Fanny Farmer was started in Rochester, New York by a Canadian politician and businessman, Frank Patrick O'Connor in 1919 and grew to over 400 stores.

Frank Patrick O-Connor

(1885-1939)

O'Connor had previously started the Laura Secord Candy Shops in Toronto, Ontario in 1913 located at 354 Yonge Street. The company was named "Fanny Farmer" to exploit the exemplary reputation of one of America's foremost culinary experts, Fannie Farmer.  The spelling of the first name was altered simply to "avoid confusion". 

Fanny Farmer stores shared a look that was similar to that of Chicago candy maker, Fannie May.

In 1992, the Archibald Candy Company acquired Fanny Farmer and its 200 retail stores in the Northeastern United States as a sister brand to its own Fannie May candies. In 2004, Alpine Confections purchased Archibald out of receivership, merged Fanny Farmer into Fannie May and moved production to its Ohio-based Harry London Candies which had been acquired a year earlier.  Fannie May was reopened in October 2004 with 45 retail stores.

In April 2006, Fannie May was sold for $85 million.  The chocolates and candy contnued to be manufactured in Ohio under the name Fannie May Confections Brands Inc. while the Fannie May corporate headquarters remained in Chicago.  This ended the brand's stand alone presence remembered by many.

  In 2006, the million-dollar flower and gift company, 1-800-FLOWERS bought the merged company and phased out the Fanny Farmer brand. 

The last long-standing stores were in the Rochester, New York area.

Fannie Merritt Farmer

(1857-1915)

Sidenote:  The "Fanny Farmer" candy shops were a separate entity named in honor of her which were eventually merged with Fannie May. In 1896, she published The Boston Cooking School Cook Book which became a widely used culinary text, later known as The Fannie Farmer Cookbook.  Fannie was often called the "mother of level measurements".