How a candy lover is bringing discontinued sweets back from the dead

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When Ellia Kassoff excitedly stopped into a California grocery store in 2009 to buy his favorite childhood candy, the initial euphoria quickly dissipated. The tech headhunter found Astro Pops, which he purchased by the box every few months, was out of stock. A few months later, he visited again, only to hear the startling news from the store’s manager: Astro Pops had been discontinued.

“I just couldn’t believe I was hearing those words,” Kassoff recalled.

So the next day, he called Spangler Candy, the Ohio company that previously made the conical-shaped sweet.  Its president at the time told him Astro Pops were discontinued because they were “no longer part of their marketing mix.”

“I kind of blurted out, ‘Would you sell the rights’ because I just couldn’t let my favorite candy die out. I wanted to see if I could save it,” Kassoff recalled. “And they said, ‘Yeah, we’ll sell it. We’re not doing anything with it.’ ”

And just like that, Kassoff owned his beloved Astro Pops. While he was now running a candy company, the 56-year-old executive was no stranger to confections.

Growing up, he and his family would visit relatives in New York and return home with bags of the latest sweets. His uncle, Ed Leaf worked for Leaf Brands, founded by his father and uncles in the 1920’s, which eventually grew into the fourth-largest candy company in North America with iconic staples such as Jolly Rancher and Milk Duds.

Turning over a new Leaf

In 1996, Hershey acquired Leaf, and for a time, the 70-year-old brand suffered the same fate as Astro Pops did before Kassoff acquired the trademark rights to it.

Kassoff originally called his company Astro Pop, with the goal of keeping his beloved childhood candy alive. He had no intention of permanently giving up his career.

But Kassoff’s stance soon began to change. Increasingly, as he realized he “controlled the destiny of his favorite candy,” it became more fun. Kassoff began to wonder if other brands he enjoyed as a child that were no longer around that he could acquire. A permanent career shift soon occurred.

It wasn’t long before Kassoff realized that Leaf, despite being sold to Hershey two decades earlier, still had widespread recognition in the marketplace.

Kassoff eventually changed the company name to Leaf Brands, and he used it as a platform to build his snacking empire. Leaf eventually purchased Bonkers, Wacky Wafers, Tart n’ Tinys, among other candy offerings, along with cookie brand Hydrox.

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“Can you imagine an executive at Hershey in a meeting saying, ‘I have a great idea for a new product, it’s called Farts.’ They would probably be fired. We have a major problem in our industry and that is the lack of creativity and fun.”

Ellia Kassoff

CEO, Leaf Brands

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The company also created its own brand called Farts Candy, a chewy Nerd-like product. Now, most of the industry is controlled by four major candy companies, and because of their size, they are afraid to take any chances, Kassoff said. 

“Can you imagine an executive at Hershey in a meeting saying, ‘I have a great idea for a new product, it’s called Farts.’ They would probably be fired. We have a major problem in our industry and that is the lack of creativity and fun.” 

Leaf has largely stuck to working with brands that were previously on the market. Kassoff has heard from critics who said the brands he owns went away for a reason. But he counters that it wasn’t because consumers lost interest. The real reason, he says, is usually because of “corporate mismanagement,” like a change in the recipe, packaging or name.

“You can’t fault the product. You can fault the brand managers on these products,” he said. “My goal has always been to make sure I bring the candy back with the original formula and nearly identical packaging, that’s what consumers want.  That’s what they remember.”

Sweet success turns sour

Hydrox, which started in 1908, met its demise after owner Keebler changed the name to Droxies to distance the cookie from its chemical-sounding name, a combination of the words hydrogen and oxygen. It also made the cookie sweeter to go head-to-head with Oreo. Kellogg, which later acquired Keebler, removed Droxies from the market in 2003.

With Astro Pops, which began in 1962, the product failed four decades later largely because the stick used to hold it was moved, making the candy uncomfortable to suck on. 

In the case of Wacky Wafers, the original silver dollar-sized candies were reduced in size, shape and packaging on at least three occasions. Kassoff speculates owner Willy Wonka turned to the smaller sizes so it could place Wacky Wafers in the same packaging used for other candy to save money. The original flavors of banana, green apple, watermelon, orange and strawberry also were abandoned in favor of new ones.

For Tart n’ Tinys, a coating was added by Wonka that consumers viewed as hard on their teeth. The candy also did away with the cylinder shape with flat tops and bottoms that kids used to play with and stack. In its place were tiny little BBs. The candy met its demise in the early 2000s.

Leaf has reversed all these ill-fated changes and brought the candies back to what made them successful. 

People often ask Kassoff what candies he decides to purchase. 

“That’s easy,” he says. “It’s the stuff I used to love as a kid, selfishly enough the stuff that I remember I had my own experiences with.”

Kassoff runs a slim operation that has played a big part in Leaf’s success. He has no debt, outside funding or investors. Kassoff works out of his house in California and has two other employees. Candy production is outsourced, so Leaf doesn’t have to worry about dealing with plants or workers.

He declined to delve into the finances of Leaf, except to say the business is “very profitable” and that he “makes a very comfortable living.” 

Staying true to the brand

Kassoff points out that acquiring the trademark is the easy part. What becomes challenging is making sure the product is the same way that people remember it. Too many times have been reintroduced to the marketplace, he said, but the only similarities they have to the original are the names; how they look or taste is often drastically different.

“People do know and can recognize it. They know something has changed,” he said. 

A major part of Leaf’s ability to avoid that pitfall centers on connecting with former executives and other people responsible for manufacturing the product years earlier. More recent improvements in flavor innovation have also made replicating the taste easier. Leaf also sends samples to diehard fans to make sure it tastes the same as they remember.

Kassoff is regularly approached by consumers pleading for him to bring back their favorite treats that were discontinued during the 1960s. He’s quickly mastered the art of saying “no.”

I came up with the phrase, “Never sell to the dead, never bring back a product that only the dead would remember,” Kassoff said. 

In the case of Hydrox, Wacky Wafers and Tart n’ Tinys, enough people who enjoyed them and would purchase the sweets again are still around. They pass their love of the offerings to their kids and grandchildren. 

Despite his recent successes, Kassoff said “there’s always going to be potential” to acquire new brands — including other people who have tried to emulate him and ultimately failed to resuscitate a brand.

Often entrepreneurs focus too much on the product, failing to realize the distribution network and investment needed to get the product to market he added. The lack of interest from big candy companies in novelty or fun offerings also opens a market for Leaf.