Raisinets

Raisinets are chocolate covered raisins that are irregular in shape and come in a box. Raisinets was first invented in the year 1926. They are sold in boxes and bags that are yellow in color. Raisinets has been sold in vending machines and stores, and are sometimes included in snack mixes. They are made with milk chocolate and there are other versions of this treat also, such as cranberry and dark chocolate Raisinets.

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Raisinets History And General Information

Raisinets are chocolate covered raisins and were first introduced in 1926 by the Blumenthal Brothers Chocolate company. The brand was eventually sold to the Nestle company in 1984. Under the Nestle production Raisinets are California raisins dipped in creamy Nestle milk chocolate.

The production of these chocolates takes place in Burlington, Wisconsin. Originally it took about a whole 2 ½ hour process to make the Raisinet. Nestle is the manufacturer, distributer, marketer, and seller of the Raisinet brand since 1984. Nestle purchased the brand from Ward-Johnston, maker of Raisinets. The Raisinets are sold in grocery stores, convenience stores, and varying retail stores such as Walmart, Target, Amazon.com, and CVS.

The Nestle marketed version of Raisinets are desired to be recollected as a healthier alternative to other chocolate products on the market. The package is noted to include that it has 30% less fat than the leading chocolate brands and is a natural source of fruit antioxidants. Raisinets were discovered by a company called the Blumenthal Brothers, which was founded in 1900. With German heritage these brothers began production of cocoa powder in 1909, and by 1911 the very first factory was established in Bridesburg, Philadelphia.

Nestle created some variations to the Raisinet brand type. Some popular spin-offs include the Cherry Raisinets, which are Nestle dark chocolate covering dried cherries. Another popular option is the Cranberry Raisinets, which are dried cranberries covered in Nestle milk chocolate. A television commercial in 1971 can be seen featuring Raisinets and Goobers. The tagline for the ad was, “the chocolate covered candies that pour”. At this time a box of Raisinets were only sold for 15 cents!

Perhaps an interesting occurrence on the packaging can be related to the time when a young woman named, Sandy Hafer, allegedly filed a lawsuit against the Nestle’ company in 2017 for unreasonably leading consumers to believe that a package of Nestle Raisinets contained a full box. She claimed that a package of Raisinets only had about 60% of raisins, while leaving the box about 40% empty!

On January 16 th , 2018, Nestle announced its sale of its confectionery business to Ferrero for 2.8 billion dollars. Many confectioneries such as Nestle are taking a turn with their business due to the direction of the consumer preferences towards healthy foods and so Ferrero is taking over the reigns of the Raisinet enterprise. Heading into 2019, the Raisinet’s future is in the hands of the Ferrero company who already has plans to relaunch the Butterfinger with a new recipe. Keep an eye out for the new logo to appear on the Raisinet boxes as the Nestle company only has logo rights for one year from January 2018.

The Company That Makes Raisinets

The company that makes Raisinets is Ferrara, a subsidiary of Ferrero SpA, who acquired the product from Nestle. The Ferrara Candy Company is an American candy manufacturer, based in Chicago, Illinois, and owned by the Ferrero Group. Ferrara also owns candies such as Chuckles, LemonHead and Red Hots. They also produce candy such as Runts and Nerds.