We are pleased to announce that Hydrox is now officially vegan certified through the Vegan Awareness Foundation! After we acquired Hydrox in 2015, we rolled back the formula to get rid of the high fructose corn syrup, replacing it with REAL cane sugar. We also also eliminated all artificial flavors and GMOs in order to make Hydrox a “cleaner label”, non-GMO, and kosher. You can enjoy ‘America’s original sandwich cookie’, Hydrox, and know what’s in it. We’re kinda proud of that!

#madeintheusa #vegan #kosher #nongmo #theoriginalsandwichcookie

We know you’re frustrated that you can’t find Hydrox anywhere and here are the reasons why:

1. Amazon sells out quickly and they now have a new policy restricting how much of our cookies we can send and store at their warehouse at a time, which is only about 12-14 pallets of Hydrox or roughly 3-4 days of supply. By the time the shipment gets to Amazon, it’s sold out. We have asked them a few times to waive the storage limitations but they have declined our requests. It then takes them over 2-3 weeks to pick up their next order since there is a shortage of truckers on the road.
   
   
2. We are now getting hit with a lack of cocoa due to supply chain issues worldwide. We are trying to keep up with the demand for Hydrox and adapt to the cocoa shortage at the same time which makes it quite challenging.
   
   
3. We can’t sell direct to consumers since the cost of shipping Hydrox to you would be roughly the same as the cookies themselves.
   
   
4. Most major retailers charge “slotting fees” or space on a shelf which can be from $20k-100,000k for one position. Those large costs only allow the very large vendors who can afford the cost to participate. When the Oreo reps. started hiding our cookies off the retail shelves, it created a huge issue for us since we paid for the spot but many times the Oreo reps would take our space and replace them with their cookies. So even when we get into the stores, the Mondelez/Oreo reps. might continue to hide the cookies.

 

So, what are we doing to fix these issues?

1. We are working with some retailers to find solutions to the nationwide “Hide the Hydrox” campaign that Mondelez/Oreo started five years ago. +Walmart is now setting us up on Walmart.com to start since they believe in our product and then we hope to be back in the stores nationwide after that.+ Walmart had major issues with the hiding of our cookies and they told us [they believe] they fixed the problem.
   
   
2. We are looking for our own distribution solutions to get into more stores.
   
   
3. We will continue to bug Amazon to waive our storage limitations so we can go back to shipping truckloads of Hydrox to their warehouses. If you are an Amazon customer, please voice your opinion to them and tell them they need to allow more Hydrox into their warehouse.
   
   
4. We need your help to get into more stores nationwide. Please call your favorite grocer/retailer and ask them to bring Hydrox into their stores. It’s always best to call the corporate office and either request though their customer service line or ask to talk to the cookie buyer directly. They listen to their customers more than vendors. If they get enough requests, they will bring the cookies in. Many of the large retailers are focused on Oreo since they have roughly 40+ positions on the store shelf.

As a child, the only sandwich cookie in Ellia Kassoff’s home was Hydrox. Not Oreos. Hydrox.

Decades later, the entrepreneur is resurrecting the product he used to love.

After years of dormancy, Hydrox cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies are coming back. The cookies, which predate Oreo, could challenge its former rival and are available only via pre-order on Amazon.com.

Hydrox is scheduled for release Sept. 25. When they’ll appear in grocery stores is an open question. Kassoff said major national grocery chains have expressed interest.

“Nostalgia is powerful,” said Kassoff, chief executive of Leaf Brands, a Newport Beach candy company that manufactures Hydrox at its factory in Vernon. “I want to capture that experience people had as a kid … the happier times that people remember.”

Paul Castrovinci, 60, said he has fond childhood memories of eating Hydrox with a glass of cold milk, and promptly ordered six packages the day it was listed on Amazon.

“It was always my special treat to have Hydrox cookies before bedtime,” said Castrovinci, a Nashville resident. “It’s one of those old things you had as a kid, and they go away, and you wish they never went away.”

Hydrox debuted in 1908, originally manufactured by Sunshine Biscuits. In 1996, the Keebler Co. bought Sunshine and in 1999 changed the recipe and renamed the cookie Droxies, Kassoff said.

“They really just played with the product so much that it alienated the customer base,” he said.

In 2001, Kellogg’s acquired Keebler and Droxies soon was dropped. Other than a brief reappearance in 2008 for the cookie’s 100th anniversary, Hydrox has been absent from shelves.

Under federal law, a brand goes back into the public domain if it is not used for three years. Interested buyers can pay $275 to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office to apply for the trademark. Last year, Kassoff snapped up the Hydrox trademark.

Kassoff has revived other old brands like the cone-shaped candy Astro Pops and the pencil eraser-shaped Tart n’ Tinys.

He’s not alone — a number of entrepreneurs have looked to past brands such as Turkish Taffy or Clearly Canadian sparkling water as potential moneymakers. But resurrecting brands can be tricky.
Nostalgia is powerful. I want to capture that experience people had as a kid … the happier times that people remember. – Ellia Kassoff, chief executive of Leaf Brands

“If a brand dies, something led it to die,” said Derek Rucker, professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. “There were probably associations that you and I as consumers didn’t like about the brand.”

Kassoff said it was sales and marketing decisions, not the product, that led to Hydrox’s demise.

“The misconception about resurrecting brands is, ‘Oh, these brands must have died because nobody wanted them anymore,'” he said. “In most cases, that isn’t true.”

The biggest challenge was finding the original recipe, before it was reformulated. Kassoff is tight-lipped about how he accomplished that: There are enough people in the cookie industry that could serve as consultants, he said, and the original vendors for Hydrox ingredients helped rebuild the recipe.

Kassoff set up a Facebook page for Hydrox cookies, and fans quickly started posting memories. Some of these fans also became taste testers for initial cookie samples.

