Brach's Confections

The company was founded in 1904 by Emil Julius Brach, who invested his $1,000 life savings in a storefront candy store.Brach was born in 1859 in Schoenwald, Germany, to Martin and Wilhelmina Brach. The family migrated to Burlington, Iowa in 1866. As a young man, he attended Burlington Business College. and then managed a restaurant and confectionary store. In 1880, he moved to Chicago, where he got his first major job at a candy making company. He eventually became a very high-income salesman, managing to save up $15,000 to invest in a failed candy manufacturing company.

He named it "Brach's Palace of Sweets" and it was located at the corner of North Avenue and Towne Street in Chicago, Illinois. With his sons Edwin and Frank, he started with one kettle. Investing in additional equipment he was able to lower his production costs and sell his candy for 20 cents per pound, well below the more typical 50 cents per pound his competitors were charging. By 1911, his production had reached 50,000 pounds per week.

In 2007, the company was sold to the Farley's & Sathers Candy Company, which in turn merged with the Ferrara Pan Candy Company in 2012 to form the Ferrara Candy Company.