In 1919, Riichi Ezaki created a caramel candy product containing glycogen extracted from oyster. The caramel candy product was named "Glico," a shortening of the word glycogen. The sales copy of this product was "300 Meters in a Single Piece," and a running man was painted on the package. On February 11, 1922 Riichi started selling Glico products at Mitsukoshi Osaka branch. Later, in 1922, Riichi established a company, Ezaki Glico Co., Ltd. Its Osaka Factory and Tokyo Factory were destroyed during World War II, and they were reopened in 1951. In 1984, Glico Morinaga case, a series of criminal incidents targeting Japanese major food manufacturers, occurred. Ezaki Glico was one of the victims. Targeted by a group known as "The Monster with 21 Faces", the group claimed that $21 million worth of sweets were laced with Potassium cyanide soda, while Katsuhisa Ezaki, President and CEO, was kidnapped but escaped by himself. Ezaki Glico was blackmailed and its office was burned by the criminals.
Overseas
Ezaki Glico has been expanding its business overseas. At first, in 1932, Ezaki Glico established its factory in Dalian, China. In 1970, Ezaki Glico started its business in Thailand, establishing Thai Glico Co., Ltd. Later, in 1982, Generale Biscuit Glico France S.A. was established and started sales of Mikado in France. Ezaki Glico established Ezaki Glico USA Co., Ltd. in 2003. Additionally, it established PT Glico Wings in 2013 and PT Glico Indonesia in 2014, both of which are Indonesian companies.
Products
Ezaki Glico manufactures a wide variety of products. Just major products are listed here.
Confectioneries
TCHO, Berkeley, California based artisanal chocolate manufacturer of various chocolate bars.
Glico, caramel product. In addition to the standard flavor, there are caramel flavor and crushed almond flavor products.
Pocky, chocolate-coated pretzel sticks, which come in many other flavors. The total sales from 1966 exceeds 10 billion packages. In Europe, this product is sold with the "Mikado" brand.
Pretz, pretzel sticks, which come in many other flavors.
Almond Chocolate, almonds coated by chocolate.
Caplico, frosting-dipped waffle biscuits in the shape of ice cream cones that come in either chocolate or strawberry flavor.
Bisco, wheat germ crackers with yogurt cream using special yeast.
BREO, an oral care candy that was developed for cleaning the tongue and breath.
Dairy products
Pucchin Pudding, the world's best-selling pudding product. Its characteristic is a special package with which consumers can efficiently move the contents on a plate.
Ice-cream products
Giant Cone, ice cream in a large cone with crisp chocolate and nut toppings.
Panapp, vanilla ice cream in a handy long cup with fruit sauce fillings in the centre.
Papico, sherbet that comes in tubes.
Ice no Mi, bite-sized round ice candies. Ezaki Glico promoted this product by an extremely realistic CG character, Aimi Eguchi, who was created using facial features from members of the pop girl group, AKB48.
Calorie Control Ice Cream series, which uses lower-calorie sweetening agents maltitol and sucralose in place of sugar and starch syrup often used in ice cream. Tofu is also used to replace dairy products to lower the amount of calories.
ICREO Balance Milk, a powdered baby formula manufactured by Icreo Co., Ltd.
Advertisement
Ezaki Glico's large LED sign located above Dōtonbori in Osaka has been a landmark of the city since its initial construction in 1935. It bears the Glico running man on a blue race track, as well as some of Osaka's other landmarks in the background. The giant neon sign has been revised on several occasions in order to celebrate events such as the World Cup and to bolster team spirit for Osaka's baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers. As the sign is quite well known, it has long been a popular photo stop for tourists as well as locals. Ezaki Glico was also the main sponsor of the anime series Tetsujin 28.
