Good & Plenty is a brand of licorice candy. The candy is a narrow cylinder of sweet black licorice, coated in a hard candy shell to form a capsule shape. The pieces are colored bright pink and white and presented in a purple box or bag.
History
Good & Plenty was first produced by the Quaker City Chocolate & Confectionery Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1893.[2] Although Necco Wafers is almost half a century older, Good & Plenty is the oldest continually produced American candy brand.[3] A second candy, Good & Fruity, is a multicolored, multi-flavor candy of the same shape.
Warner-Lambert purchased Quaker City in 1973 and sold it to Leaf Candy Company (owned by Beatrice Foods) in 1982. It is now produced by Hershey Foods,[4] under license from owners of the brand, Highlander Partners, a Dallas-based global private equity firm.
Beginning around 1950, a cartoon character named "Choo-Choo Charlie" appeared in Good & Plenty television commercials. Choo-Choo Charlie was a boy pretending to be a railroad engineer.[5] He would shake a box of the candy in his hand in a circular motion, imitating a train's pushrods and making a sound like a train. Advertising executive Russ Alben wrote the "Choo-Choo Charlie" jingle[6] based on the popular song "The Ballad of Casey Jones".
See also
- Mike and Ike
- Mukhwas
- London drops, a similar candy sold in Finland and Sweden
- Liquorice comfits
- List of confectionery brands
External links
References
- Highlander Buys Big Candy Portfolio Private Equity Professional, April 30, 2018, retrieved January 11, 2021^
- Andrew F. Smith. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America Oxford University Press USA, 2013^
- Steven John. 10 Candies That Are Way Older Than You Think Eat This, Not That!, July 8, 2022, retrieved September 2, 2024^
- Yumiko Ono. Hershey Will Buy Candy Unit From Huhtamaki Oy's Leaf The Wall Street Journal, October 21, 1996, retrieved January 11, 2021^
- Warren Dotz, Jim Morton. What a Character! 20th Century American Advertising Icons Chronicle Books, 1996^
- Mallory Russell. Former Ogilvy Creative Director Russ Alben Dies Advertising Age, 2012-08-28, retrieved 2012-10-02^