The Schrafft Candy Company was a candy, chocolate and cake company based in

Sullivan Square Sullivan Square is a traffic circle located at the north end of the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is named after James Sullivan, an early 19th-century Governor of Massachusetts. The MBTA Orange Line station of the same ...

Charlestown, Massachusetts Charlestown is the oldest Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Also called Mishawum by the Massachusett, it is located on a peninsula north of the Charles River, across from downtown Bost ...

. In 1861, it introduced jelly beans to the United States and told the customers to send them off to civil war soldiers. The famous Schrafft's neon sign is a significant landmark in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, although the former factory it sits above, constructed in 1928, has been redeveloped for business accommodation. Schrafft's later expanded to form a chain of Schrafft's restaurants in New York, and a collection of motor inns and restaurants along the eastern seaboard from New England to Florida during the 1950s and 1960s.

History

Schrafft's was founded as a candy company by William F. Schrafft in Boston, in 1861. The company expanded into the restaurant business, and by 1915, they had nine stores in Manhattan, one in Brooklyn, and one in Syracuse, NY, as well as the facility in Boston. In 1929, Schrafft's was acquired by the Frank G. Shattuck Company. They had grown to 22 stores in 1923, 42 stores in 1934, and 55 stores in 1968. Schrafft's sponsored the 1959

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telecast of ''

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'', the first of the film's annual telecasts (it had been shown once before on television in 1956). PET milk merged with the Frank G. Shattuck Company in 1967, breaking the ice cream, restaurant and cake, and candy operations into separate companies.

Gulf and Western Industries Gulf and Western Industries, Inc. (stylized as Gulf+Western) was an American conglomerate. The company originally focused on manufacturing and resource extraction, but it began purchasing a number of entertainment companies beginning in 1966 ...

acquired the candy operations in 1974 from Helme Products. In 1968, in an attempt to broaden their customer base, Schrafft's commissioned a 60-second television commercial from pop artist

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

. In 1981, Gulf and Western announced it would shut down its Schrafft Candy subsidiary after it had continued to be unprofitable. Schrafft's was later sold to the

American Safety Razor Company American Safety Razor Company is a personal care brand founded in 1906 by a merger of the Gem Cutlery Company and Ever-Ready. It is a principal competitor to Gillette, with which it shared a name from 1901 to 1904, when the latter renamed for i ...

. In 1984, it was announced that Schrafft's last candy factory would be closed. American Safety Razor originally had plans to sell the plant to a group of private investors led by Samuel R. Kostick, but the deal fell through when the group could not raise enough money. After its closure, the plant was sold to The Flatley Company.The Schrafft Center
The Flatley Company The former candy factory was renovated and turned into a commercial office space. Located at 529 Main Street, Charlestown, Massachusetts, it is known as The Schrafft Center. Among its tenants are Business Valuation Resources, Boston Digital, Fitcorp, All IT Supported, Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Beacon Hospice, iCorps Technology,

Mary Kay Cosmetics Mary Kay Inc. is an American privately owned multi-level marketing company. Mary Kay is based in Addison, Texas. The company was founded by Mary Kay Ash in 1963. Richard Rogers, Ash's son, is the chairman, and Ryan Rogers, Ash's grandson, was n ...

, Newton Scientific,

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It provides content ...

Boston,

Crestron Electronics Crestron Electronics (or simply Crestron) is an American privately held multinational corporation that manufactures and distributes control automation and integration technology. The company designs, manufactures, and distributes equipment used ...

, and the

Massachusetts Department of Public Health The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is a governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with various responsibilities related to public health within that state. It is headquartered in Boston and headed bCommissioner Robbie G ...

References

External links

ADVERTISING; New Agency For Schrafft's
* ttps://www.amazon.com/When-Everybody-Ate-Schraffts-Restaurant/dp/1569802955 When Everybody Ate at Schrafft'sbr>ESL Academy Computer Systems Institute
{{Restaurants in Boston 1861 establishments in Massachusetts American chocolate companies Charlestown, Boston Companies based in Boston American companies established in 1861 Confectionery companies of the United States Gulf and Western Industries Restaurants established in 1898 Restaurants in Boston