Sorbee International is a candy and confection company that develops, distributes and sells products worldwide under its own brand names: Sorbee® and EatRite BeFit™ and via license from Kraft under the brand names CRYSTAL LIGHT® and COUNTRY TIME®. The Company’s Sorbee and EatRite BeFit brands include sugar free chocolate candies in many different varieties, sugar free hard candy in multiple flavors, sugar free black and red licorice, fruit chews (Sorbee Bursts®), sugar free lollypops, sugar free cookies in several different varieties and sugar free syrups in multiple flavors. The Company’s CRYSTAL LIGHT and COUNTRY TIME lines currently include a variety of well-known CRYSTAL LIGHT flavors contained in sugar free hard candy available in various package sizes, and non-sugarfree (i.e. traditional) lemonade hard candy which is also available in several different sizes. The Company’s products are distributed widely and can be found in grocery stores, convenience stores, mass marketers, chain drug stores, club stores, bulk suppliers and online at Sorbee.com.
As Sorbee has done since its founding over 30 years ago, we are dedicated to making the best tasting, interesting and highest quality candy available at reasonable prices. While we are a candy company at heart, the Company’s early history was steeped in service to doctors and dentists. Sorbee was the first company in the United States to manufacture sugar free lollypops for doctors, dentists and hospitals. The well-known Philadelphia-based Stone family founded the business and created the company’s initial products and built the brand so that the name Sorbee became synonymous with sugar free candy. Through the sugar free lollypops, the Stones hit on a product concept early in the Company’s history that was desired by health professionals and favored by parents. Sorbee’s customer list today comprises almost every major retailer in the United States and Canada, but also still includes thousands of health professionals, hospitals and clinics who are looking for more healthful candy alternatives for their customers. Notice we call them “customers” and not “patients.” Candy is a universal concept in almost every culture of the world and should be enjoyed. Regardless of whether a person consumes our products as a result of a visit to a dentist or because of a trip to the grocery store, anyone who consumes our products is a customer.
It is true that our business also has a large following among weight conscious and diabetic consumers, both very large segments of the U.S. population. We value that business very highly and strongly believe that every customer, regardless of their circumstances, deserves excellent, exciting, high quality and delicious products every time they choose to indulge in a treat. We are honored to be able to provide products that people want and need and we believe that we sell the highest quality sugar free confections in the world.
But Sorbee is not just sugar free. We have been in the candy business since our inception. We are also a specialty candy company that develops and sells branded and licensed non-sugar free (i.e. traditional) candy products. The Company’s biggest selling traditional candy is it 's COUNTRY TIME lemonade hard candy. It is, in our opinion (and many of our customers’ opinions) the best tasting lemon flavored candy available. We are expanding this line of products and intend to have a full line of additional COUNTRY TIME branded lemonade candy products available in late 2009 or early 2010.
We actively search for other interesting candy concepts to bring to market, both traditional and sugar free, and we seek licenses under which to sell our products in both of our major business segments.
In April, 2008, Sorbee was acquired by Werther Partners, LLC, a New York based private equity firm specializing in the acquisition, management and operation of businesses in the food, confection and licensed products spaces. Dan Werther, principal of Werther Partners, has over 25 years of experience in operating consumer product businesses and is the company’s fulltime CEO. The Company continues to occupy the location where it was started over 30 years ago. Sorbee’s management team includes a small group of highly dedicated professionals each with many years of service to the Company, all of whom are experts in the candy and confection industry.
