Formerly known as The Herman Goelitz Candy Company, The Jelly Belly Candy Company, or simply Jelly Belly, is one of the most popular confectionery manufacturers in the world, producing more than 15000 tonnes of the stuff every year from their manufacturing plants in Fairfield (California), North Chicago (Illinois) and Pleasant Prairie (Wisconsin) facilities.
Originally devised by David Klein who created the marketing concept of a new kind of jelly bean to be sold in single flavors, the idea was welcomed by Herman G. Rowland Sr, a fourth generation Goelitz descendent who along with his parents had already decided to expand the company's products more than a decade earlier. (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 famous Jelly Belly Jelly Bean).
Traditionally jelly beans started out with plain, uncolored pectin centers that were merely sweetened with sugar and only the outer candy coating was colored and flavoured. But together with Dutch Confectioner Marinus van Dam who was employed by the company to manage the plant and oversee new product development, Herman G. Rowland Sr and David Klein increasingly became passionate about producing a superior jelly bean to set itself off from its traditional jelly bean rival.
Their vision was to produce a mini sized Jelly Bean that had not only a coloured and flavoured centre but also a coloured and flavoured outer candy shell. They also used real fruit juices and natural flavours whenever possible to boost the taste sensation further. In a further competitive advantage the finished Jelly Belly Jelly Beans contained around only half the sugar content of most regular jelly beans and were decidedly more flavorful than any of their generic jelly bean rivals that were available in stores at that time.
David Klein sold the first Jelly Belly Jelly Beans in Fosselman's, an ice cream parlour in Alhambra, California in 1976. The first flavors were Very Cherry, Tangerine, Lemon, Green Apple, Grape Jelly, Licorice, A&W Root Beer, and A&W Cream Soda. Today enough Jelly Belly Jelly Beans are eaten every year to circle the earth no less than FIVE times!
Currently Jelly Belly produces 50 Official flavours. The most popular of which is Very Cherry.