Cited: MSNBC

It’s hard to believe that the Jelly Belly gourmet version of the jelly bean has been around since the mid-1970′s. It’s even harder to remember who invented the Jelly Belly brand in the first place, a reality that is even harder to take for David Klein, Mr. Jelly Belly himself.

Way back when, Klein was a nut salesman who had the notion that people would probably be willing to pay much more for the common jelly bean if they actually tasted better. So, with a modest stake and a good idea he teamed up with a local candy maker and the result was the Jelly Belly; little candy confections that instead of tasting like some sweet, nondescript gel surrounded by a hard sugar shell, the Jelly Belly made its mark by actually tasting like the flavors they were purported to be. From berries and peanut butter to peppers and popcorn, the Jelly Belly became the gourmet version of an old classic, and a hit with everyone, including President Ronald Reagan. Hell, they even traveled in outer space aboard a NASA mission.

But, where did the inventor of the Jelly Belly go?  The man who was once seen surrounded by or clustered with mass quantities of his product in advertisements everywhere for some reason faded into the vats while his product became one of the most recognizable candy treats on the shelves of every store in America.  The simple answer is that in 1980, Klein and his partner in the business sold their interest in Jelly Belly for $4.8 million and then he was gone from the picture.

Since that time family members and Klein himself says that it was a big mistake to sell the business and that in retrospect, he sold at a rock bottom price. His life since then has been painful, some of which is captured in a documentary made by his son called, “Candyman: The David Klein Story.” His son recalls that as a kid, things had gotten so bad at home he would stop telling everyone that his father was the inventor of the Jelly Belly.

Things have been on the upswing for Klein of late and unlike some of his other forays into oddball candies since selling Jelly Belly, his most recent candy stories involve him working for another candy maker and his newest idea, Farts; he has a penchant for the quirky. In addition, Klein is also planning on bringing back another version of gourmet jelly beans called, Beyond Gourmet jelly beans, which Klein says will make people wonder what they ever saw in a Jelly Belly.

My take:

I had no idea about the history of the Jelly Belly and David Klein. Makes you wonder about how much he might’ve made and how much happier he’d be if he didn’t sell out. I definitely want to see the documentary.