"Let Them Eat Cake Frango!"

By Chuck Sudo in Food on May 3, 2007 6:00PM

You may not have to like the change from Marshall Field's to Macy's - and we know that most of you don't - but they are making good on one promise made during all the hullabaloo after that announcement was made. Federated Department Stores Inc., Macy's parent company, is thisclose to bringing production of Frango mints back to Chicago, fulfilling one of many caveats Federated made to soften the blow of re-naming Marshall Field's Macy's.

Among the companies being considered for gaining the Frango mint production are Cupid Candies, the south side-owned confectioner that claims Crate & Barrel as a private-label client, helped reinvent the Dove Bar, and makes a rich mint chocolate similar to Frango. Another confectioner in the running is the current maker of Frango, Pennsylvania-based Gertrude Hawk, which would have to find a local production facility if they win the contract.

We know some of you will never get over the Macy Field's fiasco, and this is just one small token on the part of Federated to try to woo customers back through the stores. It's also one that, for now, should be taken as a good-faith gesture and one that can have serious economic advantages for the area. Since the renaming, Federated has expanded the availability of Frango to all of its Macy's locations. Given the candy's Chicago roots, we can at least be proud to know that the rest of the country now has the opportunity to discover what some of us might take for granted about the little mint that can.