wedding cake. 1978 - The 50 exhibitors at ISM from the UK reported an outstanding success. The biggest and most successful Interpack was held in Dusseldorf. 1979 - Leaf Ireland was bought back from W.R. Grace by the Leaf family. 1980 - Jameson's celebrated their fiftieth anniversary. Bar coding was introduced. Sultans Turkish Delight was founded near Norwich. 1981 - Sydney Marks, grand old man of the confectionery industry, Edward Walker of Walker's Nonsuch, Archie Tunnock, and Jack Bruce all died. Otto Haensel sold 50% of their shares to Kloeckner. Interpack in Dusseldorf was bigger than ever. Snack Food Manufacture and Marketing, CMM's sister magazine, was launched. 1982 - United Biscuits bought Terry's of York. 50th anniversary of the Mars Bar. 1983 - ISM was visited by the Duchess of Kent. Hedgehog Crisps banned since they did not contain real hedgehog! 1984 - The Princess of Wales visited Keiller of Dundee. Bramigk acquired Eurosicma agency. Duchess of Kent visited Jamesons. Animal Liberation Movement attacked Mars. 1985  - Mars sponsored the London Marathon. Caxton and OP were sold to RHM by Nabisco. Northern Foods bought the food divisions of Adams Foods. James Kennedy joined CMM. 1986 - Cadbury's launched Wispa. Management buyout at Cadbury formed Premier Brands. Trebor bought Maynards. 1987 - Princess Anne visited Lesme. Rowntree built new factory for Kit Kat. Another very successful and record Interpack. Pick'n'Mix shops appeared in the UK. Alma bought Squirrel Horn. Angus Kennedy joined CMM. 1988 - Rowntree are aquired by Nestle. 1990 - Cadbury’s World Visitor Center opened in 1990, welcoming 400,000 visitors in its first year. Kraft Foods acquires Jacobs Suchard. 1992 - Integration of Chocotech into the Sollich group. TasteTech Ltd is founded. 1993 - Roquette launch maltitol production. 1994 - CMM is relaunched as Kennedy's Confection Magazine and  the honey buzzard makes its first appearance. Nestlé UK Ltd. wins the Queen's Award for Export Achievement. 1996 - the Belgian chocolate producer Callebaut and the French chocolate company Cacao Barry joined forces, creating a new company called Barry Callebaut. Jelly Belly introduce their mascot, "Mr. Jelly Belly"! 1997 - Nut production increased 39 percent to 1.15 million tons in 1997. Almonds, hazelnuts and pistachios reached record levels of production. 1998 - The Jelly Bean Factory is established by Peter and Richard Cullen. The UK confectionery market saw sales grow by 21%. Mars introduced its Celebrations brand. 1999 – Néstle launch the Kit Kat Chunky. Allan Aasted becomes Managing Director of Aasted-Mikroverk. 2001 - ADM (Archer Daniels Midland Company) make history by becoming the first U.S. company to sign a contract with Cuba since the embargo against Cuba was imposed in 1960. 2002 - Franz Haas acquires Mondomix. Interpack 2002 takes place. The UK Mars bar is reformulated and repackaged. Cargill is given permission to complete the purchase of Cerestar. 2003 - Cadbury launch a major re-brand of Dairy Milk by taking existing brands such as Fruit & Nut and Caramel, and marketing them as Dairy Milk sub-brands. Cadbury Wispa is phased out. 2004 - Wrigley purchased the Life Savers and Altoids businesses from Kraft Foods. Artificial sweeteners are big news - 1,649 artificially-sweetened products are launched in 2004. The Bosch Group purchase the SIG PACK division from the SIG Group. 2005 - Anuga international trade fair makes its debut. 40% of the confectionery market is represented by Toothfriendly's "Happy Tooth" marked products. 2006 - ProSweets Cologne makes its debut. Tangerine Confectionery acquire the Taveners, Dainty and Parrs businesses, to add to the acquisition of three traditional confectionery companies: Taveners, Daintee and Parrs. Golden Wonder is acquired by Tayto. All Candy Expo celebrates its 10th anniversary. 2007 - Cadbury Wispa is relaunched. Global sales in Fairtrade products increases by 37 per cent. Growth in the Russian & Asian confectionery industry continues. Angus Kennedy purchases the remaining shareholding of Kennedy's Publications Ltd. 2008 - Mars, Incorporated announce the buyout of Wrigley. Cadbury Schweppes splits its business into two separate entities. Langley Holdings PLC acquire Bradman Lake Group. The credit crunch claims its biggest victim in the UK as Woolworths closes all of its 807 stores in its 99th year of trading. Kennedy's Publications launch kennedysconfection.com at Interpack 2008. 2009 - Kennedy's Confection magazine is awarded an ABC circulation certificate of 6489 copies a month & its iconic honey buzzard gets a brand new look! The first London International Confection Conference (LICC) takes place. 2010 - Kraft buys Cadbury, Kraft are now the world's largest chocolate manufacturer.

 

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