“You have to make sure you have fan buy-in with a lot of these products,” Kassoff said. “If it’s not exactly the way they remember it, you’ll get one sale.”

Wendy Davie-Longnight of Eugene, Ore., said her father still has packages of cookies saved from the last time Hydrox was sold in stores. During holidays, the family held blind taste tests to see who could tell the difference between Hydrox and Oreo. Most got it right and said Hydrox was better.

“I’m sure I will be doing the exact same thing,” said Davie-Longnight, 50. “I will get Oreos and I will get Hydrox and I will make my children do the taste test.”

To take on the “powerhouse” Oreo, manufactured by Mondelez International Inc. of Deerfield, Ill., Hydrox will have to have a meaningful point of difference, Rucker said.

“Oreo is definitely a more engaged brand with the public,” he said. “What the best brands do is they become part of our lives, not just a badge of quality.”

Kassoff said Hydrox cookies are crispier, made of darker chocolate and have a less sugary filling with no high fructose corn syrup. He has also touted the cookie’s distinction of being made in the U.S. In July, Mondelez said it would invest more than $130 million in its Salinas, Mexico., production plant, which would assume the Oreo production responsibilities from a Chicago facility.

Company spokeswoman Kimberly Fontes said the Chicago plant will still operate and that Oreos will continue to be produced in several U.S. plants, including in New Jersey, Oregon and Virginia.

Kassoff said a new competitor for the chocolate sandwich cookie will only be positive.

“Hydrox is the one product that will keep Oreo in line,” he said.

samantha.masunaga@latimes.com

View full article here: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hydrox-20150925-story.html

NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. — Leaf Brands L.L.C. officially relaunched Hydrox cookies on Sept. 4 with the onset of production at the company’s facility in Vernon, Calif. Leaf acquired the trademark for Hydrox sandwich cookies, Tart n Tinys, Wacky Wafers and Quicksand Bubblegum in May 2014.

Hydrox cookies debuted in 1908 and were manufactured by Sunshine Biscuits. Keebler purchased Sunshine Biscuits in 1996, and in 1999, Keebler replaced Hydrox with a similar but reformulated product named Droxies. buy domain name Keebler later was acquired by the Kellogg Co. in 2001. Kellogg removed Droxies from the market in 2003 and then revived Hydrox in 2008 in celebration of the cookie’s 100th anniversary. Distributed under the Sunshine label, Hydrox cookies shipped in late August 2008 with a slightly different recipe from the original. Less than a year later the products again were off the market.

After acquiring Hydrox last year, Leaf Brands said it set out to rebuild the cookies in their original formula, using sugar and high-quality cocoa.
Ellia Kassoff, c.e.o. of Leaf Brands.

“You will notice the ‘Other Guys’ use high-fructose corn syrup and other low quality ingredients because they’re all about increasing margins, even if that means moving to Mexico,” said Ellia Kassoff, chief executive officer of Leaf Brands. “We think it’s more important to sell an American-made product that only uses the best ingredients. That’s why we rolled back the formula to a recipe that doesn’t include any hydrogenated oils or HFCS, which were added to the cookie when Kellogg’s and Keebler owned it. The project took a while, but after a year of product development, we are extremely excited to start production.”

Leaf Brands said it has partnered with Amazon for the initial roll-out of Hydrox.

“There are many consumers waiting for the cookies as soon as they come off the line, and what better company to fulfill the initial influx of orders than Amazon,” Mr. Kassoff said.

Many of the major national and local supermarket and chain stores also will offer the cookies.

“The hardest part of bringing back such a well-known brand is managing the initial run on product and keeping up with production,” said Cody Sheean, vice-president of marketing and international sales for Leaf Brands. “We call it, ‘The Twinkie Effect,’ relating to the huge rush of consumers buying Twinkies after they were brought back a few years ago.”
At the time of its acquisition of the Hydrox trademark last March Leaf said its strategy was to rebuild one of the largest candy and snack companies in the United States, through acquisition and development of new and fun products for people to enjoy.

In our continuing effort to improve our products, Leaf® Brands announces that Hydrox® cookies will now be Non-GMO!  A few weeks back we announced we took out the artificial flavors from 'America's original sandwich cookie' which had been part of the formula for the last 50 years.  Now Leaf has gone one step further and moved to all Non-GMO ingredients in Hydrox®, becoming the first national brand sandwich cookie to go Non-GMO.  "I'm excited and proud to beat Oreo® the punch since customers are asking for 'clean labeling' in their foods and we don't believe the Oreo® brand will increase their costs by using the high quality ingredients we're using." Ellia Kassoff, Leaf's CEO tells us. Yep!  Now you can be sure that when you eat a Hydrox® cookie, you'll know what's in it! Does Non-GMO and 'clean label' status resonate with you the customer?  We would love to know.

We at Leaf Brands are proud to announce that our Hydrox Cookies now contain no artificial flavors or colors! As we listen to our customers and watch the trends in today's foods, we decided to get rid of any artificial flavors and colors for 'America's first sandwich cookie,' Hydrox. So, in addition to the real sugar we use in our cookies, you can now enjoy them even more!  Just wait till what we announce in the next few weeks as we constantly work on improving our products.  Leaf is focused on the quality, not on the 'bottom line' as some of the ...ahum.. competitors.  Hydrox is taking a huge step ahead of the competition and we're proud of it!

