The Phantom Gummy Fruit Snacks were produced by Farley Foods USA in the USA in 1996. The Fruit Snacks were released in conjunction with the release of the 1996 Phantom movie featuring Billy Zane playing the part of the Phantom and Kristy Swanson as Diana Palmer.
Farley Foods was created by Gunther Farley and two of his brothers in the USA in 1870, originally named Gunther Chocolate Company, a chocolate producing food company. In 1891, the company merged with a candy production company owned by the Farley family, renaming to the Farley Candy Company.
As the company grew, it’s location changed several times. In 1968, the majority of the company was sold to Raymond Underwood and in 1978, the company was sold to William Ellis who also purchased the Lakeside Candy Company in the same year.
In June 1986, a new 265,000-square-foot confection manufacturing plant was opened, becoming Farley Candy Company’s main manufacturing facility producing Fruit Snacks, and later, Fruit Rolls.
Fruit Snacks were manufactured using the same equipment and processes as gummy candies, using real fruit juice as an ingredient and vitamins added, formed and molded in starch moguls. As gummy candies became more popular, this plant and equipment was used to meet rising demand for those products as well.
In 1988, Farley Candy Company took over the operations of Jaffe Candy, now running four candy manufacturing plants and two distribution centers, Farley Candy Company was at this point in time the second largest bag candy manufacturer in the United States and was the largest private label general line candy manufacturer.
In 1993, the company changed it’s name from the Farley Candy Company to Farley Foods USA to allow for future expansion to products outside of confections. In the same year, it continued to purchase manufacturing plants for it’s ever growing company.
In August 1996, Farley Foods USA was sold and with the Sathers Company would now be know as Favorite Brands International. William Ellis would take a 14.3% ownership stake in this new company. Favorite Brands International had been created a year earlier, in 1995, with the purchase of confectionery business units from Kraft Foods.
Favorite Brands International was sold to Nabisco in September 1999 after facing financial difficulty.
The Phantom Gummy Fruit Snacks came in a plastic bag containing 71 grams of soft fruit flavored gummy candies. The Fruit Snacks can be seen via a clear see-through panel at the lower part of the bag on the front. An image of Billy Zane in his Phantom costume can be seen on the front, with nutritional facts and a brief Phantom biography seen on the back.
Paramount Pictures commissioned Farley Foods USA to produce the Fruit Snacks as a promotion for the Phantom movie. The front and back of the Phantom Gummy Fruit Snacks packaging can be seen below.
The Phantom Gummy Fruit Snacks were sold in retails stores throughout the USA either hanging on a rack or in a countertop cardboard box, which can be seen below. Promotional imagery from the Phantom movie can be seen at the top of the countertop cardboard box, which also contains the Paramount Pictures logo.
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