DALLAS (AP) – Brach’s Confections Inc., maker of the nation’s top-selling jelly bean and candy corn brands, is moving its corporate headquarters from Chicago to Dallas.
Brach’s, purchased in September by Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut, is the seventh-largest U.S. candy maker, with sales last year of $340 million.
Terry O’Brien, Brach’s president and CEO, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the company chose Dallas over several other locations.
O’Brien said Dallas was chosen because it provides a new start with Brach’s parent company and offers proximity to its other operations.
”We think with our new facility and our new parent company that Brach’s has a new start and new competitive advantages we didn’t have before,” O’Brien said. ”It was a very difficult decision leaving Chicago, which has been a great home for the company. We’re looking forward to coming to Dallas.”
The move will be completed Monday, O’Brien said.
Brach’s employs about 1,600 people, with about 50 in its corporate headquarters. Thirty-eight people will be transferred from the corporate office in Chicago, and about 14 will be hired locally, the company said.
The relocation will help consolidate corporate operations, which had been split between Chicago and Chattanooga, Tenn., where Brach’s purchased another candy company several years ago, officials said.
”We’re excited,” said O’Brien, who spent 14 years in Dallas with Frito-Lay and Dean Foods Co. before joining Brach’s in August. ”We opened up a state-of-the-art plant just over the border in Mexico. This puts us much closer to that facility, which is an important part of our future and makes us competitive again.”