Mount Franklin Foods acquired the plant in Sumter for $10m from the now defunct Au’some Candy Company.
Au’some Candy Company
“We were initially introduced to this opportunity by a notification of equipment sale from the bankruptcy court,“ Beth D. Podol, director of sales & marketing at Mount Franklin Foods, told ConfectioneryNews.
“We purchased all of the equipment and decided it would be a great opportunity to leave the equipment in place and run the operation there,” she said.
Podol said the Sumter plant was acquired after the Au’some Candy Company went out of business.
“After five years of operations, they shut down. Their trademark items were 3-D Gummies and Fruit Nuggets. Production difficulties and market conditions never allowed them to successfully operate in the marketplace effectively,” she said.
Contract manufacturing
Mount Franklin Foods is a North American producer of candy and nuts through its Sunrise Confections and Azar Nut divisions. It has its own retail brands but produces mainly for others as a contract manufacturer.
The Sumter plant will add to Sunrise Confections’ other candy plant in Juarez, Mexico.
The Azar Nut business also runs a factory in El Paso, Texas, processing nuts, snack mixes, peanut butter, and organic chocolate.
The Sumter plant will mainly serve contract manufacturing customers, but Podol said the firm would continue to grow its core business in retail, foodservice and contract manufacturing, while also adding branded products and more value added items to its portfolio.