CHICAGO — A half-dozen years ago, iconic chocolatier Fannie May, loved by devotees of mint meltaways, caramels and vanilla buttercreams, was all but finished.
The candy company launched in 1920 was in bankruptcy. More than 200 of its retail stores were closed.
But six years after its 2004 near-meltdown, Fannie May has seen a turnaround and is thriving again thanks to what its executives say is a mix of the old and the new: a strict adherence to decades- old chocolate recipes, and growth and expansion in online and retail sales.
“It was tumultuous; it was crazy,” said David Taiclet, president of gourmet food brands for , which now owns Fannie May. “But what survived is people who care about the product, care about the experience.”
The result has been online sales that have more than doubled since 2006 for a brand that produces 10 million pounds of chocolate a year and is approaching $100 million in revenue annually.
“I think Chicago is really rooting for Fannie May because they want a candy to call their own,” said Beth Kimmerle, a confectionary historian who once worked for Fannie May and is author of “Chocolate: The Sweet History.”
