By Joe Mandak
Associated Press
ALTOONA, Pa. - In the last 10 years, Boyer Candy Co. has survived the death of its owner, a legal squabble among his heirs that halted production for nine months, and distribution hiccups as the firm regained its footing. Which might well have left customers wondering, "Do they still make Mallo Cups?"
They do, indeed.
This month, Boyer set about reminding folks by launching a new product, Dark Chocolate Mallo Cups, it hopes will help reestablish its reputation.
"We've been around since 1936," said Deborah Forgione, director of marketing and one of four trustees who control Boyer, once owned by her late ex-husband. "... We're an old-fashioned, family-owned company, and we don't change that quickly. This is a big undertaking for us."
Industry observers say the move makes sense for a smaller company safeguarding its niche in a field dominated by Hershey, Nestle, and Mars.
"I love it when these regional brands sort of stay true to their original heritage but keep on keeping on, you know?" said Beth Kimmerle, a candy historian and blogger who develops candy exhibits in the United States, Japan, and elsewhere.
The original Mallo Cups, coconut-laced milk chocolate cups filled with a marshmallow center, were invented by Emily Boyer, mother of R.J. "Bob" and William "Bill" Boyer, who sold candy door to door during the Depression.
Distributed nationwide, Mallo Cups account for more than 60 percent of sales at Boyer, which also makes its own Peanut Butter Cups, among other products.
Steve Almond, author of Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America, said Dark Chocolate Mallo Cups made sense, as long as the company harbored no illusions they would be Boyer's salvation.
"What Boyer is doing is called a brand extension," he said. "You want to try to expand your business, but in order to do that, you have to have something new to sell."
That's a bigger risk for smaller companies with little advertising clout and more to lose if the new product tanks. Except that Boyer officials believe the new version may be even better than the original.
"It's an exceptionally good taste, with the dark chocolate and the Mallo center," said Bob Faith, an ex-vending company owner hired three years ago as CEO to reinvigorate Boyer after years of turmoil.
The Boyer brothers retired in 1969 and sold the company to American Maize Products, a corn-syrup manufacturer that expanded Boyer's line in the 1970s with varieties including the Minty Mallo.
The new products never caught on, and American Maize sold Boyer in 1984 to Anthony Forgione, a New York entrepreneur who stabilized the company by focusing on its core candies.
His 2001 death almost toppled Boyer, however. His divorce from Deborah Forgione, made final days before he died, set off a legal battle for control between her and two of their three children.
A trust controlled by Deborah and the three children now owns the company, but management instability during the court battles shut privately held Boyer down for most of 2003, and saw Mallo Cups lose coveted space on many store shelves.
Much of Faith's job is undoing that damage. "If you cut off the supply, they're not sitting there waiting for you to come back," he said of retailers. "It's taken time to get people's confidence."
Some problems were easy to fix. Before he ran Boyer, Faith said, his vending company had trouble buying Mallo Cups because of Boyer's antiquated 1,000-pound minimum-order requirement.
That's changed. "We'll find a way to sell you our product," he said. "We'll sell to anybody: the little guys, the big guys, the middle guys."
After revamping its machinery and improving its methods, the factory now produces about 600,000 candy cups a day - about double a year ago, Faith said. And most of Boyer's 70 employees, lucky to work a couple of days not so long ago, are now working full time, with the candy line running four days a week.
"There's still a lot of name recognition out there," Faith said, "and you can't put a value on that."
They do, indeed.
This month, Boyer set about reminding folks by launching a new product, Dark Chocolate Mallo Cups, it hopes will help reestablish its reputation.
"We've been around since 1936," said Deborah Forgione, director of marketing and one of four trustees who control Boyer, once owned by her late ex-husband. "... We're an old-fashioned, family-owned company, and we don't change that quickly. This is a big undertaking for us."
Industry observers say the move makes sense for a smaller company safeguarding its niche in a field dominated by Hershey, Nestle, and Mars.
"I love it when these regional brands sort of stay true to their original heritage but keep on keeping on, you know?" said Beth Kimmerle, a candy historian and blogger who develops candy exhibits in the United States, Japan, and elsewhere.
The original Mallo Cups, coconut-laced milk chocolate cups filled with a marshmallow center, were invented by Emily Boyer, mother of R.J. "Bob" and William "Bill" Boyer, who sold candy door to door during the Depression.
Distributed nationwide, Mallo Cups account for more than 60 percent of sales at Boyer, which also makes its own Peanut Butter Cups, among other products.
Steve Almond, author of Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America, said Dark Chocolate Mallo Cups made sense, as long as the company harbored no illusions they would be Boyer's salvation.
"What Boyer is doing is called a brand extension," he said. "You want to try to expand your business, but in order to do that, you have to have something new to sell."
That's a bigger risk for smaller companies with little advertising clout and more to lose if the new product tanks. Except that Boyer officials believe the new version may be even better than the original.
"It's an exceptionally good taste, with the dark chocolate and the Mallo center," said Bob Faith, an ex-vending company owner hired three years ago as CEO to reinvigorate Boyer after years of turmoil.
The Boyer brothers retired in 1969 and sold the company to American Maize Products, a corn-syrup manufacturer that expanded Boyer's line in the 1970s with varieties including the Minty Mallo.
The new products never caught on, and American Maize sold Boyer in 1984 to Anthony Forgione, a New York entrepreneur who stabilized the company by focusing on its core candies.
His 2001 death almost toppled Boyer, however. His divorce from Deborah Forgione, made final days before he died, set off a legal battle for control between her and two of their three children.
A trust controlled by Deborah and the three children now owns the company, but management instability during the court battles shut privately held Boyer down for most of 2003, and saw Mallo Cups lose coveted space on many store shelves.
Much of Faith's job is undoing that damage. "If you cut off the supply, they're not sitting there waiting for you to come back," he said of retailers. "It's taken time to get people's confidence."
Some problems were easy to fix. Before he ran Boyer, Faith said, his vending company had trouble buying Mallo Cups because of Boyer's antiquated 1,000-pound minimum-order requirement.
That's changed. "We'll find a way to sell you our product," he said. "We'll sell to anybody: the little guys, the big guys, the middle guys."
After revamping its machinery and improving its methods, the factory now produces about 600,000 candy cups a day - about double a year ago, Faith said. And most of Boyer's 70 employees, lucky to work a couple of days not so long ago, are now working full time, with the candy line running four days a week.
"There's still a lot of name recognition out there," Faith said, "and you can't put a value on that."
Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/20101127_A_dark-chocolate_fix_after_some_dark_times.html#ixzz16jUQIWRG
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