Hi there! You might have noticed we had quite a few... ahhh.....issues with our website over the last few months and you might have received many of the SPAM blogs from the site as well and we're really sorry. Yep, our site was hacked and it took us time to find the problem. We finally fixed it and moved our website to a new server now which is more secure, so we hope you will never see a SPAM blog from our site again [well, we hope :)] Regards, Ellia Kassoff CEO, Leaf Brands, LLC

  www.leafbrands.com (949) 424-1664   For Immediate Release   The Makers of Hydrox® Cookies Respond to Media Inquiries Relating to Oreo® Plant Closings   (Newport Beach, CA, December 5, 2016) –Ellia Kassoff, LEAF Brand’s CEO, has answered many media requests since Carrier Air Conditioner recently announced it will keep 1000 jobs in the US.  As a focal point for discussion on the growing movement to relocate US jobs to other countries, Mr. Kassoff has repeatedly been asked, “Do you think Mondelez (the makers of Oreo®) will bring jobs back under the Trump administration?”  Mr. Kassoff’s comments are as follows:   “For the last 100 years, Hydrox®, (The original sandwich cookie™) had always remained second to Oreo® but things are starting to change since Mondelez built the world’s largest cookie plant in Monterrey, Mexico and slowly started moving US production to that plant, laying-off thousands of US workers. We believe Mondelez will continue to move production to its Mexican plant due to its much lower production costs. In addition, with the added pressure to reduce expenses and increase profits by its major stockholder’s, Nelson Peltz and Bill Ackman, the company has taken major steps to increase margins and shareholder value worldwide by moving production to lower cost regions of the world. Everyone tends to forget that the number one goal of a public company is stockholder value and not product quality or saving jobs.”   Kassoff goes on to say, “While we hope President Trump is successful in his goal to retain US jobs, it’s hard for public corporations to overlook their focus on lowering costs and increasing profits/stockholder value.  Leaf Brands has a much different goal as a privately held company; our impetus is on quality by making Hydrox® in the US with the best ingredients. For example, we use real cane sugar and have just moved to real vanilla flavor in Hydrox®.  It increases costs, but we’re fixated on consumer value, not pinching pennies.  If you look at Oreo’s® and other competitor’s ingredients in our space, you find high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors.  It is hard for me to imagine Oreo® moving to real sugar and no artificial ingredients which would increase costs and go against their corporate edict.  We believe Mondelez will eventually move most of their production to Mexico; it’s only a matter of time. More and more Oreo® customers are switching to Hydrox® as they are looking to support American-Made products and naming Oreo’s move to Mexico as the major reason. That, along with the elimination of HFCS and artificial ingredients, makes Hydrox® the only national brand sandwich cookie using higher-quality ingredients and made in the US. We know competitors are scared of our success since we’ve logged multiple complaints (and pictures) of our cookies hidden at supermarkets throughout the US. The competition is getting fierce but ultimately consumers want more products made in the USA.  We will never move our Hydrox® cookie plants outside the US and we’ve reached out to the Trump team requesting to become the Official cookie of the White House.”   About LEAF® Brands, LLC:  The original LEAF® Brands were started in the 1920's.  LEAF® Brands, once the fourth largest candy producer in North America, produced candy classics such as Whoppers®, Jolly Rancher® and Rain Blo® Bubblegum, which were later sold to Hershey® Chocolate & Confectionary Corporation in the late 1990's. LEAF® Brands LLC, is a privately-owned company which focuses on bringing back nostalgic brands to consumers. Along with Hydrox®, LEAF® Brands brought back other iconic marks like; Astro Pop® and tart n’ tinys®.

Costume-clad children run around neighborhoods, vying for chocolatey, sugar-filled morsels to fill their bags. And despite parents — in the name of transparency — pouring over their treats, the business and spirit of Halloween remains intact. The $35 billion candy industry has one great advantage over processed food: it's always been an indulgence. "It’s kind of like a reward for yourself," said Ellia Kassoff, CEO of Leaf Brands, maker of products like Farts Candy. The question is whether such an indulgence can overcome demands for transparency. Candy is crushing it Retail sales of Halloween candy are expected to hit $2.6 billion this year. Each year, sales tick up 1% to 3%, with this year on the higher end, according to Susan Whiteside of the National Confectioners Association. This is because Halloween falls on Saturday this year. Product launches timed to this Halloween season are primarily caramel and pumpkin-flavored, though they're not the majority of Hallowen candy on the market — most of the candy purchased is everyday favorites in miniature. The candy industry is confident in its popularity. Mars, for instance, announced a $100 million expansion to its Topeka, KS, factory, producer of various M&M's and Snickers products. "This is an industry positioned for growth and opportunity, and we are creating American products with American workers in cities and towns throughout America," according to statement from John H. Downs, president & CEO of the National Confectioners Association in September regarding a strong economic report. Every one out of 55,000 U.S. candy industry jobs means another seven are created in related industries. Such growth comes from innovation like with re-sealable stand-up pouches, products in miniature, and shareable packaging. "I think from the manufacturing side, innovation will continue to be a really important part of our industry," said Susan Whiteside of the National Confectioners Association. "I think we’ll see more crazier and inventive flavor combinations. And trends from the broader food industry impacting the candy industry, like we’ve seen in terms of flavor and packaging. Like we’ve seen recently with the pumpkin spice." But with these "crazier" and "inventive" combinations comes a growing demand for transparency, which is the real key to candy remaining a viable product in today's crowded market. "I think across the board what you’ll see candy companies doing is providing more transparency and more information to consumers about what's in their products and what those ingredients are used for ... I think consumer information is going to continue to increase," Whiteside said. The shift from artificial ingredients to natural ones is one the processed foods industry has had to navigate. General Mills is taking out artificial ingredients from its cereals, and Campbell Soup set a goal to take out artificial ingredients by the end of 2018. This has been less relevant to candy producers because the product is seen as an indulgence anyway. The biggest problem in formulating natural candy is maintaining color. Kassoff discussed the company's David's "Beyond Gourmet" jelly beans with 100% natural flavors and colors. The company wanted to tackle creating something made up of flavors from around the world, but that comes at a price in terms of color. "Trying to get the colors to look vibrant from naturally derived sources — that's always been a problem," he said. "With our jelly beans it took us a long time to get them as vibrant as we could, but you're not gonna see like a bright cinnamon red, because that's not a natural color." Hershey tops the list by over 20%. That being said, candy's indulgent, eye-catching colors remain a billion dollar industry segment, with Halloween its No. 1 holiday. As Whiteside notes, "Hard to think of what Halloween would be like without trick-or-treating and candy corn." "We’re a treat. We're not a food. We're not a meal. We're a treat and consumers like to treat themselves," Mars Chocolate North America president Tracey Massey told Fortune. By David Oliver

