In 1876, Ferdinand Bunte, Gustav A. Bunte, and Charles A. Spoehr started a candy manufactory on State Street in Chicago. After a few years, Ferdinand's son Theodore W. Bunte took charge of the business. By the 1910s, when Bunte Bros. did annual sales of about $2.4 million, the company employed about 1,200 people. As late as the 1950s, it had over 1,000 workers in its Chicago plants. In 1954, Bunte Brothers Candy Co. was purchased by Chase Candy Co. of St. Joseph, Missouri, and a new firm, Bunte-Chase, was created. In 1961, the firm closed the Chicago plant, dropped the Bunte name, and returned to St. Joseph.

This entry is part of the Encyclopedia's Dictionary of Leading Chicago Businesses (1820-2000) that was prepared by Mark R. Wilson, with additional contributions from Stephen R. Porter and Janice L. Reiff.