DeMet's Candy Company is a food company based in

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, United States. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of

Yıldız Holding Yıldız Holding is a Turkish conglomerate that is best known for manufacturing food products. The company also produces other consumer goods and has its own retail, private equity and real estate operations. Yıldız Holding is among the large ...

History

DeMet's started in 1898 as a candy store business and soda fountain shop by George DeMet of Chicago — subsequently creating

Turtles Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked turtle ...

candies in 1966. After a series of mergers and acquisitions, DeMet’s was purchased by

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

in 1988. In 2007, Signature Snacks, acquired the DeMet’s brand from Nestlé. Former Nestlé USA executive Hendrik Hartong III is chairman of the company. In 2007,

Brynwood Partners Brynwood Partners is an American private equity investment firm focused on leveraged buyout and other control investments. Since its founding in 1984, the firm, headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, has raised five private equity fund, invest ...

bought the "Turtles" brand from Nestlé USA Inc., acquiring at the same time the Turtles production facility in Toronto, Canada. Subsequently, Brynwood consolidated its portfolio of confectionery acquisitions, which included Stixx, Flipz chocolate covered pretzels, Treasures, and Turtles, resurrecting the dormant DeMet's Candy Company name. DeMet's acquired the TrueNorth brand of nut snacks from

Frito-Lay Frito-Lay, Inc. (; ) is an American food company that manufactures, markets, and sells snack foods. It began in the early 1930s as two companies, Fritos, the Frito Company and Lay's, H.W. Lay & Company, that merged in 1961. Frito-Lay itself merg ...

in 2010 but sold it to

B&G Foods B&G Foods, Inc. is an American branded foods holding company based in Parsippany, New Jersey. The company was formed in 1996 to acquire Bloch & Guggenheimer, a Manhattan-based producer of pickles, relish and condiments which had been founded in 1 ...

in 2013. In 2013, Brynwood sold the company to

References

External links

* {{Yıldız Holding Multinational companies Private equity portfolio companies Biscuit brands Companies based in Stamford, Connecticut Bakeries of the United States American subsidiaries of foreign companies Yıldız Holding Food and drink companies established in 1898 1898 establishments in Illinois 1988 mergers and acquisitions 2007 mergers and acquisitions 2013 mergers and acquisitions Food manufacturers of the United States