[embed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9r88jSFLeE[/embed]

Hidden in the trash heap of commerce there is buried treasure. Abandoned brands, even beloved, trusted brands, are waiting to be claimed and reborn. Today on the show, a man tries to build a nostalgia-fueled empire of iconic but forgotten brands. His biggest prize yet: the once-famous Hydrox cookie, it was Oreo, before Oreo existed. Can it come back? Check out this 'Planet Money' piece on Hydrox! http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/09/18/441546748/episode-652-the-hydrox-resurrection

As a child, the only sandwich cookie in Ellia Kassoff's home was Hydrox. Not Oreos. Hydrox. Decades later, the entrepreneur is resurrecting the product he used to love. After years of dormancy, Hydrox cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies are coming back. The cookies, which predate Oreo, could challenge its former rival and are available only via pre-order on Amazon.com. Hydrox is scheduled for release Sept. 25. When they'll appear in grocery stores is an open question. Kassoff said major national grocery chains have expressed interest. "Nostalgia is powerful," said Kassoff, chief executive of Leaf Brands, a Newport Beach candy company that manufactures Hydrox at its factory in Vernon. "I want to capture that experience people had as a kid … the happier times that people remember." Paul Castrovinci, 60, said he has fond childhood memories of eating Hydrox with a glass of cold milk, and promptly ordered six packages the day it was listed on Amazon. "It was always my special treat to have Hydrox cookies before bedtime," said Castrovinci, a Nashville resident. "It's one of those old things you had as a kid, and they go away, and you wish they never went away." Hydrox debuted in 1908, originally manufactured by Sunshine Biscuits. In 1996, the Keebler Co. bought Sunshine and in 1999 changed the recipe and renamed the cookie Droxies, Kassoff said. "They really just played with the product so much that it alienated the customer base," he said. In 2001, Kellogg's acquired Keebler and Droxies soon was dropped. Other than a brief reappearance in 2008 for the cookie's 100th anniversary, Hydrox has been absent from shelves. Under federal law, a brand goes back into the public domain if it is not used for three years. Interested buyers can pay $275 to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office to apply for the trademark. Last year, Kassoff snapped up the Hydrox trademark. Kassoff has revived other old brands like the cone-shaped candy Astro Pops and the pencil eraser-shaped Tart n' Tinys. He's not alone — a number of entrepreneurs have looked to past brands such as Turkish Taffy or Clearly Canadian sparkling water as potential moneymakers. But resurrecting brands can be tricky. Nostalgia is powerful. I want to capture that experience people had as a kid ... the happier times that people remember. - Ellia Kassoff, chief executive of Leaf Brands "If a brand dies, something led it to die," said Derek Rucker, professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. "There were probably associations that you and I as consumers didn't like about the brand." Kassoff said it was sales and marketing decisions, not the product, that led to Hydrox's demise. "The misconception about resurrecting brands is, 'Oh, these brands must have died because nobody wanted them anymore,'" he said. "In most cases, that isn't true." The biggest challenge was finding the original recipe, before it was reformulated. Kassoff is tight-lipped about how he accomplished that: There are enough people in the cookie industry that could serve as consultants, he said, and the original vendors for Hydrox ingredients helped rebuild the recipe. Kassoff set up a Facebook page for Hydrox cookies, and fans quickly started posting memories. Some of these fans also became taste testers for initial cookie samples. "You have to make sure you have fan buy-in with a lot of these products," Kassoff said. "If it's not exactly the way they remember it, you'll get one sale." Wendy Davie-Longnight of Eugene, Ore., said her father still has packages of cookies saved from the last time Hydrox was sold in stores. During holidays, the family held blind taste tests to see who could tell the difference between Hydrox and Oreo. Most got it right and said Hydrox was better. "I'm sure I will be doing the exact same thing," said Davie-Longnight, 50. "I will get Oreos and I will get Hydrox and I will make my children do the taste test." To take on the "powerhouse" Oreo, manufactured by Mondelez International Inc. of Deerfield, Ill., Hydrox will have to have a meaningful point of difference, Rucker said. "Oreo is definitely a more engaged brand with the public," he said. "What the best brands do is they become part of our lives, not just a badge of quality." Kassoff said Hydrox cookies are crispier, made of darker chocolate and have a less sugary filling with no high fructose corn syrup. He has also touted the cookie's distinction of being made in the U.S. In July, Mondelez said it would invest more than $130 million in its Salinas, Mexico., production plant, which would assume the Oreo production responsibilities from a Chicago facility. Company spokeswoman Kimberly Fontes said the Chicago plant will still operate and that Oreos will continue to be produced in several U.S. plants, including in New Jersey, Oregon and Virginia. Kassoff said a new competitor for the chocolate sandwich cookie will only be positive. "Hydrox is the one product that will keep Oreo in line," he said. samantha.masunaga@latimes.com View full article here: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hydrox-20150925-story.html

