Founding Ezaki Glico, Glico Nutritious Candy, and the Hardships of the Early Days

In the Taisho Era (1912–1926), Japan’s modernization proceeded apace, and the heavy and chemical industries grew dramatically. During the global depression in the early Showa Era (1926–1989), the world experienced drastic change. Like so many businesses, Glico would face severe challenges that nearly terminated its growth before it had a chance to take off.
In 1919, founder EZAKI Ri-ichi was managing a business selling wine in his hometown of Saga, but kept wondering if a different business would allow him to make wider contributions to society. One day he saw oyster broth spilling from a cauldron on the banks of the Hayatsue River, a tributary of the Chikugo that flowed through his hometown. Oyster broth is rich in glycogen, and Ri-ichi wondered if he could make use of it. He began work on a nutritious candy for children that he named “Glico.”

He had no experience in confectionery production, but he came up with an imaginative product plan that differentiated Glico nutritious candy, and founded a company in Osaka to manufacture it.

He made the rounds of wholesalers, explaining that the product was highly nutritious and unlike conventional caramel-type candies. The wholesalers were skeptical, and Ri-ichi found it very difficult to distribute his product. But he believed that if it could be featured at Mitsukoshi Department Store, Japan’s leading retailer, it would be adopted by smaller retailers, just as a stone rolled from a mountaintop naturally moves downward. And after extensive negotiations, the day came when Glico finally found a place on the shelves of Mitsukoshi’s Osaka Store, on February 11, 1922. The company would later designate this date as its founding anniversary.

Nevertheless, initial sales were disappointing. His funds were dwindling, but Ri-ichi had planned for adversity. He responded with a promotional campaign that was very similar to today’s practice of distributing flyers with coupons, and product samples. He also worked to improve the taste of the candy, and in just over two years, his company returned to profitability.

As sales grew rapidly, Ri-ichi tripled his production space and boosted output to meet orders coming in from all over the country, thanks to his aggressive advertising. Unfortunately, things started to go wrong. Ri-ichi had misjudged the market’s demand. Mountains of unsold product were returned from wholesalers, and the operation quickly went into the red. Ri-ichi had been misled by the initial large orders, a lesson he never forgot. He worked hard to rebuild the business by responding sincerely to his suppliers and adding fruit caramels and other new products to his lineup.

Ri-ichi would go on to highlight the concept of “play” that had been part of Glico since the beginning, and after he came up with the idea of offering miniature toy prizes in toy boxes packaged with the candy, business results improved dramatically.