Hammond's Candies is a candy manufacturer of hard candies and chocolates in the United States. The company makes

lollipop A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker, sticky-pop, etc. Lollipops are ava ...

s, ribbon candy, and its best known product, oversized

candy cane A candy cane is a cane-shaped stick candy often associated with Christmastide, as well as Saint Nicholas Day. It is traditionally white with red stripes and flavored with peppermint, but they also come in a variety of other flavors and colors. ...

s.Hammond's Candy Company
(video) Travel Channel Hammond's offerings have also included Honey Ko Kos (chocolates topped with shredded coconut), Mitchell Sweet (a "bite-sized" marshmallow surrounded by caramel), and candy coal. Hammond's has expanded its offerings to include dips, pretzels,

caramel corn Caramel corn or caramel popcorn (toffee popcorn in the UK) is a confection made of popcorn coated with a sugar or molasses based caramel candy shell that is normally less than 1mm thick. Typically a sugar solution or syrup is made and heated until ...

s and chocolate bars. After acquiring McCraw's Candies and Old Dominion Peanut Company, they further expanded their offerings to include peanut brittle and flat taffy.

History

Carl T. Hammond, Sr. founded Hammond's Candy Company in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

in 1920, after working for several years as an apprentice in the candymaking industry. During his early days in business, he developed his own original candy, Carl's Honey KoKos, which consisted of chocolates topped with shredded coconut. In the 1930s, the company began producing and selling caramel-covered marshmallows called "Mitchell Sweets," which were named after Hammond, Sr.'s friend from whom he purchased the candy's recipe. The company continues to sell Mitchell Sweets as of 2020. The company remained in the Hammond family for many decades, being run by Hammond, Sr. until his death in 1966, then by his son, Carl T. ("Tom") Hammond, Jr., until his death in 1985, and finally by Hammond, Jr.'s son-in-law, Emery Dorsey IV, until 1999. In 1999, the family sold the company to Ralph Nafziger of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, but Dorsey continued to work at the company in product development. Andrew Schuman took over as CEO in 2007. Hammond’s purchased McCraw's Candies, a maker of flat taffy, in 2010. In 2013 Hammond's purchased Old Dominion Peanut Company.

Old Dominion Peanut Company

Old Dominion was established in 1913 in Norfolk, Virginia by the Worsham Family. The company manufactures and markets peanut, cashew and pecan candies as well as its main product, peanut brittle.Blaze at Norfolk candymaker draws more than 60 firefighters
October 15, 2007 Virginian Pilot (online) In October 2007, one of Old Dominion's candy and peanut brittle manufacturing buildings in Norfolk caught fire. The building was built in the early 1900s for High Rock beverage company, and it was later used as a wheel bearing factory before being sold to Old Dominion. Old Dominion was sold to Hammond's Candies in 2013. In 2018, amid rising rent in the surrounding neighborhood, the Old Dominion factory in Norfolk was permanently closed, with some operations relocating to Hammond's Denver plant and other operations being outsourced to a third party.

McCraw's Taffy

Marcus D. McCraw opened a candy making business in

Farmersville, Texas Farmersville is a city in Collin County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,612 at the 2020 census. History Farmersville originated in 1849 as a settlement on the Jefferson-McKinney Road, and near Republic of Texas National Road. The s ...

in 1908. His wife made the first "peanut pattie" and they produced Lance products. The business was at North Main Street across from Cello-Wrap Printing Company. Dee and Sarah McCraw created the famed taffy product.

Operations

Hammond's specializes in handmade confectionery products, using much of the same equipment and recipes as used in the early days of the company and avoiding significant

automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...

of the process. The machines at the company's Denver plant date from the late 1800s and early 1900s. The company handmakes about 10 million candy canes and 2 million lollipops per year. Hammond's has been offering factory tours at their Denver plant since 1999.

Products

Hammond's product lines tend to focus on handmade, gourmet, or nostalgic candies such as the classic Mitchell Sweet. The company's most popular products include

s, and ribbon candy. Other products include: *Hard candies *Chocolate bars *Hot cocoa *Cookies *Taffy *Marshmallows *Caramel products *Licorice *Popcorn *Peanut brittle *Truffles The company also maintains an "Oops! Room" through which they sell imperfect candies produced as a byproduct of the manufacturing process, overages, and other mistakes. In addition to edible products, the company also sells apparel, toys, and other souvenirs.

References

{{reflist Confectionery companies of the United States Companies based in Denver