Amedeo Obici (Ah-may-day-o O-bee-chee), founder of Planters, was born in 1876 in the small town of Oderzo near Venice, Italy. When Obici was old enough to read, his widowed mother would show him his uncle’s glowing letters from America. Thus began Obici’s dream

At age eleven, reality had him pulling up at Bush Terminal in Brooklyn, New York. An Italian immigrant, 11 years old, not knowing any English, but going on to become prosperous business innovator. His willingness to work showed even at this early age. He started his career as a bellhop and fruitstand vendor in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Later, Obici moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and opened his own fruit stand and invested in a peanut roaster. Here he linked his life’s fortune with the peanut. In a few years, Obici turned peddler, using a horse and wagon, and called himself “The Peanut Specialist”. In 1906, Obici went into partnership with Mario Peruzzi. He had developed his own method of blanching whole roasted peanuts, doing away with the troublesome hulls and skins; and so with six employees two large roasters, and crude machinery, Planters was founded. Amedeo Obici realized that prices and first profits were not nearly so important as repeat business. He proved his operation based on quality and brand name were important for continued success. Two years later, the firm was incorporated as Planters Nut and Chocolate Company.

Mr. Peanut, Planters mascot is such a nut, everybody’s just crazy about him! Since his introduction in 1916, to help advertise the sales of the country’s first roasted peanut company,  Mr. Peanut has become one of the nation’s best-known advertising characters. Based on the original drawing of a 13-year-old boy, the ever-dapper Mr. Peanut eventually added a top hat, white spats, ebony cane, and monacle to his unique ensemble

Obici served as President of Planters until his death in 1947. The business he had started as a small fruit and nut stand had become the largest and most diversified peanut-processing company in the world.

Chock full of chocolate, the claim to fame for Chips Ahoy! was that they bet you, the cookie eater, that you couldn’t bite into one of their cookies without biting into the chip.  The only tactic with a remote chance of success was to nibble slowly and with pinpoint accuracy – Chips Ahoy! definitely didn’t skimp on the chips. Never before was a challenge so satisfying and worthy of repeated attempts.

By the time the 1980’s rolled around, Chips Ahoy! had branched into different cookie styles, such as chewy, sprinkled (a party in every bite!) and striped (making it much more difficult to avoid the chocolate – not that any of us were trying very hard, truth be told.)  During the 90s, perhaps at a height of popularity for the famous cookie, their slogan got a facelift and promised one thousand chips in every bag. To emphasize this point, the company launched the “Chips Ahoy! 1,000 Chips Challenge” in 1999, asking the public to try and devise the most creative way to confirm there are a least 1,000 chocolate chips in each bag of their delicious cookies. Interestingly enough, the United States Air Force took them up on their challenge and a group of cadets studying statistics were able to confirm, through a detailed scientific analysis, that at least 93 percent of all bags contain over 1000 chips. Who knew that chocolate chip cookies were doing their part to help train the boys in blue?

Of course, the Air Force admitted one other little tidbit: of the hundreds of bags of cookies that were donated to them, only a small portion were actually used for testing purposes. The rest were used to “fuel the study” so to speak. In other words, these dedicated servicemen were just as addicted to these tasty snacks as the public at large. It would seem that Chips Ahoy! cookies possess the same addictive quality as their fellow junk food entity, the potato chip. Once you have opened the bag, you cannot eat just one.   

Miller, who was home alone at the time, stepped out to get the mail at about 9:30. He exited his open garage and was re-entering the same way when he heard a noise he interpreted to be a burglar rummaging through drawers and cupboards. He figured someone walking along Willits Lane slipped in during the brief time he was out.

So he entered his house, rounded the corner and came face to face with a big black bear.

“I just ran. I wasn’t ready to fight a bear,” Miller said.

The bear had opened the sliding freezer door and was helping himself to shrimp and fruit. The bruin was as startled as Miller when they discovered one another, and Miller said the bear might have left the kitchen for the garage. Miller hightailed it the other direction, out into the back yard. He looked in a window and saw the bear back in the house. It discovered Chips Ahoy cookies and fruit in his roommate’s bedroom closet. He gobbled the cookies before returning to the kitchen on a quest for more food. The bruin found a bag of chips and assorted other goodies.

The bear ate like a pig, said Miller, and left a mess.

While out in the yard, Miller called authorities, and a Basalt officer responded. The bear wandered off without further incident around the same time the officer arrived.

