Bell Flavors & Fragrances celebrated 100 years in business on July 25, 2012, with a formal reception at the Lincolnshire Marriott Resort. With more than 300 guests in attendance, Bell presented a one-of-a-kind 3D commemorative art piece, as well as a commemorative video honoring Bell’s 100 years in business.
The company was founded in Chicago in 1912 by William M. Bell, who used his background as a flavor chemist at Kraft foods to start up his own flavor business selling flavors to local ice cream parlors, grocery stores and soda pop shops. In the 1930s as Chicago was becoming the “Candy Capital of the World", Bell’s flavors were incorporated into some of the first caramels and marshmallows produced in the United States. Following Bell’s death in the late 1930s, Theonett & Co. purchased the Wm. M. Bell Company and ran the company until Edward N. Heinz purchased the company in 1967.
After acquiring two fragrance companies, Heinz changed the Wm. M. Bell Company to Bell Flavors and Fragrances, Inc. Over the next 40 years, Bell acquired 15 flavor and fragrance businesses around the world including manufacturing locations in Northbrook, Ill.; Middletown, N.Y.; Guadalajara, Mexico; Brossard (Montreal), Canada; Leipzig, Germany; Shanghai, China and Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Service has been one of the keys to Bell’s success. “We really differentiate ourselves from our competitors with the service we offer our customers. Customers want their supplier to make them feel special. They want to feel that the supplier is doing something very unique for them. That is what we provide our customers," said James Heinz, Bell’s president and CEO.
