The business began in 1767 as a shop close to
Bootham Bar, York, selling cough lozenges, lemon and orange
candied fruit, and other sweets. and by 1818 the business had moved to
3 St Helen's Square, York. Joseph Terry, who was born in
Pocklington in 1793, went to York to serve as an apprentice
apothecary in either Stonegate or Spurriergate. On gaining his certificates, he set up as a chemist in
Walmgate. In 1823 he married Harriet Atkinson, who was either a niece or sister-in-law of Robert Berry In 1825, after the death of Robert Berry, Two years later Coultherd also left and Terry became the sole owner of the business.
Joseph Terry and Company Using the skills he learned as a chemist, Joseph developed new lines of confectionery. He began using the developing railway network of the
North Eastern Railway to distribute his products in the
North of England and in London. By 1840, Terry's products were sold in over 75 towns and cities and sold various products including candied eringo, coltsfoot rock, gum balls and conversation lozenges, which were an early form of
Love Hearts. The company also produced marmalade, marzipan, ketchups and jellies. After Joseph Terry died in 1850 the company was in the control of solicitors and executors until 1854 when it was handed over to his sons
Joseph Jnr, Robert, and John. It was opened in 1926; new products included the Chocolate Apple (1926),
Terry's Chocolate Orange (1932), and
Terry's All Gold, which were developed and produced onsite. In 1934, Joseph Terry & Sons was listed on the
London Stock Exchange.
Second World War With the onset of the
Second World War The factory was taken over by F. Hills and Sons of
Manchester as a
shadow factory to manufacture and repair aircraft propeller blades. The price was £4.25 million paid for in Forte shares and Noel Terry joined the Forte board. Forte Group already owned Fullers, a bakery and confectionery company based in Hammersmith, closing their factory in 1964 and transferring their confectionery production, including Peppermint lumps to York.
Charles Forte appointed Ian Johnston as managing director, who modernised the business and introduced the first television adverts for the company. The
Colgate-Palmolive company acquired Joseph Terry & Sons from
Trust House Forte in 1977 for £17 million. Terry's at this time had 30% of the UK market for assortment boxes, with All Gold accounting for 20%, while Moonlight accounted for a further 10%. It was under Colgate-Palmolive that Terry's developed the short lived Chocolate Lemon. By 1981 Terry's revenue from All Gold stood at £11 million. United Biscuits used Terry's to develop private branded products for retailers which at the time only had 2% of the chocolate market. Peter Terry, the last family member that worked for the business left in 1985. In 1988, United Biscuits purchased the confectionery business of
Callard and Bowser from
Beatrice Foods, and together the companies were known as the Terry's Group. United Biscuits purchased French confectionery company Chocometz for £5.5 million in 1990 and added it to the Terry's Group, while also agreeing a distribution deal for
Marabou's Daim bar in the UK. In 1992, United Biscuits purchased 74% of Italian confectionery business Aura which was merged into Terry's Group. Terry's Group in 1991 had made $14.3 million pre tax profits on $153 million of sales, 5% of United Biscuits business. United Biscuits in 1992 decided to concentrated its business on the savory snacks and biscuits, and sold Terry's Group to
Philip Morris and its subsidiary Kraft Foods for £220 million. Terry's was amalgamated with
Chocolat Suchard, to form Terry's Suchard, in 1993 after Philip Morris purchased Jacob Suchard Tobler. From 2000, the company brand was changed from Terry's of York to Terry's, reducing the company's links with York. Production was also scaled back to UK products and Terry's Chocolate Orange, Terry's All Gold, and Twilight made for the international market.
The new millennium In 2004, Kraft Foods decided to absorb Terry's, move production of remaining products such as All Gold and Chocolate Orange to factories in Belgium, Sweden, Poland, and Slovakia, and close the plant. The factory closed on 30 September 2005 with the loss of 316 jobs. In 2012, Kraft split into two companies; one called
Kraft Foods Group and the other called
Mondelēz International. After the split, Terry's became part of Mondelēz. It was reported in December 2015 that Mondelēz were in discussions with
Lazard, the investment bank about selling several of their brands which included Terry's. Mondelēz controversially reduced the size of the Chocolate Orange in 2016 which produced outrage amongst the buying public. In 2016, Terry's was one of a number of brands acquired by
Eurazeo and it subsequently became part of Carambar & Co. Production of the Chocolate Orange was moved to the Caramber facilities in
Strasbourg. In 2021, Heinz collaborated with Terry's to produce the world's first Chocolate Orange Mayonnaise. ==Advertising and marketing==