Everyone has a candy from their childhood that perhaps they haven’t seen in a few years. For me, it’s not so much a personal favorite, but Coffee Nips remind me of my grandparents’ house, as my grandmother always had a stash of them.

That’s not a product you see on store shelves very often, but they are still made. When I see them, I usually take a picture and share it on social media or on the family group text.

“Candy is childhood, the best and bright moments you wish could have lasted forever,” wrote Candy Bar creator Dylan Lauren in her book “Dylan’s Candy Bar: Unwrap Your Sweet Life.”

Most people associate candy with childhood, and Primrose Candy Company manufactures a lot of candies that kindle nostalgia. The 98-year-old company may not be as well known as Hershey’s or M&M Mars, but its hard candies, taffy, and flavored popcorns have been sold nationally for decades.

Now, the company has been forced into filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Primrose Candy Co. files Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Founded in 1928, Primrose Candy Co. has operated for nearly a century, producing hard candies, taffy, and flavored popcorn. It operates a factory in Chicago and has outsourced some business to a factory in China.

Like many smaller U.S. candy manufacturers, it has faced consistent pressure from higher domestic sugar costs and competition from lower-cost imports, leading to consolidation or relocation of production.

“Primrose Candy Co., a Chicago-based manufacturer of nonchocolate confectionery products, filed for chapter 11 protection on January 27, 2026, in the Northern District of Illinois. The company is seeking to restructure its financial obligations while maintaining its manufacturing presence in the Midwest,” according to an RK Consulting post on X, the former Twitter.

The Chapter 11 filing for Primrose Candy Co. was confirmed on PacerMonitor and reported by Bondoro, detailing assets estimated between $1 million and $10 million and liabilities of $10 million to $50 million.

“As of 2026, the company continues to operate a 130,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Chicago, though it recently faced significant headwinds including the loss of two major contracts for lemon drop production worth approximately $1 million annually,” according to the RK Consulting post.

The company blamed those losses on “lower-cost foreign competition.”

“Additionally, the company managed liabilities related to a $125,000 biometric privacy settlement regarding the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) that reached a fairness hearing in July 2025,” it added.

Primrose has been operating for nearly 100 years.

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Primrose settled a class action lawsuit

Carmen Ortiz filed a class action lawsuit alleging that Primrose Candy Co. collected its employees’ fingerprints without making the disclosures and receiving the written consent required by the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act.

The company denied and continues to deny the allegations. A settlement was reached in the case.

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“Without admitting any fault or liability, and in exchange for a release of all claims relating to the collection of biometric information, Defendant has agreed to make up to $125,000.00 (available to pay Settlement Class Members, to pay a service award to Plaintiff for serving as the ‘Class Representative,’ to pay attorneys’ fees and expenses to Class Counsel, and to pay settlement administration costs,” according to a website devoted to the settlement.

After the deduction of expenses, the net amount each Settlement Class Member will receive is projected to be $803.

Primrose Candy Chapter 11 bankruptcy at a glance

Here’s a snapshot of Primrose Candy’s financial situation and bankruptcy filing, as reported from official sources. The filings highlight how a company beloved for nostalgic candies, including many hard candies, is navigating financial pressures while trying to maintain its decades-long legacy.

  • Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois on January 27, 2026.
  • The company is a Chicago‑based hard candy, caramel, and popcorn confection manufacturer with operations dating back to 1928.
  • Estimated assets: Between $1 million and $10 million
  • Estimated liabilities: Between $10 million and $50 million
  • Creditor expectations: The filing notes funds available to distribute to unsecured creditors, indicating the case isn’t a no‑asset or liquidation‑only scenario at this stage.
  • Counsel: David K. Welch of Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, P.C.
  • Status: This Chapter 11 filing puts the company into a court‑supervised reorganization process aimed at restructuring debts while potentially allowing operations to continue — rather than immediate liquidation.
    Source: Bondoro

American candy companies face challenges

Sugar prices and foreign competition have presented challenges for lesser-known American candy brands. Hershey and M&M Mars face the same problems, but their scale and brand names give them an edge over smaller rivals.

According to data analyzed by the Sweetener Users Association based on USDA figures, U.S. sugar prices were about 105% higher than global sugar prices in 2023 — meaning U.S. prices were more than double the world price.

“Not only am I competing with unfair trade laws with places like Europe, but I’m also now having to buy ingredients that are sometimes twice as expensive,” Tess Albanese with Albanese Confectionery Group Inc. told Manufacturing.net.

“Untie my hand behind my back and let me have a fair fight […] We need to level the playing field so that my family can go out there and we can create jobs, and we can win on a national and international level.”

Sugar prices remain an ongoing problem for the industry.

“We just found that it was better to just pay more for sugar and pass it along to the consumer than to be completely out of sugar,” Kirk Vashaw, chief executive officer of Dum Dums lollipop maker Spangler Candy Co. told Cato.org. “And there’s a lot of other companies that I think thought the same thing.”

Sugar prices have forced some American candy makers to move their operations.

“These are not isolated examples. In recent decades, numerous companies have packed up for Mexico and even Canada to obtain this critical ingredient at competitive prices. As the president of one such firm said, ‘I just got tired of paying welfare to Big Sugar,’” Cato.org shared.

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