Doing Business In Connecticut: Pez!!

Manufacturing
Industry SPOTLIGHT

CT’s Sweet Tooth
It’s not only jet engines that are produced in Connecticut — it’s candy, too

By Taryn Plumb

They’re an icon of popular culture, world-renowned, instantly recogniz- able and ubiquitous — without even realizing it, you most likely have one or two hidden away in a desk drawer or closet.

And for 40 years, their sweet, tart, bite-sized cargo has been crafted right here in Connecticut. Yes, we’re talking about PEZ and their sig-

nature dispensers, a worldwide phenomenon that has intrigued and amused generations of candy lovers. Since 1974, the beloved rectangu- lar confection — now available in more than a dozen flavors and dispensed from the heads of superheroes, Santa Claus, U.S. presidents and untold amounts of Disney characters — has been manufactured in the town of Orange, just west of New Haven.

“People often ask us, ‘Why Orange?’ ” said project manager Shawn Peter- son, a longtime collector of everything PEZ- related. “We like to joke, ‘Because there was no Grape, Lemon or Strawberry, Connecticut.’ ”

Location, location, location

In fact, it was a fateful helicopter ride over the area by the Austrian Haas family — whose patriarch, Eduard Haas, initially invented PEZ as a breath mint in 1927 — that attracted the company here.

The southern part of the state was then largely farmland, and the family saw great op- portunity in the location, according to Joseph Vittoria, who has served as president and CEO since 2004. It provided great ability for growth, was close to several major ports, relatively equidistant from Boston and New York City, provided a “good location for distribution,” and offered a “good diverse workforce,” explained Vittoria, who has also been known to collect PEZ.

So, after initially establishing its American presence in New York City in the early 1950s, PEZ relocated its U.S. headquarters to Orange in 1974. (And, if you ever happen to call there and find yourself on hold, you’ll fittingly be greeted with such sweet hits as The Archies’ “Sugar Sugar.”)

Today, its 110,000-square-foot facility on 10 acres turns out between 1 and 1.2 million rolls of candy a day, according to Vittoria. Using pharmaceutical-grade equipment, the process involves grinding sugar into a fine powder so it can then be recombined with flavors, pressed into its signature tablet form, and finally put through high-speed wrappers. Depending on the season, the plant employs between 160 and 280, Vittoria said.

“All the candy is made in the U.S.A.; all the wrapping is done in the U.S.A.,” he said. Dispensers, meanwhile, first came along in 1948, and are created in factories in Hungary and Austria and by partners in China.

Globally, PEZ has more than $150 million in revenue, Vittoria said, and is sold in between 85 and 90 countries, while its rabid base of collectors gather at numerous independent conventions.

Ultimately, there’s no real way to tell how many dispensers have been released over the years — because some characters, such as Santa Claus and Mickey Mouse, have gone through nearly a dozen iterations — but Peterson estimated it between 10,000 and 12,000 unique characters. “Whenever there was something happening, or something that was a lot of fun, PEZ usually matched it by putting a dispenser out,” said Vittoria.

Besides the clear favorites such as Disney, Marvel and DC superheroes, Hello Kitty and Star Wars characters, recent variations have included The Hobbit ensemble and the salty custom motorcycle builders from the CMT channel’s “Orange County Choppers” (which, Vittoria explained, was a play to attract tween and teen boys, but ultimately drew in women of all ages).

In brainstorming new heads for its wide customer base — unisex and ages 4 to 50 — the company constantly looks to popular culture to stay “consistent and current.”

“Our audience is so broad,” Vittoria said. “We try and stay relevant.”

As part of that, in 2006, the company invested roughly $10 million — including a $2 million loan from the state — to refit its building and upgrade equipment.

It also opened up a visitor center and museum that attracts nearly 100,000 people a year. Much of what’s on display is from Peterson’s own private collection. He’s been amassing items for 25 years and wrote the definitive “Collector’s Guide to PEZ: Identification and Price Guide.”

In 2010, he left his job of 20 years in Kansas City to help establish the museum and ultimately pursue what he called “a dream come true.”
“It’s a fun thing,” Peterson said of collecting. “They’re simple, they’re small, the colors are bright, they’re easy to find, easy to collect. It caters to everyone.”

Read the full magazine here.