CHARLESTOWN, Mass. -- Schrafft Candy Co. officials have announced the closing of their last candy factory, which has produced chocolates and such non-chocolate treats as spearmint leaves since 1928.
Earl Howell, director of corporate administration for Schrafft's parent company, American Safety Razor, announced Thursday, 'We are curtailing manufacturing operations here. We have no comment to make about it.'
The last day of work for the plant's 800 employees was Thursday, the Boston Herald reported.
An unidentified official told the Boston Globe, following the announcement of the closure of the Charlestown plant, that candy sales had declined in recent years.
'Sugar is still in the diet,' he said. 'But with all the health food fads, it's not playing as prominent a role.'
City and company officials did not rule out the possibility that a smaller chocolate factory might be opened under another owner at another location, but they did not guarantee the location would be in Boston.
Mayor Raymond L. Flynn pledged to find retraining for the employees, most middle-aged, who will be left without jobs.
A company search for a buyer for the factory failed and it had been laying off workers since December. City officials had worked with the company in an attempt to keep it open.
Six weeks ago, the company told workers that American Safety Razor, in Staunton, Va., was planning to sell the plant.
But a prospective deal with a private group of investors led by Samuel R. Kostick of Boston fell through when the group could not raise enough money, despite about $8 million in low-interest loans from the city's Economic Development and Industrial Corp.
Kostick said the investors needed to raise $5 million more from private sources to purchase the plant.
The company, which once included several factories, retail stores and a restaurant chain, was founded by William F. Schrafft in New Bedford in 1850, then moved to Boston a short time later. All but the Charlestown facility has since been sold.