Fannie May Offering Candy Franchises

Snowbirds and others outside the Chicago area might find it easier to get their Fannie May fix in the future. 1-800-Flowers.com, which in 2006 bought the Chicago-based maker of Pixies, Trinidads and Meltaways, has begun what it says is the first franchising program ever for Fannie May.

"We've only just begun our outreach to potential franchisees," Fannie May spokesman Joseph Pititto said.

Fannie May currently has 81 company-owned stores. It once had as many as 300 company owned stores, but it fell on hard times and its owner filed for bankruptcy protection in 2004. Alpine Confections had bought Fannie May out of bankruptcy in 2004 and two years later sold it to 1-800-Flowers.

1-800-Flowers has bolstered Fannie May's e-commerce business but also sees more retail opportunities.

1-800-Flowers envisions more than 100 franchised Fannie May locations in the next several years, Pititto said. Its initial push will be to fill in Midwest gaps from St. Louis to Minneapolis, but locations as far away as Arizona and Florida could be set up, he said.

Indeed, in January in Miami Beach, Fannie May Franchise LLC will attend the Franchise Expo South, where entrepreneurs can learn about franchise concepts.

But becoming the owner of a Fannie May store won't come cheap.

For an average market, the estimated required investment for a startup franchise ranges from $260,000 to $460,000.

Fannie May's 81 company-owned stores are currently mostly in Illinois, with a sprinkling in such states as Ohio, Iowa, Indiana and Missouri. Fannie May continues to open company-run stores, and another eight company-run stores are slated to open in the Chicago area this year.

The first Fannie May store was opened in 1920 at 11 N. LaSalle St. in Chicago. For more than 80 years Fannie May chocolate was made at a plant on West Jackson Boulevard.

The plant was shut down in 2004, and now Fannie May chocolate is made in Canton, Ohio. The Canton facility currently makes 10 million pounds of chocolate but has the capacity to make more than 15 million pounds, Pititto said.

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