<p>Family-owned Bobs Candies, which bills itself as the world's largest candy cane maker, has been sold to a diversified Minnesota candy company for an undisclosed sum, officials say.</p><p>The 80-year-old Albany candy company has been acquired by Farley's & Sathers Candy Company Inc. of Round Lake, Minn., Bobs' President Greg McCormack said Tuesday.</p><p>After a temporary closing in 2002 because of financial problems, Bobs rebounded with several profitable years, but faced increased challenges from cheap imported candies and consolidations in the retail trade, McCormack said.</p><p>McCormack and his sisters, vice president Julie Roth and secretary-treasurer Mary Helen Dykes, decided to find a partner that was "compatible with Bobs' products and Bobs' way of doing business," he said. "This seemed like a good fit."</p><p>Bobs employs 250 workers at its Albany plant and about 300 in Reynosa, Mexico.</p><p>No immediate work force changes are planned, said Michelle Graber, spokeswoman for the Minnesota firm.</p><p>Farley's & Sathers, a major player in the general line candy market, has a plant in Des Plaines, Ill., and plans to open another in Chattanooga, Tenn., next year, Graber said.</p><p>Farley's & Sathers makes a variety of sweets, including Jujyfruits, Now and Later and Super Bubble.</p><p>Dennis Nemeth, president of Farley's & Sathers, said the Bobs acquisition was part of a 3-year company strategy of purchasing companies with nostalgic value.</p><p>"I think the industry is looking at the traditional brands," he said. "Bobs is a traditional non-chocolate manufacturer that has been around for many years."</p><p>McCormack, Dykes and Roth are the grandchildren of Bobs' founder, Bob McCormack, who began producing assorted candies in Albany in 1919 and decided to specialize in candy canes in the 1950s after the process was automated.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x3866758)</p>