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The Suncoast News

Published: July 8, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - Puppets, jelly beans, goodie bags and Beanie Babies are all part of the Mending Hearts Program, which helps children to get through one of life’s most intensely sad and unavoidable experiences: the loss of a loved one.

Gulfside Regional Hospice bereavement counselors Sonia Quinones, Debbie LaBouef and Kristen Kern have found that well-crafted fun and games are among the best ways to teach youngsters to handle their grief.

“Children learn from stories and they learn through games, especially kids under 13, and they learn through play,” Quinones said.

“This is an interactive kind of situation where the kids can participate. They can ask questions. We felt this would be a nice way to teach them about loss and to express their feelings.”

The centerpiece of the presentation is a puppet show featuring Rhonda the Rabbit and Tommy the Turtle.

“We have a great system,” said LaBouef, who gives voice to Rhonda. “Kristen stays on the outside, and there’s two of us in back.”

Before the show is a story-reading session tailored to the age of the audience. It gives the children a sense of what the presentation is about while allowing the presenters to size up their audience as a group and as individuals.

As the person in front of the curtain, Kern can cue LaBouef’s character, who asks the youngsters questions and guides the flow of the presentation.

“They hear Rhonda and Tommy talking about their story and it kind of lets them know it’s OK to feel this way, it’s OK to talk about grief,” Kern said. “It really opens the door for them.”

Presentations vary depending on the circumstances. Sometimes, the children are there specifically because they have recently lost a loved one. In other situations, such as school visits, the program is more generalized and educational.

“We find most children have had a loss at a very early age,” Quinones said. “If they lose a pet, they go through the same grieving process.”

But even if they haven’t experienced a death, the program helps them learn how to talk to classmates who have.

“Lots of times they might not have talked about it before, because they might not have known what to say to this child who just came back to school after Grandma died,” Kern said. “You would be surprised how compassionate the other kids will be to that kid while they’re watching the show.”

The third part of the presentation, the jelly bean game, is where the children are most free to express themselves. They take turns reaching into a plastic pail and pulling out laminated cardboard “jelly beans.” The color dictates the emotion to be discussed.

The hospice has had some variation of the Mending Hearts presentation for about eight years, but it is only in the past few months the staff has taken the show on the road. Instead of reaching 25 to 30 children a month, they now reach about 90.

“We go to the elementary schools, libraries,” said Quinones, Gulfside’s director of bereavement. “We go anywhere there’s need and we’re requested.”

FIND OUT MORE

The Gulfside Regional Hospice bereavement department offers free support groups and counseling for individuals, children, parents and those who recently experienced a loss. For information, call (727) 844-3946 in west Pasco or (813) 780-1235 in east Pasco.

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 http://www.JellyBelly.com

Like many candy products, the origin of Jelly Beans is not exactly known but many experts believe a derivative of this candy dates back to Biblical times.

To clarify, an offshoot of the soft centered jelly bean was a confection referred to as Turkish Delight which originated in Istanbul, Turkey. While it wasn’t a jelly bean, it was a candy with a firm outer shell and a soft, chewy center.

As per the soft round jelly bean, the candy is an offshoot of Confetti which we know as jordan almonds. This candy is manufactured using a process called panning which has its origins in 17 th Century France.

The operation is quite simple and has changed little over the centuries. In creating Jordan Almonds, raw nuts were put in a bowl filled with sugar and syrup and, literally, rocked until the almonds were coated. Initially, this was done by hand, however, today, this process is automated.

As to when panning was applied to Jelly Beans remains open for speculation but experts feel that it occurred in the late 1800’s as the earliest recorded advertisement was made by William Schraft in which he promoted sending these treats to Union Soldiers engaged in the Civil War.

In the early 1900’s, Jelly Beans became a staple penny candy item and were one, if not the, first confectionary items to be sold by weight hence the claim that they were the first bulk candy.

The peak season for Jelly Beans is Easter and it wasn’t until the 1930’s that they became part of the festive tradition.

As the egg shape represents fertility and birth, the jelly bean serves as a perfect holiday metaphor. The fictional and beloved Easter Bunny is believed to deliver eggs as a sign of the coming of spring and spiritual rebirth.

Jelly beans continue to be an American favorite and approximately 14 billion were sold last year. If you lined these end to end, they would circle the globe three times!

Branded Products. Keebler’s branded cookie and cracker products accounted
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products include the following: