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Pearson’s Nut Goodie Candy Bar

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Nut Goodie candy bar. Photo by Wikimedia Commons user Evan-Amos, December 12 ,2010.

Nut Goodie candy bar. Photo by Wikimedia Commons user Evan-Amos, December 12 ,2010.

The Pearson’s Candy Company has produced some of Minnesota’s best-loved candies since its founding in 1909. The milk chocolate-coated Nut Goodie, introduced in 1912, has survived several changes in company ownership and a temporary departure from its original recipe to remain a regional favorite.

The Pearson brothers, P. Edward, John Albert, and Oscar F., began a candy-making business at 108 Western Avenue in Minneapolis in 1909. The Pearson’s Candy Company began to manufacture what would become one of their most successful products, the Nut Goodie, in 1912. The Nut Goodie bar featured a maple cream center surrounded by milk chocolate-covered Virginia peanuts. It sold for a nickel.

The company flourished during the Great Depression, though by 1936, an ad for the Nut Goodie bar showed that the price had dropped to three cents each. In the meantime, Pearson’s introduced another key product, the Salted Nut Roll.

Pearson’s Candy Company moved its operations to 411 Broadway Street in downtown St. Paul in 1952. Shortly after the move, the Pearson brothers purchased the Trudeau Candy Company, bringing Mint Patties and the Seven Up Bar under the Pearson’s label. The company’s sales reached $6 million in 1958 —a substantial profit at a time when the Nut Goodie sold for just a dime. The success prompted a move to a new, 85,000 square-foot facility at 2140 West Seventh Street in St. Paul that was capable of producing thousands of Nut Goodies and other candy items each week.

The Nut Goodie’s annual revenues in the mid-1960s totaled nearly $3 million. The Pearson family sold the company to the New York-based International Telephone and Telegraph/Continental Baking (ITTCB) in 1969. ITTCB continued to produce the traditional product lines, but altered the original Nut Goodie recipe in response to higher production costs and perceived consumer preferences. Ten years later, the Confections Group of Chicago purchased Pearson’s. The new owners replaced the Nut Goodie’s familiar red, green, and white wrapper with new packaging in brown, red, yellow, and white in an effort to modernize the brand. The changes met with customer disapproval and sales began to fall. By 1981, annual profits from the Nut Goodie had dropped to about $200,000.

Pearson’s employees Larry Hassler and Judith Johnston purchased the company three years later. With a goal of producing a quality product, Pearson’s returned to the traditional Nut Goodie recipe and packaging. Sales increased, in spite of a price increase to fifty cents per bar.

The candy’s regional popularity prompted another Minnesota company, Kemps Dairy, to create an ice cream flavor featuring the Nut Goodie. They introduced Pearson’s Nut Goodie Ice Cream in March 1987 as one of four new Candy Bar Ice Cream flavors. Pearson’s later introduced Nut Goodie Nibbles, a bite-sized version of the Nut Goodie bar.

In 1996, a “Mr. Fixit” column in the Minneapolis Tribune reported that Minnesota had no official state candy. An Edina resident suggested the Nut Goodie as the obvious choice. A state representative sponsored a bill during the following legislative session for a state candy, but she nominated licorice produced by a company in her district instead of the venerable Nut Goodie. It failed to pass.

Pearson’s Candy Company celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2009. Hassler sold the company in 2011 to Brynwood Partners in Connecticut. The following year, the Nut Goodie reached the 100-year mark with a big anniversary celebration that included the introduction of a new flavor, the Sea Salt Caramel Nut Goodie.

In 2018, Spell Capital Partners of Minneapolis acquired Pearson’s, bringing the company’s ownership back to Minnesota. At the time, the company reported profits of $89 million.

The original Nut Goodie continues to be a regional favorite. Minnesotans living out of state stock up on the treat when visiting their home state. For those deprived of easy access to the candy, a recipe for a homemade version is in wide circulation online. The candy’s fan base even extends to the microbrewery crowd. The Tin Whiskers Brewing Company of St. Paul created the award-winning Nut Goodie Porter as a limited release in 2018 in collaboration with Pearson’s Candy Company.

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Ad: Eagle Drug Stores. Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 11, 1989.

Ad: Economy Sale. Minneapolis Tribune, March 1, 1936.

Ad: National Tea Company Food Stores. Minneapolis Star, December 11, 1931.

Ad: Pearson's Candy Company. "Goodie! Goodie! Pearson's Nut Goodies are back." Minneapolis Star, December 2, 1981.

FoodReference.com. "Nut Goodie Bar 100 Years Old; Pearson's marks 100th Anniversary of iconic Nut Goodie Bar."
http://www.foodreference.com/html/art-nut-goodie-912.html

Hernandez, Danya P. "Pearson's Rolls Out New Nut Goodie to Mark 100th Anniversary." St. Paul Pioneer Press, August 15, 2012.