(Article as apears in Food Business New) NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. — Leaf Brands L.L.C. officially relaunched Hydrox cookies on Sept. 4 with the onset of production at the company’s facility in Vernon, Calif. Leaf acquired the trademark for Hydrox sandwich cookies, Tart n Tinys, Wacky Wafers and Quicksand Bubblegum in May 2014. Hydrox cookies debuted in 1908 and were manufactured by Sunshine Biscuits. Keebler purchased Sunshine Biscuits in 1996, and in 1999, Keebler replaced Hydrox with a similar but reformulated product named Droxies. buy domain name Keebler later was acquired by the Kellogg Co. in 2001. Kellogg removed Droxies from the market in 2003 and then revived Hydrox in 2008 in celebration of the cookie’s 100th anniversary. Distributed under the Sunshine label, Hydrox cookies shipped in late August 2008 with a slightly different recipe from the original. Less than a year later the products again were off the market. After acquiring Hydrox last year, Leaf Brands said it set out to rebuild the cookies in their original formula, using sugar and high-quality cocoa. Ellia Kassoff, c.e.o. of Leaf Brands. “You will notice the ‘Other Guys’ use high-fructose corn syrup and other low quality ingredients because they’re all about increasing margins, even if that means moving to Mexico,” said Ellia Kassoff, chief executive officer of Leaf Brands. “We think it’s more important to sell an American-made product that only uses the best ingredients. That’s why we rolled back the formula to a recipe that doesn’t include any hydrogenated oils or HFCS, which were added to the cookie when Kellogg’s and Keebler owned it. The project took a while, but after a year of product development, we are extremely excited to start production.” Leaf Brands said it has partnered with Amazon for the initial roll-out of Hydrox. “There are many consumers waiting for the cookies as soon as they come off the line, and what better company to fulfill the initial influx of orders than Amazon,” Mr. Kassoff said. Many of the major national and local supermarket and chain stores also will offer the cookies. “The hardest part of bringing back such a well-known brand is managing the initial run on product and keeping up with production,” said Cody Sheean, vice-president of marketing and international sales for Leaf Brands. “We call it, ‘The Twinkie Effect,’ relating to the huge rush of consumers buying Twinkies after they were brought back a few years ago.” At the time of its acquisition of the Hydrox trademark last March Leaf said its strategy was to rebuild one of the largest candy and snack companies in the United States, through acquisition and development of new and fun products for people to enjoy.

Curious where Farts® come from? Find out here!

How neat! Robert Kenimer, one of our Hydrox fans sent us this neat picture of the 50th Anniversary Hydrox cookie given to his dad. Here is the story: "My father, Marvin A. Kenimer, was a traveling route salesman for Sunshine Biscuit Company for over 26+ years until the system was changed from salesmen to the product being delivered to the stores via truck only thereby eliminating the need for salesman. My father being a Georgia boy was living in Air N.D. (yes it is truly a state in the union: not a government plot) from 1949-1953. When he packed up his family to move south for warmer weather (he hated snow) to take a route salesman’s job with Sunshine Biscuit Company that lasted for over 26+ years. He received the cookies as an award for qualifying as one of the two top salesmen in his territory the prior year. I remember the story about the cookies and the pride he exuded when he related the story many times over his career. From 1958-2000, the year my father died, he moved his home approximately 11 times each time carrying with, him but unknown to me, the award. While clearing up his final personal items I stumbled upon two of his priced trophies that I had assumed were long lost. First was the trophy he won in 1960 as the top salesman for Sunshine Biscuit and the cookies you are now aware of." We want to thank Robert for sharing the picture and interesting Hydrox story. Do you have a Hydrox story? Share it with us!

Article as seen in 'Advertising Age'

National Candy Show Draws Pitches for Farts Candy, Bacon Sex Lube

Sweet-Tooth Marketers Hope To Lure Buyers At $33 Billion Industry's Biggest Yearly Event

What happens when you put 600 candy marketers in a room with thousands of retail buyers? A sugar-filled pitch-a-thon where no packaging detail seems too small or sales stat too regional. "We dominate North Texas," Mike Sanderlin said at this week's Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago when asked about his cotton candy brand, called Cotton Candy A La' Cart. His pitch? Unlike other brands, it is packaged in transparent bags so "the kids can see it."

Like so many others, Mr. Sanderlin is looking to close deals at the three-day event, which is expected to draw some 15,000 people from across the globe. Buyers are seeking the next big thing in candy, while marketers large and small are hoping to fill orders as fast as they can. All the while, mascots like a walking Sour Patch Kid roam the exhibit hall, which is filled with enough free samples to induce a weeks-long sugar high. There is plenty of money to be made. The $33 billion confectionery industry continues to enjoy positive trends. Sales jumped 3.7% last year, according to the National Confectioners Association. And candy and snack makers have a 98% household-penetration rate, which puts it on par with toilet paper, said Leon Nicholas, senior VP-of retail insights for Kantar Retail, in a presentation Tuesday kicking off the show. Not everyone will succeed, of course, which is why marketers are hustling for shelf space in an industry that drew 765 new products last year, including 423 new chocolate items. Here is look at the good, the bad and the ugly at this year's show, which ends Thursday: Biggest trend: From Starburst "minis" to Twizzlers "bites," marketers continue to put classic brands in shrunken form, while stripping away individual wrappers in an appeal to on-the-go consumers. Hershey, meanwhile, is putting its chocolate in spreadable form with "Hershey's Spreads" set to debut in December Newest gum pitch: Wrigley in June will debut Orbit for Kids. The sugarfree gum comes in tot-friendly flavors like strawberry banana and has 15% Xylitol, which is said to be good for oral health. (Regular Orbit has less than 1% of Xylitol.) Will moms buy it? Gassiest candy: Farts Candy, by Leaf Brands, comes in Fruiti Farts, Sour Farts and Small Farts. CEO Ellia Kassoff described them as a chewy version of Nerds. And he swears the kids love them, because, well, they like to say the name. Fewest ingredients: Peeled Snacks' Much-Ado-About-Mango is a bag of organic mangos. That is it, nothing else. It is part of the company's "real-food philosophy," which has helped it gain distribution in Starbucks and Whole Foods. Sportiest sugar: Tennis star Maria Sharapova has a sweet tooth and now she has her own global candy brand. Her "Sugarpova" premium candy line hit stores last year in the U.S. and just debuted in Moscow. Varieties include gumballs that look like fuzzy tennis balls. Chocolate with the most jitters: A lot of chocolate candy already has natural caffeine, but not enough for the founders of Awake Chocolate, which boosted their bars with added caffeine. The bars debuted last year in Canada and just made their way into the U.S. One of the targets is, not surprisingly, college students. Most unlawful candy: Mexico's Grupo Turin makes chocolates filled with liquor, like Johnnie Walker and Baileys. In the U.S., it is only available in 16 states because of alcohol laws. Best investment: Dave Lefkow won $5,000 from "America's Funniest Home Videos," which he used as seed money for J&D's Foods with partner Justin Esch. Their marketing plan is simple, but genius: They have won free publicity on late-night TV shows with prank products like bacon condoms, while cranking out more mainstream items like the new Sriracha Popcorn, which was showcased at the show. Some of the fake products have actually turned turn into consumer hits, like bacon sex lube. "[We had] 5,000 people on a waiting list, so we made it," Mr. Lefkow said. "We are shameless," added Mr. Esch.

