Maker of Clark Bars closes Revere factory

Brands sold to unknown entity

Is Pittsburgh’s iconic Clark Bar gone for good?

The family-owned investment company that bought the New England Confectionery Co. — maker of the Clark Bar, Necco Wafers and other nostalgic candies — in bankruptcy court in May for $17.3 million, abruptly closed the manufacturing plant in Revere outside of Boston on Tuesday.

“Round Hill Investments was very excited to acquire Necco’s historic brands and to be part of their national resurgence,” the company said in a statement supplied to the Boston Globe.

“After careful engagement and consideration, however, the firm decided to sell the brands to another national confection manufacturer and today announced the closure of operations in Revere.”

Round Hill, an entity owned by billionaire C. Dean Metropoulos and his sons, known for saving Hostess Twinkies, did not identify the buyer or say whether production would resume.

Necco was founded in 1847 and billed itself as the oldest continuously operated candy company in the country. It acquired the rights and equipment to the Clark Bar — created in Pittsburgh in 1917 by Irish immigrant David L. Clark — in a Pittsburgh bankruptcy auction in 1999.

Art Montminy, international vice president for the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers union in Maryland, which represents about 300 production workers at the Revere plant, said he wasn’t told who purchased the brands.

“I heard there is only one machine that can [make Clark Bars] anywhere in the world, and that was the one these guys have” in Revere, he said. “They would have to sell the equipment along with the brand to be able to make it again.”

Necco filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April, a month after announcing it would close unless it found a buyer. News of the potential shutdown set off panic buying among retailers and consumers who feared losing some of their favorite childhood treats.

Besides the Clark Bar and Necco Wafers, some of the company’s other products include the chocolate Sky Bar, Sweethearts conversation hearts, Mary Jane chews, Candy Buttons and Mighty Malts malted milk balls.