(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Ferrara Candy has announced the closure of the Jelly Belly plant located in North Chicago, a move that will lead to the layoffs of 66 workers.
The announcement came less than one year after Ferrara Candy acquired the gourmet jelly bean company. Company officials said the plant's closure would take place by mid-October.
Ferrara Candy employs over 2,000 people in Illinois. Officials said they were hopeful that impacted workers would stay with the company, which has five other manufacturing sites in the Chicago area.
Jelly Belly's origins date back to 1869, when Gustav Goelitz established a candy business in Belleville, near St. Louis.
The company introduced its signature jelly beans in 1976.
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