(Article as seen on MSN) http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/investing/famous-products-back-from-the-dead/ss-AA2OYFK#image=2

Article as seen in 'Snack and Bakery' http://www.snackandbakery.com/articles/87203-sweets-snacks-expo-2014-unveils-this-years-most-innovative-new-product-awards

Sweets & Snacks Expo 2014 unveils this year’s Most Innovative New Product Awards

RELEASE DATE: For Immediate Release “Pucker Up Baby, We’re Back!” LEAF Brands^® Brings Back another Classic Candy, tart n' tinys^® (Newport Beach, CA, February 19th, 2015) – Leaf Brands^® LLC, the candy and snack manufacturer known for bringing back the iconic rocket pop, Astro Pops^® has started shipping the classic candy tart n tinys^®, which disappeared from candy store shelves some 10 years ago when it was manufactured under the Wonka^® brand name. After opening up pre-sales exclusively to tart n' tinys^® fervent Facebook followers in December, the company reported selling out of product in just 3 days. “We were amazed at the sheer number of loyal fans that bombarded us with order requests,” Says Ellia Kassoff CEO of Leaf Brands^®. “As soon as we announced both bulk and 1.5oz single serve packaged tart n' tinys^® were in stock, they were gone. People are still buying 2-3 display boxes at a time!” Tart n’ tinys^® were the best little candies to pop in your mouth back in the 1970's through the 2000's. After being reformulated, changed, and finally discontinued, the legacy was carried on by tart n' tinys^® fans, begging for the iconic candy to be brought back and in its original form. In 2013, Leaf Brands^® announced it was planning on re-launching this classic candy and began receiving many calls and emails each day asking when they would be available. “We knew we had a hot brand on our hands based on the daily requests. We even had one person tell us they would dance on their desk with packages in their hand on video when we started shipping.” Leaf Brand’s^® tart n' tinys^® are exactly like the original; (uncoated and full of flavors) plus an added new flavor; Blue Raspberry. Tart n' tinys^® fans were very particular about Leaf Brands^® keeping the original mouth feel of the uncoated little candies, plus, Leaf kept their iconic "stackability" too! Stack them up and toss them in your mouth! The tart n' tinys^® re-launch was officially revealed at the Sweets and Snacks expo, in 2014, where Leaf gave out samples and made final adjustments before its full rollout in December. It took over a year and a half to develop the product all the fans would buy and right now 100% of consumers tell us we, ”hit our mark” making them exactly as they remember.” Extensive use of surveys and interaction with fans from the tart n’ tinys^® Facebook page made it all possible says Kassoff. “We always include the “die-hard” fans when we bring back all our iconic products, since they know them better than anyone in the world!” tart n' tinys^® are now available in 15 lbs. mixed bulk and in 1.5oz single serve bags, which come 24 to a display and 6 displays to a master case. Purchase through First Source^®, Leaf Brand’s^® official master distributor or through your regional distributors. ### About LEAF Brands^®, LLC:  The original LEAF Brands^® was started in the 1920's.  LEAF Brands, once the fourth largest candy producer in North America, produced candy classics such as Whoppers^®, Jolly Rancher^® and Rain Blo Bubblegum^®, which were later sold to Hershey^® Chocolate & Confectionary Corporation in the late 1990's. Family members have acquired the LEAF brand name for the US, and assembled together to revive the LEAF name and its famous image.  Products include Astro Pops^®, tart n’ tinys^®, Farts^® Candy and David’s Signature Beyond Gourmet™ products.   For additional information, contact: Cody Sheean www.leafbrands.com csheean@leafbrands.com (949) 424-1664  

Hydrox was on Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad prequel! Check out AMC's Twitter feed [embed]http://youtu.be/T2R3xWcMS6E[/embed] Sweden . ip info buy domain name

