Jelly Belly Factory

View from Jelly Belly Lane The triumphal arch

The Jelly Belly Factory is about a 30 min. drive down I-80 from Davis. The place is adorned with pictures of their mascot, Mr. Jelly Belly; notice the decorated cars parked in front of the store. Also notable are the portraits done in jelly beans; there is one of Ronald Reagan and one of Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to a clerk at the store, there will never be one of a Democrat, so we should not expect to see a Dianne Feinstein or a Barbara Boxer portrait any time soon.

You can take a free factory tour and see how they make their jelly beans and other candy products; the tour lasts about 40 minutes. Tours are held daily from 9am - 4pm, except Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, and Easter Sunday. The quality of the tour very much varies with the tour guide, but the jelly beans are amazingly beautiful, and it is stunning to see them in such huge quantities. You will be given a 2-ounce sample bag of assorted jelly beans at the conclusion of your tour.

There is also a small cafe with cafeteria-quality food, but kids may be amused by items such as pizza and hamburgers in the shape of a jelly bean.

Not to be missed, of course, is the store, where all manner of Jelly Belly products can be purchased — not just the jelly beans (regular, sours, Bertie Bott's, etc.), but also JBz, candy corn, assorted chocolates, ice cream and fudge, and other types of candies. You can get Belly Flops ("irregular" jelly beans) at a discount. There is a station where you can ask for samples of all the jelly beans and JBz, and if you go on a quiet day, they seem willing to let you stand there and try sample after sample.

2010-02-12 07:35:51   The tour and store are hilarious and definitely worth the drive down from Davis once. I highly recommend going on a non-holiday weekday rather than a weekend. On the weekdays you get to see all the workers working, which is much more entertaining than just watching the movies they show of workers on the weekend. The tour is also a lot less busy. Make sure you come an hour before the tour stops for the day, since especially at peak times (often weekends, holidays, summers) the wait can be long, and the tours end at at a specific time even if there's still people in line. —bear