Raisinets (History, Pictures & Commercials)
Raisinets are chocolate-covered raisins that are irregular in shape and come in a box, they were first invented in the year 1926. They are sold in boxes and bags that are yellow in color. Raisinets have been sold in vending machines and stores, and are sometimes included in snack mixes. They are made with milk chocolate and there are other versions of this treat, such as cranberry and dark chocolate.
History
Raisinets are chocolate-covered raisins and were first introduced in 1926 by the Blumenthal Brothers Chocolate company. The brand was eventually sold to the Nestle company in 1984. Under the Nestle production Raisinets are California raisins dipped in creamy Nestle milk chocolate.
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The production of these chocolates takes place in Burlington, Wisconsin. Originally it took about a whole 2 ½ hour process to make. Nestle is the manufacturer, distributor, marketer, and seller of the Raisinet brand since 1984. Nestle purchased the brand from Ward-Johnston, maker of Raisinets. The Raisinets are sold in grocery stores, convenience stores, and varying retail stores such as Walmart, Target, Amazon.com, and CVS.
The Nestle marketed version is desired to be recollected as a healthier alternative to other chocolate products on the market. The package is noted to include that it has 30% less fat than the leading chocolate brands and is a natural source of fruit antioxidants. Raisinets were discovered by a company called the Blumenthal Brothers, which was founded in 1900. With German heritage, these brothers began production of cocoa powder in 1909, and by 1911 the very first factory was established in Bridesburg, Philadelphia.
Nestle created some variations to the Raisinet brand type. Some popular spin-offs include a Cherry flavor, which is Nestle dark chocolate covering dried cherries. Another popular option is cranberries, which are dried cranberries covered in Nestle milk chocolate. A television commercial in 1971 can be seen featuring Goobers. The tagline for the ad was, “the chocolate covered candies that pour”. At this time a box of Raisinets was only sold for 15 cents!
Perhaps an interesting occurrence on the packaging can be related to the time when a young woman named, Sandy Hafer, allegedly filed a lawsuit against the Nestle company in 2017 for unreasonably leading consumers to believe that a package of Nestle Raisinets contained a full box. She claimed that a package only had about 60% of raisins while leaving the box about 40% empty!
On January 16th, 2018, Nestle announced the sale of its confectionery business to Ferrero for 2.8 billion dollars. Many confectioneries such as Nestle are taking a turn with their business due to the direction of the consumer preferences towards healthy foods and so Ferrero is taking over the reins of the enterprise. Heading into 2019, the future was is in the hands of the Ferrero company who already has plans to relaunch the Butterfinger with a new recipe. Keep an eye out for the new logo to appear on boxes as the Nestle company only has logo rights for one year from January 2018.
Logo
The first logo of the Raisinets candy brand was introduced in 1927. The logo had a wavy look and was in red and dark brown colors. In this version, “Raisinets” is written in uppercase letters. The letters are read and have a curvy shape.
Underneath the name, there is a little phrase that says “Milk chocolate-covered” in uppercase letters and a dark brown color. Additionally, with the same “flow”, eight chocolate-covered raisins are shown side by side.
In the 1970s, a new logo was introduced, which looks absolutely different from the original one. Here, there is no curvy shape to the letters, and the logo is presented between two horizontal lines. The logo is tilted sideways and has a lowered left side. The colors remain the same, red and dark brown. In this version, the word “Raisins” is bolded.
In 1984, there was another modification, and this time, the yellow and white colors were added. This was the year when Nestle acquired Raisinets. Nestle’s brand name appeared on the Raisinets’ logo in the left upper corner. All words are in upper case in this version.
The color and vibrancy were added to an existing logo in 1997. There are white lines coming from the background that mimics the sun and give “life” to the logo. The dark brown color was replaced by purple. The “Nestle” brand logo is brought into the center too. The phrase “milk chocolate covered raisins” is no more.
The logo remained the same until 2003. However, this year it got fundamentally modified again. In this version, the curvy shape is back, all other colors are lost, and only red and white are used.
The current logo was created in 2019, and this is the simplest version of all. The logo only includes the name of the candy, “Raisinets,” with only the letter “R” in the upper case. In 2018, the “Nestle” brand name disappeared from the logo because it was acquired by Ferrero.
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients for Raisinets.
- Milk chocolate (Sugar, Chocolate, Cocoa Butter, Nonfat Milk, Milkfat, Lactose, Soy Lecithin, Natural Flavor)
- Raisins
- Sugar
- Tapioca Dextrin
- Confectioner’s Glaze (Lac- Resin)
- Cocoa Processed with Alkali
Nutrition
| Serving Size: | 0.3 cup (45g) | % Daily Value |
| Amount Per Serving | ||
| Calories | 190 | |
| Protein | 2g | 4% |
| Total Fat | 8g | 10% |
| Total Carbohydrate | 32g | 12% |
| Sugars | 27g | 0% |
| Dietary Fiber | 1g | 4% |
| Sodium | 15mg | 1% |
| Cholesterol | 5mg | 2% |
| Trans Fat | 0g | 0% |
| Saturated Fat | 5g | 25% |
| Calcium | 3% | |
| Iron | 3% | |
| Vitamin C | 1% |
The Company That Makes Raisinets
Currently, Raisinets are manufactured and marketed by the Ferrera brand, which is a subsidiary of Ferrero SpA, which acquired the product from Nestle.
