Albany candy cane maker reopens on limited basis

ALBANY - Less than a week after securing new financing, Bobs Candies reopened its doors to ship existing candy cane orders and prepared to resume production. <br> <br> The Albany company, the world&#39;s largest candy cane manufacturer until it shut down earlier this month, opened its shipping and receiving departments yesterday and brought in a small number of shift and production managers to plan for a larger reopening. <br> <br> Company Vice President Julie Roth said, ``We met with a skeleton supervisory crew to begin working toward starting production on Monday.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The company got a shot in the arm last week when Security Bank, through its parent company Synovus Financial, committed to refinance the $15.2 million debt the 83-year-old candy maker owes to Bank of America. <br> <br> Roth said negotiations between the two banks are continuing. <br> <br> She also said Bobs Candies President Greg McCormack planned to visit more customers today to update them on the company&#39;s efforts to reopen. She said McCormack would be joined by company salespeople and representatives from Synovus. <br> <br> Industry observers say Bobs Candies faces an uphill battle because other candy companies -- including Spangler Candy Company in Bryan, Ohio, and American Candy Company in Selma, Alabama -- have been trying to lure away its customers. <br> <br> About 350 workers in Albany and another 300 from the company&#39;s plant in Reynosa, Mexico, lost their jobs when Bobs closed May tenth. It was not immediately clear how many workers would be re-employed, but the company is not expected to recall all of the laid-off employees.

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