Leaf Blog

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

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