Nuttin' like an old Smoothie

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Boyer Candy back in business

Predicts sweet future for Mallo Cups, Smoothies
ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) -- Boyer Candy Co., the sweets maker trapped in a bitter fight to stay alive last year, appears to have dodged a candy calamity.

The Altoona confectioner was on a five-day production schedule last week for the first time in months, churning out its coveted Mallo Cups, Smoothies and peanut butter cups.

While production is still spotty, it is a big comeback for a company that at this time last year had been shut down for six months as a divided family fought for control of the chocolate vats inside.

The company has experienced 20 percent to 23 percent growth each month since it began making candy again in August, company officials said.

''We're still on thin ice and about a quarter pound from falling through,'' said Roy Mollomo, Boyer's chief operating officer. ''But I think for the first time we've again established credibility, and when you're making candy, that's everything.''

A year ago this week, a judge ousted the chief executive officer of Boyer in a scathing review of the company's finances. He pulled Mollomo out of retirement and appointed him trustee with the mission of bringing the company back from the brink.

The court battle began soon after company President Anthony Forgione died following open-heart surgery in 2001. His former wife sued to oust the chief financial officer and regain trusteeship and control over company shares that she claimed she was forced to give up under duress.

The two ensuing years of legal maneuvering set two Forgione children against their mother and a younger sibling. Creditors were spooked enough that funding dried up. Eventually, Boyer stopped making chocolate, coconut and most other things that have made it synonymous with creature comfort for about 70 years.

To bring the company back, Mollomo reintroduced recipes used in 1934 by the two brothers who founded the company during the Great Depression. He also introduced a new line of chocolate and peanut butter pretzels.

Boyer at one time sold its candies up and down the East Coast and as far west as the Mississippi River. It is only now making its way back on shelves in Pennsylvania, Ohio, some parts of New York, Minnesota and Wisconsin.