Russell Stover Chocolates, Inc., founded by Russell Stover, an American chemist and entrepreneur, and his wife Clara Stover in 1923, is an American supplier of candy, chocolate, and confections. The corporate headquarters are in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

, Missouri. In July 2014 the company was acquired by the Swiss chocolatier Lindt & Sprüngli for $1.6 billion.The company operates as an independent subsidiary and still based in Kansas City.

History

Russell Stover Candies did not start with candy. In 1921, Russell Stover and his partner at the time, Iowa schoolteacher Christian Kent Nelson, created a chocolate-dipped ice cream sandwich. At a dinner party, Russell's wife Clara Stover suggested calling it an

Eskimo Pie Edy's Pie (formerly known as Eskimo Pie) is an American brand of chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream bar wrapped in foil. It was the first such dessert sold in the United States. It is marketed by Dreyer's, a division of Froneri. In wake of the ...

. The product was a success for them, and they began licensing manufacturers to produce it. As other companies soon began to release similar chocolate-dipped ice cream products, Russell Stover was nearly forced out of business. The Stovers sold their share of the company for $25,000 and moved to Denver, Colorado. In 1923, Russell and Clara created a new company from their home, packaging and selling boxed chocolates. They were originally named "Mrs. Stover's Bungalow Candies". However, 20 years later, in 1943, it was renamed Russell Stover Candies.

Expansion

Louis Ward Louis Larrick Ward (November 18, 1919 - February 10, 1996) was an American businessman who successfully turned the Russell Stover Candies company into an international brand after purchasing the company in 1960. Early life and education Ward ...

and a partner bought the company $7.5 million in 1960. He served as the company's chairman and president until 1993, when he retired after suffering a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

. His sons, Scott H. and Thomas Ward, took over the business. The company expanded its chocolate brands by acquiring Whitman's that year and Pangburn's in 1999.

Acquisition by Lindt & Sprüngli and restructuring

Swiss chocolate maker

Lindt Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG, doing business as Lindt, is a Swiss chocolatier and confectionery company founded in 1845 and known for its chocolate truffles and chocolate bars, among other sweets. It is based in Kilchberg, where its ...

bought Russell Stover Chocolates from the Ward family on July 14, 2014. Integrating Russell Stover Chocolates into Lindt group resulted in a structural reorganization of the company; this included tripling its marketing team and shifting focus away from seasonal products. Attention was also given to developing its offering of

sugar-free A sugar substitute is a food additive that provides a sweetness like that of sugar while containing significantly less food energy than sugar-based sweeteners, making it a zero-calorie () or low-calorie sweetener. Artificial sweeteners may be d ...

products.

Stevia Stevia () is a natural sweetener and sugar substitute derived from the leaves of the plant species ''Stevia rebaudiana'', native to Paraguay and Brazil. The active compounds are steviol glycosides (mainly stevioside and rebaudioside), which h ...

, a natural sweetener, replaced the artificial sweetener

sucralose Sucralose is an artificial sweetener and sugar substitute. The majority of ingested sucralose is not broken down by the body, so it is noncaloric. In the European Union, it is also known under the E number E955. It is produced by chlorination of ...

by 2019, and the packaging was redesigned to attract a wider audience, hoping to reverse a three-year trend of declining sales. In 2020, Russell Stover Chocolates was the top sugar-free chocolate company in the United States. Spurred by strong sales in 2019, Russell Stover Chocolates announced plans to expand its

Iola, Kansas Iola () is the county seat of Allen County, Kansas, United States. The city is situated along the Neosho River in southeast Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 5,396. It is named in honor of Iola Colborn. History ...

Abilene, Kansas Abilene (pronounced ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Dickinson County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 6,460. It is home of The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum and the G ...

, and Corsicana, Texas facilities. It also announced that its facility in Montrose, Colorado and several retail stores and distribution centers across the US would close in 2021.

Response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Early during the coronavirus pandemic, Russell Stover Chocolates was among the Lindt brands which significantly discounted its Easter candy in 2020, anticipating a decline in sales of around 14%. In June 2020, the company issued a WARN Act letter stating that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, planned closures would be happening months earlier than originally planned, with the last of the impacted employees being

laid off A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing (reducing the ...

by the end of August 2020. The closure of the Montrose plant eliminated around 300 jobs. The company was among those that participated in a July 2020 virtual job fair hosted by the Kansas public workforce program, designed to allow jobseekers impacted by the pandemic to find employment while still practicing social distancing measures. In April 2021, Russell Stover entered an agreement with

Topeka Correctional Facility Topeka Correctional Facility is a Kansas Department of Corrections state prison for women located in Topeka, Kansas. Built in the 1970s, in 1995 it became the only women's prison in the state. It administers a wide range of security levels, fr ...

to form a work release program, hiring 150 inmates to work at their Iola and Abilene facilities in Kansas. This happened as part of a general response from US employers to a perceived

labor shortage In economics, a shortage or excess demand is a situation in which the demand for a product or service exceeds its supply in a market. It is the opposite of an excess supply ( surplus). Definitions In a perfect market (one that matches a sim ...

related to the pandemic.

References

External links

{{Commons category
Russell Stover website
American chocolate companies Food and drink companies established in 1923 Manufacturing companies based in Kansas City, Missouri American companies established in 1923 1923 establishments in Colorado Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food industry 2014 mergers and acquisitions American subsidiaries of foreign companies Food retailers of the United States Food and drink companies based in Missouri