Jones, Will. "Will Peanut Shortage be Hobgoblin of Presidency?" Minneapolis Tribune, October 30, 1980.

Kimball, Joe. "Still Savoring the Sweet Taste of Success." Minneapolis Star Tribune, January 18, 1999.

"Land of 10,000 Eats—The NEW Nut Goodie." YouTube video. Length: 2:19. Uploaded by Joel Carlson, September 4, 2012.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t_jwkBh8sk

NPR. Sweet Memories of Nut Goodies Gone By.
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104763475

Neill, David. "Candy Firm Opens Million-dollar Plant." Minneapolis Star, August 24, 1959.

Painter, Kristen Leigh. “A Bit-O-Change Ahead: St. Paul’s Pearson Candy Co. Embraces its Classic Products While Developing New Ones.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 3, 2019.

Pearson's Candy Company. Heritage.
https://pearsonscandy.com/heritage

Pillsbury. Maple Nut Goodie Bars Recipe.
https://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/maple-nut-goodie-bars

Sicherman, Al. "Another Puckish Flavor." Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 25, 1999.

"State Candy Nominee." Minneapolis Star Tribune, December 7, 1996.

“Tidbits: Nut Nibbles." Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 10, 1992.

Tin Whiskers Brewing Company. Nut Goodie Porter.
https://twbrewing.com/beer/nut-goodie-porter

Wascoe, Dan Jr. "Pearson Restores Nut Goodie Bars to Their Original Package and Glory." Minneapolis Star and Tribune, July 16, 1984.

Weniger, Donna. "A Sweet Deal: Sale Brings Pearson's Candy Ownership Back to Minnesota." St. Paul Pioneer Press, November 2, 2018.

Related Images

Nut Goodie candy bar. Photo by Wikimedia Commons user Evan-Amos, December 12 ,2010.
Nut Goodie candy bar. Photo by Wikimedia Commons user Evan-Amos, December 12 ,2010.
Pearson Candy Company employee checking chocolates on conveyor belt, St. Paul, ca. 1970.
Pearson Candy Company employee checking chocolates on conveyor belt, St. Paul, ca. 1970.
Pearson Candy Company, 411 Broadway, St. Paul, 1955.
Pearson Candy Company, 411 Broadway, St. Paul, 1955.
Pearson Candy Company, 411 Broadway, St. Paul, 1955.
Pearson Candy Company, 411 Broadway, St. Paul, 1955.
Stainless steel kettles used for cooking cream for candy bar center, Pearson's Candy Company, St. Paul, 1970.
Stainless steel kettles used for cooking cream for candy bar center, Pearson's Candy Company, St. Paul, 1970.
Packaging for the Pearson's Nut Goodie candy bar, 2019. 3D Objects Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.
Packaging for the Pearson's Nut Goodie candy bar, 2019. 3D Objects Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.
Nut Goodie packaging, 2019. Photograph by Linda A. Cameron.
Nut Goodie packaging, 2019. Photograph by Linda A. Cameron.

Turning Point

In 1985, Pearson employees Larry Hassler and Judith Johnston purchase the company and bring back the original Nut Goodie recipe.

Chronology

1909

Pearson Candy Company is founded in Minneapolis by P. Edward Pearson and his brothers, John Albert and Oscar F.

1912

The Pearson brothers introduce the Nut Goodie candy bar, a confection featuring milk chocolate-coated Virginia peanuts with a maple cream center. It sells for a nickel.

1933

The Salted Nut Roll candy bar is introduced.

1950

The Pearson Candy Company moves its operations to downtown St. Paul.

1957

Edina–Morningside has a little league team known as the Nut Goodies.

1958

Pearson's Candy Company sales reach $6 million.

1959

The company relocates to a new, 85,000 square-foot facility on West Seventh Street in August.

1969

The Pearsons sell the company to ITT Continental Banking.

1979

Pearson's is sold to the Confections Group. The Nut Goodie recipe and packaging are changed and sales begin to fall.

1984

Larry Hassler and Judith Johnston, Pearson employees, purchase the company and focus on quality, returning to the original recipe.

1987

Kemp's introduces Pearson’s Nut Goodie Ice Cream in March as part of their new Candy Bar Ice Cream product line.

1992

Pearson's introduces Nut Nibbles, a bite-sized version of the Nut Goodie bar.

1996

The Nut Goodie is suggested as the official state candy of Minnesota by Edina resident Milo Schroeder.

2009

Pearson Candy Company celebrates its 100th anniversary.

2012

The Nut Goodie celebrates its 100th anniversary and a new flavor is introduced, the Sea Salt Caramel Nut Goodie.