Can A Former Necco CEO Save The Company?

REVERE, MA – The clock is ticking on the New England Confectionary Co., which badly needs a buyer before its lease expires in August. Necco officials said in March the company may have to close its Revere headquarters, the city's largest employer, and lay off about 400 workers.

Enter Al Gulachenski, Necco's CEO from 2011-2015. Gulachenski told candystore.com his plan to save the company involves relocating it to new digs – in Massachusetts of course – and maintaining as many of the current employee as possible. He also wants to bring back the executive team from his tenure as CEO.

To do this, he says he needs $30 million. He plans to raise $5-10 million and crowdfund the remaining $20 million. It's a lofty goal; as of Thursday, his GoFundMe campaign had raised a little over $3,000.

Necco moved from Cambridge to cheaper Revere in 2003. Last year the company's headquarters were sold for $55 million to developers looking for space for robotics. It stuck around the digs, but its lease reportedly expires in August.

The vast majority of the Necco workforce – about 400 employees – may be laid off if a buyer isn't found. Negotiations that would allow Necco to continue operations are "ongoing," McGee said in a letter to Revere Mayor Brian Arrigo in March.

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