The "With A Bit Of Sugar...All Is Made Well: Part II - Y&S Twizzler Licorice Company" Story

Y&S Candies in Lancaster, Pennsylvania

It was an ordinary day.  Standing in front of the Y&S Candies, Inc. factory on the west side of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  I had my camera in hand and was taking a few photographs when a gentleman came out the front door asking why I was taking photographs of the building.  Told him I wanted to write a story about the factory for the blog I write.  I also asked if he could take me inside and show me how the candy was made.  "Wish I could, but they don't allow photographs inside," he told me.  He did answer a few questions for me before I thanked him and headed back to my car.  Y&S Candies is a subsidiary of The Hershey Company and is one of the oldest confectionery firms in the United States.  

Y&S is part of The Hershey Company

The company was established in 1845 and was first known as Young and Smylie.  Twenty five years later it adopted Y&S as its trademark.  Then in 1902 Y&S became one of three small firms that together were known as National Licorice Company.  In 1908 a plant was opened in Montreal, Canada and in 1929 the Twizzler brand was established.  In 1968 National Licorice Company was renamed Y&S Candies Inc. and was acquired by Hershey Foods in 1977.  Since 1999, Twizzlers have been manufactured in Lancaster as well as Memphis Tennessee.  The Lancaster location also makes chewing gum and other candies.  The Memphis plant originally was in Farmington, New Mexico, but moved to Memphis due to transportation costs.  The plant in Lancaster employs about 550 workers and is located at 400 Running Pump Road.  

A package of Twizzlers licorice sticks

If you have no idea what Twizzlers may be, it is a licorice in tube form about the diameter of a large drinking straw that has swirled ridges on the outside of the hollowed licorice.  It is made of corn syrup, wheat flour, sugar cornstarch and in smaller amounts: palm oil, salt, artificial flavor, glycerin, citric acid, potassium sorbate, Red 40 and soy lecithin.  Yep...has all those ingredients...and we actually eat the stuff...and it tastes good!  Originally, the product that was introduced in 1845 was licorice, but in the late 1970s the company began to expand its flavors to include strawberry, grape, chocolate, cherry and watermelon flavors.  In addition to their Twists, Bites and Nibs of various sizes, Y&S introduced Pull 'n' Peel in 1994. Twerpz and Strawz came along in 2004.  A limited edition of cherry cola and "rainbow" flavors were introduced in 2006.  The Twizzler brand is sold today in stores and movie theaters.  Y&S also manufactures a special 2-foot-long variety with the regular length of Twizzlers being 8 inches long.  In 2006, Hershey's introduced the Sweet and Sour Filled Twist.  

Rainbow Twizzlers

They come in red and yellow and both have a fruity filling inside.  In 2011, Super Long Nibs were introduced, combining the flavor and texture of the classic Nib with the length of a standard Twizzler twist.  Over the past few years, Y&S has added a few other Pull 'n' Peel flavors.  According to the Guinness book of Records, the longest licorice twist ever made measured 1,200 feet long and was 100 pounds.  It was made at the Y&S Candy Plant in Lancaster.  The record breaking twist became a world record on July 19, 1998.  I was hoping I would have been allowed inside to take a few photographs to share as well as have he chance to sample a few of the products, but that didn't happen.  I finally walked away from the gentleman at the door empty-handed, but with a wealth of knowledge about the factory.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.