HAYWARD — A candy manufacturer that was founded 70 years ago by a Russian immigrant will cease operations at its long-time East Bay site, a property the company sold to a big real estate firm two years ago.
Annabelle Candy Co. Inc. will halt operations at its factory in Hayward, effective Sept. 27 of this year, the company disclosed in a WARN letter it sent to the state Employment Development Department.
“The closure of the facility is due to a lack of financial sustainability on a going-forward basis necessary for the continued operation of the site,” Michael McGee, chief executive officer of Pennsylvania-based Promise Confections, owner of Annabelle Candy Co., wrote in the WARN letter on file with the EDD.
Annabelle Candy will slash 43 jobs at the candy factory site, which is at 27211 Industrial Boulevard in Hayward, the WARN letter stated.
The candy maker has a long history in the East Bay. Founded in 1950, Annabelle Candy’s product stable features several high-profile candy bars: Rocky Road, Abba-Zaba, Big Hunk, Look and U-No.
Despite the shutdown in Hayward, Promise Confections vowed to continue making the candy bars at other directly operated or contract factories within its network.
The future of the candy factory began to turn cloudy in 2022 when Annabelle Candy sold its Hayward headquarters and manufacturing site to a real estate investment firm in a $13 million deal.
Annabelle Candy constructed the Hayward candy factory at the Industrial Boulevard site in 1965.
Company founder Sam Altshuler, an immigrant from Belarus, a one-time Russian province that is now an independent nation in Eastern Europe located next to Russia and Ukraine, arrived in the United States in 1917, according to the company’s website.
Altshuler began his involvement in the confectionary business by selling candy bars from a pushcart outside movie theaters. In 1950, Altshuler founded the candy firm in San Francisco, naming the company after his daughter Annabelle.
Altshuler moved the candy company to the present Hayward site in 1965.
Over the decades, the candy maker expanded its product offerings through its acquisition of existing rivals.
In 1972 Annabelle bought Golden Nugget Co., makers of Big Hunk and Look candy bars. In 1978 Annabelle Candy bought Cardinet Co., maker of U-No and Abba-Zaba candy bars.
Promise Confections indicated in a prepared release that the nearly 60-year-old factory was outmoded and couldn’t be easily modernized. These circumstances forced the company’s hand into closing the Hayward factory.
“This difficult decision was made due to significant financial challenges, including increased manufacturing and operating costs and the investments necessary into an aged facility,” Promise Confections stated.
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