Melster Candies leaving longtime Cambridge facility for Janesville
JANESVILLE — A decades-old candy manufacturer apparently is sweet on Janesville.
Sources have told the Gazette that Melster Candies will move its manufacturing operation from Cambridge to Janesville, where the high-volume candy maker will lease a 102,000-square-foot building at 4017 Whitney St.
The building, the most recent home of MCI Mechanical Contractors, will be renovated for the manufacture of Melster's product line.
Henry and Arthur Melster established the company in Cambridge in 1919. Warrell Corp. acquired it in 1982 and sold it in 2004 to Impact Confections of Colorado Springs, Colo.
Impact is the largest manufacturer of 3-D lollipops in the United States and owns the extreme sour brand Warheads.
Officials from Melster in Cambridge and Impact in Colorado were not available Monday afternoon to provide more specifics on the move to Janesville.
In Cambridge, Melster employs about 85 people and 30 additional workers on a seasonal basis. A majority of the Cambridge workers are expected to follow their jobs to Janesville, about 30 miles away.
"This project demonstrates the critical roles that geographic proximity, right-sized real estate and value-added partnerships play in a site selection decision," said James Otterstein, Rock County's economic development manager. "We congratulate all of the parties involved and welcome Melster Candies into Rock County's expanding food-related industry cluster."
Otterstein said the addition of Melster should provide some stability to a building that over the last decade has seen significant tenant turnover.
Bill Mears of McGuire Mears & Associates in Janesville represented the building's landlord in the lease agreement.
Dec 22, 2011 at 11:18 a.m.
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Sweet.
Nov 10, 2010 at 10:37 p.m.
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just so everybody knows i wasent tring to put hispanics down and yes i have toured the plant and there are alot of hispanics working there and they seemed to be very hard workers but melster works these poor folks to the ground and does not pay these people what there worth. My point is here is another company coming to Janesville and maybe getting TIF money from the city and there not really crerating more jobs for the city they will mostly be bring there existing workers and by watching these guys work they deserve more than minimum wage by far so this isnt really helping are economy much at all.
Nov 10, 2010 at 6:27 p.m.
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Thanks frusion- I don't work in Janesville ! )
Nov 10, 2010 at 6:10 p.m.
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frogger, on a good day I could throw a rock from where you work to where MCI was. Kettering and Whitney.
Nov 10, 2010 at 5:48 p.m.
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Where is MCI?
This is good.
I agree most will just commute.
Maybe a few will move here which would also be good. Yes sad for Cambridge but the people will still have a job they are not fired.
Nov 10, 2010 at 7:19 a.m.
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Thinker - Where do you see gloating from Janesville due to this move? It's a news story by the local newspaper and is not gloating, it is reporting.
moho - Maybe you know something many of us don't. Are the majority of this company's employees, that will continue to work for the company, Hispanic? And if so, so what. Your sarcastic comment seems to verge a bit on the racist side.
This decision by Melster Candies to relocate it's company to Janesville is a BUSINESS decision. This happens all the time in the business world.
Although it will have an impact on Cambridge, if the employees commute for their jobs, the money they earn will stay in the community of Cambridge as that is where they live. Perhaps many of the employees live in communities between Janesville and Cambridge, or possibly some already live in the area and commute to Cambridge.
Assuming comments tend to make the person posting the comment look ignorant and ill-informed.
Nov 10, 2010 at 6:28 a.m.
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moho1995, what color or race of employee would you approve of? If you're lucky they might employ stupid people in which case you should contact them immediately for a position.
Nov 10, 2010 at 5:01 a.m.
Nov 9, 2010 at 10:36 p.m.
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Thinker, very few businesses spring up out of nothing into 100-person employers. Almost any business coming to a community is coming from someplace else. For what it's worth, Cambridge is in Dane County, which has the lowest unemployment rate in the state, and we're in Rock, which has the 2nd highest. Since most of the employees, at least initially, will probably commute, this doesn't affect Cambridge quite as much as if the plant had closed or moved farther away.
Nov 9, 2010 at 8:39 p.m.
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Good for Janesville - I know this will be good for the community. Unfortunately, this can't be good for Cambridge. Everyone needs jobs in their community - I find it very disappointing that Janesville, of all places, would have an article gloating over its acquisition of a company from a nearby community. No, it's not a huge move, but it will still have a negative impact on the Cambridge community, and they could use some business too.
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