Marich Confectionery (pronounced "Mahr-ich") is a U.S.-based confectioner that was established in 1983 by

Marinus van Dam Marinus van Dam (October 24, 1929 – January 6, 1997) was one of the first employees at The Herman Goelitz Candy Company. He is considered by some sources to have been the inventor of the jelly belly jelly bean. Marinus van Dam was born in ...

, creator of the Jelly Belly brand of jelly beans. The company's operations are located in

Hollister, California Hollister is a city in and the county seat of San Benito County, located in the Central Coast region of California. With a 2020 United States census population of 41,678, Hollister is one of the largest cities in the Monterey Bay Area and a ...

. The company is

Fair Trade certified A fair trade certification is a product certification within the market-based movement fair trade. The most widely used fair trade certification is FLO International's, the International Fairtrade Certification Mark, used in Europe, Africa, ...

History

In 1944, in

Rotterdam, Netherlands Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

, fifteen-year-old

began work as a janitor at a local confectionery factory, scraping the candy remnants off the floor. Eventually, he was rewarded with an opportunity to attend confectionery school to study the art of candy technology. In January 1957, Marinus emigrated from the Netherlands to the United States and found work at a small company in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

. After three months, Marinus decided to move to California, where he worked for

Herman Goelitz Candy Company Jelly Belly Candy Company, formerly known as Herman Goelitz Candy Company and Goelitz Confectionery Company, is an American company that manufactures Jelly Belly jelly beans and other candy. The company is based in Fairfield, California, wit ...

. In 1983, Marinus launched his own candy business, Marich Confectionery, with the help of several partners. The company developed and commercialized chocolate-covered dried fruits. The first was the chocolate covered dried cherry with pastel cherry coating, in the 1980s, followed by the chocolate covered dried blueberry in 1992. Today, Marich operates a 90,000 square-foot facility in

, with 125 employees in operations, administration, sales, marketing, and finance in offices adjacent to the confectionery production floor. Marich-panning-production

Awards and publicity

In 1995, Marich was recognized for its leadership in shaping the gourmet chocolate market. In 2001, Marich received the International Fancy Food Show award for the creation of the chocolate covered dried cherry. The company also received awards in 2001 and 2004 from the Specialty Food Association.{{Cite journal, last=Aronovich, first=Hanna, title=Sweet Focus, journal=Food and Drink Magazine

References

External links

Marich Confectionery CompanyFair Trade Certified™
Confectionery companies of the United States Chocolate companies based in California Companies based in San Benito County, California