(Article as appears in USA Today) The Oreo-buster is back. Hydrox^™ cookies, those Oreo-like chocolate sandwich cookies, could reappear on store shelves as early as September, says Ellia Kassoff, CEO of Leaf Brands, which recently acquired the rights to the unused Hydrox^™ trademark. "The cosmic difference between Hydrox^™ and Oreo is that Hydrox^™ is a little more crispy; a little less sugary and stands up better in milk," says Kassoff, who will make the official announcement later this month at the Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago on May 20. Even in a new world of nutritional consciousness, there is little evidence that America's sweet tooth is fading. Sales of packaged cookies and baked goods are expected to top $17 billion by 2017 -- up from $13 billion in 2012, reports Packaged Facts. internet use statistics . While the return of Hydrox^™ is expected to be a hit with Baby Boomers who may fondly remember the brand -- formerly owned by Kellogg's, Keebler and Sunshine -- it may be a tougher sell with Millennials who are not very familiar with the cookie brand, which hasn't been regularly sold on store shelves in almost a decade. "We'll use social media to reach out to Millennials," says Kassoff. The 46-year-old CEO says that he likes to acquire old brands or trademarks that still have fans. "We recycle brands that get left on the side of the road." But the Hydrox^™ brand has special meaning to him. As a young kid raised by parents who were Orthodox Jews, he was only permitted to eat Hydrox^™ -- not Oreos -- because, he says, at the time, Oreos were not kosher but Hydrox^™ were. Today, both are kosher. The move by Leaf Brands -- which also owns trademarks to Astro Pops, Wacky Wafers and Farts Candy -- comes just two years after giant Oreo celebrated its 100th birthday. Little-known, however, is that Hydrox^™ was the original creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookie when it debuted in 1908 -- followed four years later by Oreo. But executives at Mondelez, which owns the Oreo brand, are hardly showing any signs of concern. "Oreo is America's favorite cookie," says Laurie Guzzinati, a company spokeswoman. She declined to comment specifically on the return of Hydrox^™. Oreo sales, which exceed $2 billion globally and $1 billion in North America, have grown double-digits in the U.S. for the past two years. Its been years since Oreo had a genuine rival on the shelf. Kellogg stopped making Hydrox^™ in 2002. Then, in 2008, when Hydrox^™ turned 100, Kellogg briefly resumed distribution, but only for a limited time. Hydrox^™ still has an online fan page, and a few months ago, Bill Burnett, of Salina, Okla., posted this wishful note about Hydrox^™: "My brother and I loved them. I never got a taste for the inferior "Oreo," which was far less tasty as the wonderful Hydrox^™. I think I've only bought one package of them in 50 years! Bring Hydrox^™ back again!" In fact, says Kassoff, it's fans like Burnett who convinced him to bring back the brand. "I hear from all of them," he says. "I know millions of people are waiting for the product." But unlike the cookies giants, which typically must sell at least $100 million worth of a brand for it to be an even modest success, Burnett says he can sell a fraction of that and do just fine. The pricing will be roughly where Hydrox^™ was for years: less expensive than Oreos but more expensive than store brands. If a 14-ounce package of Oreos retails for about $4; Hydrox^™ will be $3 and store brand sandwich cremes often cost about $2, he says. But success won't come simply. At least one brand guru says Hydrox^™ has lots of work to do. "Oreo conveys round and is fun to say and hear.Hydrox^™ sounds scientific and medicinal ... not appetizing at all," says Steven Addis, CEO of Addis. "Oreo has become part of the fabric of America. Like Coke. This makes it somewhat unassailable, even from a superior product." The cookies will be made at a factory in Southern California, but Kassoff won't say where. Maybe he doesn't want the fans lining up outside the gates just yet. But later this summer, when the first pack rolls of the line, Kassoff has big plans for that one. "It's mine," he says. "I'm going to sit down and share it with my family."

Article as seen in "BEVNET"

Leaf Brands Announces New Zero-Calorie Astro Pop Sodas

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — LEAF^® Brands LLC, announces new ‘Zero Calorie’ versions of their popular Astro Pop^® sodas. The candy and snack manufacturer gained attention last month at the Sweets and Snacks Expo in Chicago when their Farts® Candy won the award for “Most Innovative New Product 2014’’. Now LEAF^® continues their innovations with a new 100% naturally sweetened ‘zero calorie’ line extension of their popular sodas.

LEAF Brands^® elevated their retro candy Astro Pops^® to a whole new level when they announced in 2011, they would release a line of Astro Pop^® sodas using real cane sugar in glass bottles, using the exact flavors of their popular Astro Pop^® lollipop. The line of sodas then sold out shortly after their release. Ellia Kassoff, LEAF’s CEO remarked; ‘’The sodas really taste like you’re drinking your favorite candy, Astro Pop^®! ‘‘They’re perfect for mixing and matching to create the entire Astro Pop^® candy experience!’’ Since its release in 2011, sales of Astro Pop^® sodas have exceeded company expectations. Following the success of their cane sugar-sweetened version of its sodas, LEAF^® launched three additional varieties; ‘Zero Calorie’ Pineapple, ‘Zero Calorie’ Passion Fruit, and ‘Zero Calorie’ Cherry’ in response to a growing demand for naturally sweetened, zero-calorie products in the beverage category.

The Astro Pop^® ‘Zero Calorie’ sodas are made with LEAF^® Brand’s proprietary, all natural sugar-free blend called ‘Ultrasweet™’. ‘’We created Ultrasweet™ since there wasn’t a natural sugar substitute on the market which didn’t leave a strange taste in one’s mouth,’’ LEAF CEO, Ellia Kassoff stated, ‘’We also wanted to create a sweetener which is 100% naturally derived without the GMO’s found in other natural sweeteners.’’ The sodas are sold in Rocket Fizz and other specialty stores nationwide, with later availability in larger retailers by year-end. “We’re really excited to start experimenting with different flavors as well’’ Kassoff suggested, ‘’With as many Astro Pop^® variations we can make, the possibilities for our sodas are endless’’. Astro Pop^® sodas are currently sold in 12-ounce glass bottles with a suggested retail price of $1.69.

LEAF Brands has also been garnished attention all over the country for their rebuilding of retro brands. Look for Hydrox Cookies™, the original sandwich cookie, as well as Tart n Tinys™, Bonkers! ™ Fruit Chews, and Wacky Wafers™ to reach retail stores by late 2014. LEAF’S strategy is to rebuild one of the largest candy and snack companies in the US, through brand acquisition and development of new and fun products for consumers to enjoy. LEAF focusses on resurrecting many old brands in their original form, and then expands the product lines once the products are re-launched.

