Allen's, earlier A. W. Allen Limited, is an Australian brand of confectionery products produced by

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...

. Allen's is the top brand of sugar confectionery in Australia. It is best known for

Minties Minties is a brand of confectionery originating in Australia and manufactured in both Australia and New Zealand for their respective markets. They are a hard, white and chewy, rectangular mentha, mint-flavoured Confectionery, confection, which ...

, a soft chewable

mint MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaAES g ...

-flavored confectionery, and their varieties of 'Party Mix' lollies.

History

Allen's was founded by Alfred Weaver Allen (1870–1925), a

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

confectioner. Originally employed by

MacRobertson's MacRobertson's, officially the MacRobertson's Steam Confectionery Works, was an Australian company that produced chocolates and various other confectionery. The company was founded in 1880 by Sir Macpherson Robertson and takes its name from a ...

, he commenced confectionery production in 1891 at his

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

confectionery shop. By 1909, Allen's was the third largest confectionery business in Melbourne, after those of MacRobertson and

Abel Hoadley Abel Hoadley (10 September 1844 – 12 May 1918) was a manufacturer of jams and sauces, remembered today as the inventor of the popular Australian confectionery bar the Violet Crumble. History Hoadley was born in Willingdon, East Susse ...

. It launched as a public company in 1922. It moved from an adjacent site to a vast factory built to the design of prominent Melbourne architect

Joseph Plottel Joseph Plottel (1883 – 28 May 1977) was a British born architect who was active in Melbourne, Australia between 1911 and World War II, working in a range of revival styles, as well as Art Deco in the 1930s. He is best known for the St Kilda ...

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at t ...

on the banks of the Yarra River (which had formerly housed Holden's first Australian plant and Kraft Walker Foods), in the 1950s. Its animated neon sign was a local landmark up to its demise in 1987. Allen's abandoned chocolate production after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, however it became Australia's largest confectionery company. Allen's was purchased by UK-based Rothmans Holdings in 1985. Two years later it was sold to Nestlé.

Products and brands

Current

Fantales Allen's, earlier A. W. Allen Limited, is an Australian brand of confectionery products produced by Nestlé. Allen's is the top brand of sugar confectionery in Australia. It is best known for Minties, a soft chewable mint-flavored confectionery, ...

– *

Jaffas Jaffas are a New Zealand registered trademark for a small round sweet consisting of a solid, orange flavoured chocolate centre with a hard covering of red coloured confectionery. The name derives from the Jaffa orange. The sweet is part of bot ...

* Sherbies * Milko *

Red Ripperz Red Ripperz (formerly Redskins or Red Skins) are a red, raspberry-flavoured chewy confectionery manufactured in Australia by Nestlé under their Allen's brand. The confectionery is sold as elongated bars which are individually twist-wrapped in p ...

* Bananas * Classic Party Mix * Party Mix * Retro Party Mix * Chew Mix * Fruits & Cream * Jelly Beans * Killer Pythons * Kool Mints * Kool Fruits * Snakes Alive * Frogs Alive *

Cheekies Cheekies (formerly Chicos) is a chocolate-flavoured jelly lolly (i.e. sweets in British English or candy in American English). Description They are similar to Jelly Babies, but rather than being fruit flavoured and in a variety of colours, the ...

* Strawberries & Cream * Pineapples * Freckles * All About Red * Jungle Stretchies * Sea Stretchies * Milk Bottles * Ice Pops * Sorbet Cones * Ripe Raspberries * Spearmint Leaves – * Black Cats * Bites Mini Chocolate Raspberries * Bites Mini White Choc Raspberries * Bites Mini Chocolate Black Cat * Bites Mini Chocolate Bananas *

Oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

Flavoured Milk Bottles and Oak Iced Coffee Milk Bottles *Sourz Snakes Alive * Sourz Tangy Randoms * Sourz Frogs Alive * Sherbies Sour Fizz Chews

Former

* Ace chewing gum * Cobbers * Bursting Bees * Butter menthols * Cure-em-quick (later Check-em-quick) * Irish Moss gum jubes * Jelly Tots – First introduced in 1998, discontinued in 2004; temporarily reintroduced in 2015 * Q. T. fruit drops * Steamrollers * Tangy Tots * Green Frogs – Discontinued in 2015 due to poor sales * Kool Chocs – Discontinued in 2015 * Racing Cars * Spearmint * Oddfellows * Marella Jubes – Discontinued in 2018 due to poor sales * Grubs – Part of Allen's reduced sugar range * Strawbs – Part of Allen's reduced sugar range * Frog Family * Peaches & Cream * Drumstick * Frosty Fruits

Adjustments to product lines

In October 2014, Allen's reduced the size of the 'Killer Python' product in order to reduce its portion size. It shrunk from 47 grams (630kJ) to 24 grams (336kJ). The price of the snake was also adjusted accordingly. In June 2015, the 'Spearmint Leaves' and 'Green Frogs' product lines were discontinued as they were not selling well, although 'Spearmint Leaves' were reintroduced in 2020. Spokesperson for Allen's parent company

, Margaret Stuart, has said that the 'Red Frogs' "outsell the green 10 to one".

Notes

References

External links

* {{Nestlé 1891 establishments in Australia Australian companies established in 1891 Products introduced in 1891 Australian brands Australian confectionery New Zealand confectionery Brand name confectionery Nestlé brands