Pearson’s Candy Company to shut down St. Paul plant

The longtime St. Paul factory behind Pearson’s Salted Nut Roll is set to close.

Pearson’s Candy Company told Minnesota officials it will permanently shut down the West Seventh Street plant and lay off about 80 employees at the end of September.

The company said the facility is no longer financially sustainable.

Alex Allen, who served as Pearson’s vice president of operations for four years, said candy makers are facing rising production costs and higher prices for ingredients such as chocolate.

“Inevitable is a little bit too hard of a word, but it a little bit feels that way, and even the big multinationals are also feeling a lot of pressure in this space,” Allen said.

Former Pearson’s maintenance director Scott Kieland said successive private equity owners failed to make the investments the aging factory needed.

“It really needed a turnaround. I mean, they needed to invest some money,” Kieland said. “At that point, the ownership team wasn’t really interested in investing. In fact, they wanted to divest.”

Pearson’s parent company, Promise Confections, said in a statement the brand’s iconic treats may live on.

“At this time, we’re looking to move certain key brands of Pearson’s to a strategic partner and we’ll continue to explore all options to make these legacy products,” the company said in its statement. “This decision was made after careful consideration and reflects the current business and economic environment.”

For former employees, the closure also carries a personal weight. Dave Lutz, who worked for Pearson’s nearly 30 years ago, said the Salted Nut Roll has remained his favorite candy.

“It’ll be very disappointing to not see the candy logo, and a company and a place that I spent four years of my life with, to be gone,” Lutz said.

Lili Euzet contributed reporting to this story.