In early 1997, Dae Julie was purchased. Dae Julie was founded in 1963 as a candy importer by David Babiarz. In 1990, Mr. Babiarz went on to start a new business and built a new plant to support it. The new business registered as Candyland, and the new facility was a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant located in the Chicago suburb of Des Plaines, Illinois. The primary product focus of Candyland was Gummy candies for which demand was rapidly rising, though the starch-molding equipment could be used for a wide range of products. A trademark search revealed 30 other companies using the name Candyland, so the decision was made to use the Dae Julie name on Candyland products. At the time of its acquisition in early 1997 by Favorite Brands, it was considered one of the top Gummy manufacturers in the country, with annual sales of over $40 million (at manufacturer prices). Overall retail sales of Gummy products was estimated to be between $150 million and $175 million in the year of acquisition, with Nabisco's Gummi Savers accounting for $40 million of that total (at retail). Trolli, Farley Candy and Ferrara Pan were the other large producers at the time for the U.S. market.