About Leaf^® Brands, LLC

The original LEAF^® Brands was started in the 1920’s.  LEAF Brands, once the fourth largest candy producer in North America, produced candy classics such as Whoppers^®, Jolly Rancher^® and Rain Blo Bubblegum^®, which were later sold to Hershey^® Chocolate & Confectionary Corporation in the late 1990’s. Family members have acquired the LEAF brand name for the US, and assembled together to revive the Leaf name and its famous image.  Products include Astro Pops^®, Yummers!™, Farts Candy™ and David’s Signature Beyond Gourmet™ products.

Article as seen in 'The Wall Street Journal' http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303513404577352082845116146

Get ready for the return of Astro Pops, Boast logo shirts, National Premium beer and the Seafood Shanty restaurant chain, all names that had avid followings in their time. The difficult economy is prompting many entrepreneurs to try to revive old brands from the dead, or the near-dead.

The problem is that tastes have changed in the meantime. But that hasn't stopped Eddie Riegel of Exeter Township, Pa. The owner of a Reading, Pa., cleaning company has invested $1 million of his personal savings and a government-backed small-business loan in his bid to revive the old Seafood Shanty chain. The restaurants, first launched in 1970, had 14 locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey by the 1980s and were known for clam chowder and Key lime pie. But founder Joseph C. Gentile lost his small seafood empire after falling into debt by the 1990s. He was later charged with failure to pay taxes, including payroll taxes. (He couldn't be reached for comment.) Mr. Riegel, who took his wife to a Seafood Shanty on their first date in 1982, acquired the trademark for the brand in 2010 after asking his lawyer to find out whether the rights to the mark had expired. microsoft server He bought the original recipes for $7,500 after tracking down the former chef on Facebook. He says he also got some fishing nets and other original decor from former Seafood Shanty workers.

In February, Mr. Riegel opened the first new Seafood Shanty restaurant in Spring Ridge, Pa., not far from the chain's former headquarters. As early as November, he says, while crews were still putting up the drywall, about 200 people had lined up outside for prelaunch gift cards. While he's kept much of the original concept, 19 of the 85 employees used to work for the chain, including the manager,he has added a raw bar and a seafood market at the flagship location. "There's a tremendous amount of buzz around this," he says. "Anyone who grew up in the area remembers these restaurants." Using an old brand or product gives entrepreneurs at least one important advantage over start-ups: The amount they have to spend on marketing is often less than the cost of creating a new brand or concept, says George T. Haley, who teaches marketing at the University of New Haven's College of Business.

If a trademarked brand hasn't been used for three or more consecutive years, the law presumes it has been abandoned and it becomes available for others to register and use, according to Lawrence J. Siskind, a founding partner at the law firm Harvey Siskind LLP in San Francisco who specializes in intellectual-property law. Other entrepreneurs say they are actively seeking the owners of old products and concepts that may have fallen by the wayside in order to buy the rights. "It's pretty much open season for older brands," says Garland Pollard, a former travel writer from Sarasota, Fla., who started BrandlandUSA, a Web site for posts about classic American brands, five years ago. A year ago, Mr. Pollard added classified ads to the site, enabling people to buy and sell old brands. The site itself gets 17,000 visits a month, he says, while the classified-ad page is getting about 400 visits a month, up from 200 at the start of the year. "Because something is discontinued doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad product," says entrepreneur Ellia Kassoff of Newport Coast, Calif. "Maybe it just didn't fit the business model of the company at the time." The 43-year-old Mr. Kassoff, who owns an executive recruiting firm, noticed a few years ago that a local cash-and-carry chain was no longer carrying Astro Pops, the rocket-shaped lollipop he used to buy as a kid. He says he called the pops' owner, Spangler Candy of Bryan, Ohio, in 2010 and was told that Astro Pops had been discontinued in 2004.

He agreed to pay cash up front for global rights to the trademark and recipes as well as three years of royalty payments. He then figured out how to make the product in China in a way that would let him replicate the pops' look and taste. hosting information He plans to launch the pops at Dylan's Candy Bar in New York next month. Tim Miller of Easton, Md., paid $1,200 for the National Premium beer trademark at a December 2010 auction. Launched in the 1930s, the brand, familiar to generations of Baltimore Orioles fans, disappeared in the mid-1990s after then-owner Stroh Brewing Co. ceased production amid weak sales. "It was just too good to be true for a native Marylander to see a brand like that available," says Mr. Miller, a realtor, who spent the first six months of 2011 tracking down the beer's original recipe. He has since lined up two distributors and hopes to start selling the beer later this year. John Dowling of New York City first saw Boast polo shirts at a tennis camp in the 1980s. The shirts, a preppy icon, were launched in Greenwich, Conn., in 1972 by All-American squash and tennis player Bill St. buy domain name John. "Everyone was wearing Lacoste, but the cool camp counselors were wearing Boast," says Mr. Dowling, a former New York University film student who worked in advertising.

The logo had vanished from mainstream clothing stores by the early 1990s, although Boast shirts were still available at tennis and country clubs. Two years ago, Mr. Dowling, 40 years old, and a partner, both avid tennis and squash players, struck a deal with Mr. relevant domains St. John to buy the brand's trademark logo, a tiny Japanese maple leaf that is often mistaken for marijuana. They paid more than $1 million, according to Mr. St. John, though the buyers dispute that. Under the deal, Mr. St. John got a 32% share of Branded Boast, a spinoff company that would sell the clothing line in the U.S. Mr. St. John also continues to run Boast Inc., which sells a private-label line without the logo at sports and country clubs in the U.S. and overseas. Mr. Dowling launched the revived clothing line in September 2010 with financing from an angel investing round. The new line updates the 1980s look with a slimmer, contemporary cut. At a New York City trade show in January 2011, he says, "People came by the booth and were like 'Holy cow! Is that Boast?'" The first run of 8,000 shirts had sold out, with about 90% of sales online. Mr. Dowling is adding shorts, tennis dresses and accessories that used to be features of the brand. Mr. St. John, now 63, says having fans of the past isn't enough, though. "There are all those youngsters out there now [who] need to be turned on to it."