PEZ Pops Open Its New Connecticut Visitors Center

By John Voket

ORANGE — Tucked away like the sweet confections hidden within the multitude of bright plastic character dispensers made world famous by PEZ, the company’s Connecticut headquarters was nothing more than a reference point to those who may have passed by recognizing its chunky company logo on signs outside an otherwise unassuming factory complex in Orange.

But since December, PEZ has opened its doors to the world after converting part of its local manufacturing and shipping facility to an entertaining and brightly lit visitors center that has the potential of keeping kids of any age, as well as their adult chaperones, entertained for hours.

One recent morning, The Newtown Bee joined several boisterous groups of children and teens as they took in everything PEZ. Company Project Manager Shawn Peterson and Keith Whitaker, VP of marketing and sales administration for PEZ Candy, Inc, outlined the history and pop culture phenomenon inspired by this unique product.

“Up to this point we never really had an opportunity to share the brand with people,” Mr Peterson said. “It’s an idea that was a long time coming, and we finally had the right time and the right place to expand and create this new facility.”

PEZ, which began life as a simple breath mint dispensed from small metal tins back in 1927, grew into a product aimed at discouraging smoking in the early 1950s. In 1952, the European company sought and received patents on its popular toy dispensers and opened a US division in New York City.

By 1973, the company decided to relocate to its present site in Orange. But it was not until 2011 that PEZ officials began welcoming fans, collectors, and curiosity-seekers to its facility.

Mr Peterson said that while PEZ is packaged and shipped to more than 90 countries, he was pleased that his company could finally invite its global fan base inside the facility where the magic all begins.

Here, visitors can view the entire litany of development for both the candy and those sometimes kitchy but irresistible dispensers that cemented PEZ firmly into the candy history books. And since the Orange facility was primarily a candy factory, it was not permissible to have tours or a place for visitors to come and learn about this unique product.

“It’s still a working factory in every way, but today we can get you as close to the action as possible through these viewing windows,” Mr Peterson said, pointing to several long expanses of windows and the white suited and capped workers taking care of PEZ business in the candy plant.

A Nostalgic Blast

“From here you can stand and watch from just a few feet away as the dispensers and candy are packaged,” Mr Peterson said. “We’ve got a really different product, one of those nostalgic things that people love and remember from their childhood. And there’s not too many brands that still evoke that emotion from their childhood.”

As Mr Peterson described the range of visitors who made their way to the visitors center during its first few weeks of operation, he made note of the fact that some are simply there for the candy, while others — including some serious collectors — were there to see the dispensers. Then there are those who are simply fascinated by how the toy dispenser and candy work together in such symbiotic perfection.

“It’s a debate that rages among the whole collector community: is it a candy or is it a toy?” Mr Peterson said.

One of the first things to greet those who visit the new location is a wall packed with each of the 972 dispensers the company has offered, including a single prototype of which PEZ has only produced a single dispenser.

“Then you come in and we have this giant 14-foot dispenser to greet you — the world’s largest working dispenser,” he said. “It’s so big that sometimes people miss it when they first come in.”

Hanging in the company lobby is also “a toy for big kids,” the Orange County Chopper that was manufactured for PEZ, after the company manufactured a limited edition replica set featuring Paul Sr, Paul Jr, and Mikey from the popular reality show. Mr Peterson said that while younger people are more fascinated by the displays, adults can move through the visitors center playing PEZ trivia.

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve discovered that PEZ is kind of a rock star brand,” Mr Peterson said, adding that the universal popularity of the product since the company combined the candy and mechanical dispenser makes it an easy sell when the company is seeking partnerships and licensing rights.

Form Follows Function

It took more than two decades for PEZ to establish itself as a European breath mint, at which time inventor Eduard Haas III and fellow visionary Oscar Uxa came up with a plastic dispenser that resembled a cigarette lighter. Mr Haas was reportedly looking for a hygienic way to proffer the mints without having people reaching into the original metal tins for a sample.

The combined PEZ experience was unveiled at the 1948 Vienna Trade Fair, and just a few years later the company decided to make its cartridge-shaped mints in colorful fruit flavors and created a Santa Claus, a robot, and a shooting dispenser gun, which made a huge splash with young consumers.

Today, Mr Peterson said, the Santa Claus dispenser remains the company’s best selling and arguably most popular dispenser.

Students of business often reference the historical fact that beyond the immense candy-dispenser novelty, PEZ is also historical in that it was among the first companies to seek widespread licensing of images and characters from the worlds of entertainment, sports, and history.

Popeye, Mickey Mouse, and Casper the Ghost were the first three cross-licensed dispensers the company manufactured, and today PEZ remains Disney’s second oldest licensing partner, right after Donald Duck Orange Juice.

“We’ve probably done more Disney dispensers than anything else, and it’s a proud relationship,” Mr Peterson said. “Mickey Mouse probably has a dozen iterations over the years as the partnership evolved.”

PEZ officials are particularly astute at recognizing pop culture images icons just before they pop, and rushing sometimes eerily-precise likenesses into production. The company has recreated not only the cast of Orange County Choppers, but an entire galley of Presidents, a collection of plush Hello Kitty dispensers, and dispensers resembling the entire cast of the Lord of the Rings motion picture trilogy, to name but a few.

The PEZ Visitor Center is at 35 Prindle Hill Road in Orange. Hours are seasonal and subject to change, but are currently posted as Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm; Sunday, noon to 5 pm.

To learn more about the company, and to plan a trip to the PEZ Visitors Center, visit www.pez.com.