Jelly Belly Factory Tour: Fairfield, California
The Jelly Belly Factory tour is located in Fairfield California and offers tours. The Jelly Belly Factory Tour makes a great day trip from San Francisco and is fun for all ages. Read on to learn everything you need to know about this tour in this Jelly Belly Factory tour guide blog.
Jelly Belly Factory Tour Details:
Location:
1 Jelly Belly Lane
Fairfield California
This is located right off of I-80 and is about an hour outside of downtown San Francisco.
Cost: $5 adults, $2 children (When we visited, the tour was free).
Hours: 7 days/week 9am-5pm. If you visit on a holiday or a weekend, the factory may not be in operation, but you can still do the self-guided tour.
Time Commitment: An hour
Visiting the Jelly Belly Factory
**NOTE: We visited when the tour was free. At that time, they did not allow photography on the tour. As of 2021, admission is now $5/adult and you can take photos on the tour**
The Jelly Belly Factory is located Fairfield California, right off the I-80 freeway, in a boring business park area. I seriously felt like I was going to work when driving around to find the place. Parking is free and plentiful.
When you walk into the Jelly Belly Factory, you’re dumped right in what looks like a mall food court. There’s a gift shop on the side, that stocks all “outlet” type candies and souvenirs – this is the place to buy your beans and SWAG, as it is much cheaper than in the main gift shop, though not nearly as good of a selection.
To take the tour, you have to wear a goofy sailor cap — yes you HAVE to wear the silly hats, no exceptions. After climbing the stairs, you’re greeting by a photographer who will take your group’s photo (you can opt of out) and then you’re on the self-guided tour.
We visited the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield California on Memorial Day, so the factory wasn’t in operation. While you can still do the self-guided tour, you cannot see workers making the Jelly Beans or any equipment in operation. This will put a damper on your visit — I’m sure it’s much better when it’s in operation.
Video monitors show, on a loop, what you’re looking at below in each of the areas. Because the tour is self-guided, you need to watch these videos if you want to get anything out of this ‘tour.’ I know, I know…watching videos is boring – I have the attention span of a gnat – but do your best to watch because it’s actually pretty interesting. After you come out of the tour, you’ll have a new appreciation of all the hard work it takes to make one freakin’ jelly bean! Who knew?
At the end of the tour, you’re dumped off in yet another gift shop, where you can pick up your free bag o beans. We were disappointed in that the only option was the nasty sour Jelly Bellys, but it’s free so we grabbed them.
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I was disappointed in the “sample bar” — you cannot belly up to this bar and try all of the beans. There is a line and you only get 3 flavor choices per turn (you’d have to back in line to try more). I didn’t get to try all the weird flavors I was hoping for.
The gift shop is expensive but there is a lot of neat stuff but we didn’t buy anything. I doubt I’d go back, and even though the Jelly Belly Factory tour was a little disappointing, I’m still glad we did this.
Jelly Belly Factory Tour – Final Thoughts
Pros:
You’ll learn everything you’ve always wanted to know about jelly bean production but were afraid to ask
You get a free bag of Jelly Belly beans
Cheesy hat is a great photo prop!
Cons:
No longer free
No guided tours – this is now completely self-guided. Prior to 2021, Jelly Belly offered guided tours when the factory was in production).
They’re stingy with the free samples