The Ferrara Candy Company is an American candy manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois, and owned by the Ferrero Group. Ferrara also owns candies such as Chuckles Candy, LemonHead, and Red Hots. They also produce candies such as Runts Candy and Nerds Candy.
The company goes back as far as we remember and has been on the market since the 1900s. It all started with a small bakery owned by Salvatore Ferrera. He was an Italian emigrant and opened his first confectionery business in New York in 1908.
One of his first confectioneries was Candy-coated almonds, also referred to as “confetti.” Salvatore soon increased his business with the help of his brother-in-law. Little did he know that his little business would turn into a giant confectionery company that would cure the sweet tooth of the world.
The company is well known for its Mellowcremes, which are especially popular in the USA. They are also the largest manufacturers of candy canes and jelly beans. They state that they have up to 800 pans that are operating at any time. Also, it is known that they produce more than one million pounds of gummy candies in just a week.
Pictures
Commercials
Where To Buy?
Did you know that Raisinets are kosher-certified? Raisinets are available in most of the large supermarkets such as Walmart, Target, and CVS.
It can be ordered online from any part of the world. The most famous one is Amazon. On Amazon, they are sold in many different packaging and quantities. You can choose among those ones: 8-ounce, 3.5-ounce packaging, and even large containers holding 3.4 pounds of bite-sized raisins.
Bottom Line
Raisinets are one of the most popular and loved candies in the world and have been around for quite some time. Those little treats managed to become a significant part of the Christmas, Easter, and Halloween celebrations. Who would not enjoy sweet, chewy chocolate-covered raisins?
Have you ever tried Raisinets or do you wish to try them out? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
My name is Brianna and I love writing on all topics. Candy history fascinates me and I am passionate about sharing my love of this topic with everyone else!
Please leave a review or any memories of this snack in the comments below. Thank you!
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Where was the blumenthal brothers business located in between 1900 and 1909?
I feel the old factory should be a historical and she be taken in consideration I feel the building needs to be put to good use please please Tell me do u think I’m wrong for feeling like 2201 James st building should be used a historical part of Philadelphia I hate that it’s being destroyed and that people should know good history not the bad.
When I was 9-10 years old ( 1947-48 a quarter would allow me on Saturday to see a double feature plus a cartoon and newsreel plus a box of raisinetes, a bag of popcorn, and a coke with 3 cents change!
I sometimes sat through two entire showings. It was one of the few air conditioned buildings in town and advertised “ 20 degrees cooler inside!”
Do you sell fun size raisinets chocolate?
Fear Sirs,I ought a couple of boxes of your chocolate raisin at and the chocolate was awesome but the raisins inside were hard and tasteless I was very disappointed are you eat these all the time as a teenager,Elizabeth Kenneally
I am writing in regard to my 86-year-old Aunt Shirley who just turned 86. When I called to wish her happy birthday, I asked her what she would like – pjs, sweater, clothes etc., She said, Oh gee, no! I would love it if you could get me some little packages of rasinet candies – here at the Sunset they do not have much by way of what I consider nice snacks, and I always ask if they could get some raisinets – but I guess they can’t. I have loved them since a child, your mom and I used to get so excited when we were given some since we did not have much, it was a real treat! I said really. Oh ya – I would love if I had some to keep in my bedside drawer to have now and then. I said, OK, Raisinets it is! So my question to you is, could you send her some Raisinets?
Shirley Casey
c/o Sunset Home of Waterville
Address: 114 College Ave
Waterville, ME 04901
Phone: (207) 872-8414
It would be so exciting for her. If not, could I order some from you direct?
I stopped eating the ONLY “candy” a few years back. When I was younger, I LOVED Raisinets. It was the ONLY sweet thing I’d eat. Then, the chocolate started tasting “wonky” to me. Didn’t like it at all, but thought it was me. Fast forward to last week, I saw a bag at the market and said..what the heck. Lemmie try it again. The chocolate was so smooth a tasty I actually ate the whole bag (8 oz.) in 2 days! I looked on the back and saw that Ferrero is now manufacturing them. YAY! Nestle has been tasting so awful to me over the years I REFUSE to purchase anything made by them. Thank you for changing the chocolate. I can actually eat it without wanting to gag! Good job Ferrero!
My dear frIend, recently wanted to make some homemade raisin bread. Unfortunately, there weren’t any raisins at home so she sent her niece to the store to buy some. The store was out and the niece called her Aunt to report she couldn’t find any. My friend, thinking outside the box said to grab two large bags of Raisinettes from the candy aisle. She bought them, took them to her Aunt who incorporated them into her dough. She divided her loaves, let them raise, then baked them. This bread quickly was a hit. Amazing texture and flavor. Highly recommend this option!!
I loved raisinets growing up, but quit eating them when Nestle took over. Not sure what it was, but I didn’t like them anymore. Been buying them lately and love them again, then noticed no Nestle brand. Hmmm….coincidence? I don’t think so.
My husband and I are 85 years old and always enjoyed Goobers and Raisinets. I used to be a big “couponer” and ended up with a coupon from Nestle for a FREE bag of Goobers or Raisinets. I have had this coupon filed for many years and have recently started searching for these products in stores. Unfortunately, I have not located them so I have reached out to Nestle. They gave me your name
and referral. Can you send me a FREE coupon that I can use to purchase Ferrero snack candy? Maybe we will enjoy it even more than Nestles.
Love the milk chocolate raisinets!! Today I purchased Raisinets dark chocolate and was very surprised by the taste. Not good, tasted kind of soapy. Tried a few more and the same thing, soap. Needless to say my chocolate craving is gone.