<P> Jolly Rancher is an American brand of sweet, somewhat tangy or sour / sweet hard candy, gummies, fruit chews, jelly beans, lollipops, gelatin desserts, gum, and sodas . It is currently owned by The Hershey Company . The product was originally produced by the Jolly Rancher Company, founded by Bill Harmsen of Golden, Colorado . The Jolly Rancher Company made ice cream, chocolate and candy sold at several "Ranch Maid Ice Cream" stores in the Denver area . The name was meant to suggest a hospitable, western company . </P> <P> In 2002, Hershey closed the Wheat Ridge, Colorado plant and moved the manufacturing of the candy to Mexico to save costs . </P> <P> Bill Harmsen founded the Jolly Rancher Company in 1949 with the goal of having a name that seemed friendly and welcoming to customers . His candies were originally sold in Denver, Colorado, making his other products like ice cream hard to sell in the cold winter months . Since this became an issue, Harmsen decided to put his main focus into his hard candies . He figured that this would be something that could be enjoyed year - round, no matter the cold temperatures . </P> <P> Jolly Rancher candies original flavors were watermelon, grape, apple, and Fire Stix . They then introduced cherry, orange tangerine, lemon, peach, and sour apple . Eventually, blue raspberry replaced lemon . In 2013, lemon was reintroduced in an all - lemon bag . Current flavors include cherry, blue raspberry, grape, green apple and watermelon . There are also sour, berry, cinnamon, and smoothie varieties . In 2015, Jolly Rancher offered a "Fruity Bash" variety bag which includes strawberry, mountain berry, lemon, orange, and pineapple . They also offer a "red" bag, with flavors such as strawberry and fruit punch, along with other "red" flavors . As of 2012, the peach flavor and wild berry flavors were discontinued by The Hershey Company . </P>

When did the blue raspberry jolly rancher come out