Savannah's Candy Kitchen is a chain of candy manufacturers established in

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

, Georgia. It was founded in 1973 by Stan and Pam Strickland."Savannah's Candy Kitchen Gets Chatty"
– Savannah's Candy Kitchen Today, it has eight stores around the United States,Our Locations
– Savannah's Candy Kitchen plus several franchises under the name River Street Sweets, but its

flagship store A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

is at 225 East River Street in Savannah. A second Savannah store was opened in the Abraham Minis Building in Franklin Square in City Market. It also has two stores at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

(Concourse B, opened in 2005; Concourse C, opened in 2012). The company is the largest producer of praline in the United States.

History

Stan and Pam Strickland founded River Street Sweets in 1973, having fallen in love with ornaments at

Christmas market A Christmas market is a street market associated with the celebration of Christmas during the four weeks of Advent. These markets originated in Germany, but are now held in many countries. Some in the U.S. have Phono-semantic matching, adapted ...

s in Germany. They soon realized that selling candy year-round was a mistake, however. Rent was $50 a month, and they had trouble making it. To help make ends meet, Pam became a teacher, then a librarian, and Stan a wine salesman. In the meantime, they tried to sell the store but could not. They bought some pralines while in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

, and customers bought them from their store. They went to a gift show in Atlanta a short time later, in 1978. Their son, Tim, found a fudge-making machine, which his parents bought. The Stricklands looked for recipes to make praline. Stan would man the stove, and make some in a saucepan. One night, they made three pieces of candy, put it on

wax paper Waxed paper (also wax paper, waxpaper, or paraffin paper) is paper that has been made moisture-proof and grease-proof through the application of wax. The practice of oiling parchment or paper in order to make it semi-translucent or moisture-pr ...

, "and boy, it was good," said Stan. They then found out they could make pralines in the fudge-making machine, despite recommendations from the manufacturer against doing so, warning that it could kill somebody. Stan purchased a slab of

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

, weighing about , from a local

stonemason Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with mortar and even the ancient lime mortar ...

on which to let the hot pralines cool. After making a batch, some customers walked in and could smell the candy being made. In 1991, the Stricklands got divorced and split the company and the family. Pam got the original name and two stores; Stan got two stores (Atlanta and Orlando) and later opened a rival company, Savannah's Candy Kitchen, also on River Street. Their children, Jennifer and Tim, worked exclusively for Pam, and the family did not speak for about twenty years."Family Candy Business, Split By Bitter Divorce, Got Back Together With $35M Sweets Empire"
– ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'', December 19, 2016 In 1996, the company expanded and moved part of their production into a factory outside of town to handle its

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing an order by telephone call ...

s. It now uses one in Savannah, in a facility. The business expanded outside of Savannah for the first time in 2003, when it opened an outlet in Charleston. Around 2008, Jennifer and Tim broke the silence and began communicating with their father. Seven years later, Savannah's Candy Kitchen and River Street Sweets merged brand names. The first franchise location opened at the

Tanger Outlet Mall Tanger Inc. is a real estate investment trust headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, that invests in open air outlet and lifestyle shopping centers in the United States and Canada. As of March 31, 2025, the company owns and manages 37 o ...

Pooler, Georgia Pooler is a city in Chatham County, Georgia, United States. According to the official 2020 U.S. census, the population was 25,711, up 34.3% from the 2010 population of 19,140. Pooler is located northwest of Savannah, Georgia, Savannah along Inte ...

. As of 2016, sales of the combined entities were $35 million.River Street Sweets-Savannah's Candy Kitchen
– Tanget Outlets They make of pralines a day (the most in the United States), and between and of candy per day in total. Some products were not a success, including chocolate-covered bananas. As of 2019, the business has been in the Strickland family for three generations, and is now the largest

candy store A confectionery store or confectionery shop (more commonly referred to as a sweet shop in the United Kingdom, a candy shop or candy store in North America, or a lolly shop in Australia and New Zealand) is a store that sell confectionery, whose i ...

in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

.Our Story
– Savannah's Candy Kitchen Above the River Street entrance to the Candy Kitchen hangs a copper kettle. Inside the store there is a

salt water taffy Taffy is a type of candy invented in the United States, made by stretching or pulling a sticky mass of a soft candy base, made of boiled sugar, butter, vegetable oil, flavorings, and colorings, until it becomes aerated (tiny air bubbles produ ...

machine that dates to 1914.

Current locations

Savannah's Candy Kitchen

;Georgia *River Street, Savannah *312 West Julian Street, Savannah *Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Atlanta (two locations) ;South Carolina *Market Street, Charleston ;Tennessee *Broadway, Nashville ;Maryland *American Way, Oxon Hill

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Savannah's Candy Kitchen Companies based in Savannah, Georgia Confectionery companies of the United States Food and drink companies based in Georgia (U.S. state) Tourist attractions in Savannah, Georgia American companies established in 1990