History

Smith & Co. was founded in the City of London in 1780 by William Smith, making Smith Kendon Travel Sweets one of the oldest confectionery brands in the UK, and therefore the world. The recipes continued to be passed down through many family generations until the company was finally registered as a limited company, Smith Kendon in 1948.

In 1984 Smith Kendon acquired the Callard & Bowser, Nuttall's and Riley confectionery brands, and began trading as the Callard & Bowser Group. Callard & Bowser became part of the KRAFT Corporation before being acquired by The Wrigley Company in 2005.

In 2006 the Smith Kendon travel sweet brand was facing extinction, so we took action to ensure continued availability and supply of this well-known and well-loved brand, the original travel sweet.

In January 2008 having learnt of the possible demise of another well loved confectionery brand we acquired York Fruits, formerly produced by Terry’s of York, adding soft juicy fruit jellies to our product range.