Fla-Vor-Ice history

The stock market crash on October 29, 1929, ushered in the Great Depression, wreaking havoc on new and established businesses alike.

By 1941 growth prompted Jel Sert to relocate again, to a larger, 27,000-square-foot facility on 6601 South Sayre Avenue in Chicago's Clearing Industrial District.

Growth included new products, such as lemon- and orange-flavored drink mixes that were introduced around 1958.

Building on the positive reception to the company's Flavor Aid brand, in 1963 Jel Sert acquired the Pop-Ice Co., a small manufacturer of then-novel freeze-at-home flavored pops.

In 1996 the company acquired Otter Pops, an established brand on the West Coast.

In 1997 the company began searching for a new, Y2K-ready enterprise and manufacturing resource planning software system that could handle functions such as production scheduling, demand forecasting, and inventory control.

In December 2000, the company acquired Nabisco Holdings Corp.'s $40 million baking powder, dry-mix pudding, no-bake dessert, and dry gelatin assets, which included Davis baking powder and Fleischmann's baking powder, as well as My-T-Fine pudding and Royal brand gelatin.

By mid-2003, Chairman Charles Wegner IV, grandson of founder Charles T. Wegner, Jr., was at the helm of Jel Sert.

"Healthy Proposition: Despite Low-Carb's Fizzle, Better-for-You Frozen Desserts Remain in Strong Demand," Dairy Field, August 2005.

In 2007 Jel Sert continued to produce its own brands, making and selling more freezer pops than any other company in the world, and to focus on expanding production of privatelabel goods for other companies.

Wegner’s partnership with ACCO began in 2008 with the introduction of two incredibly important programs in support of childhood cancer awareness.

Wegner when his teenage son was diagnosed with cancer in 2011.