Candy, Candy Everywhere!

If you've ever stopped by on a Monday, you must have wondered as you frantically pulled at our locked door, "What is she doing that is so important that she would deny me my candy fix, (insert your favorite expletive here) her!" 

Every other Monday or so, I spend the day at the candy distributor.  Just what is a candy distributor, you may wonder?  Think of it in terms of a beverage distributor, which has cases and kegs of beer and soda, only instead of liquid refreshment, a candy distributor has bags and boxes of confectionery delights stacked floor to ceiling.  My distributor is an hour's drive from Carlisle, and picking up candy saves me and you the burden of paying shipping costs.  Candy is relatively inexpensive, but shipping costs on perishable goods is astronomical, so I'm thankful to have a quality distributor nearby.  There are actually several candy distributors within an hour or two driving distance, but after trying a few, I settled on this one as my favorite.  Besides being super friendly and giving the kids freebies, this place lets me walk around and pull my own candy.  Not only does this allow me to see what I'm getting in terms of freshness, but it also leads me to new items I may not have known about if I hadn't spied them peeking out from beside something I already stock.  Take the Dark Chocolate Clark Bars, for instance.  I didn't even realize they made such a joy until there it was sitting right next to the regular Clark Bars.  If you haven't tried one, you're missing something.

The outside of the distributorship is pretty drab.  And while the inside is filled with candy, it's no Candyland either.  Inside are all the makings of any other warehouse--industrial shelving units, wooden pallets, and forklifts.  There are men--mostly older men--wearing back support belts and Dickies style work shirts with their names embroidered on them.  Some of these guys are retired from other professions, such as school teaching, and now spend their golden years writing up and packing orders that may contain the golden ticket.  The golden ticket really exists, you ask?  Yes, thanks to the latest incantations of the Wonka Bar, playfully called Chocolate Waterfall, Domed Dark Chocolate, and my favorite, Scrumdiddlyumptious.  Instead of winning a trip to Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, which is sadly fictional--Wonka is a subsidiary of Nestle, the grand prize is a trip around the world.  Yes, this building is filled to the brim with candy, but it's still a warehouse.   But what they store inside is one of the most delightful things on Earth after children's giggles and baby toes . . .

CANDY!  Yes, friends, take a gander at all the candy in just this one shot--loads of Laffy Taffy and Lemonheads, tons of Tootsie Rolls, scads of Smarties, and jillions of Jawbusters.  And this is the tip of the figurative iceberg.  The first room of the distributor houses what are called count goods.  Count goods are candy items sold by a set number, like 24 Candy Buttons or 36 Hershey Bars or 240 Fireballs.  Most candy bars and gums are sold by the count.  At my store, the back wall of candybars and the gondola shelves of .10-.75 items are count goods, which I pull from this first room.  It is also where I usually spend the most money because that is where you spend the most money in the store.  And because each candy bar is individually wrapped and every 24 are put in their own slick cardboard box, count goods just cost more than bulk candy because of the extra packaging. 

And, you may wonder why some of our candy bars cost more than they do at a big box store like Walmart.  Simply put, whereas I buy one 24 count box at a time from a middle man distributor, Walmart can buy directly from the candy manufacturers because they buy so much.  Most candy manufacturers, like Hersheys or Mars, require a 1000 pound minimum opening order to buy directly from them.  With your average Hershey bar weighing 1.5 ounces, 1000 pounds would be 10,667 individual Hershey bars to meet that requirement.  Walmart probably sells more than 10,667 Hershey bars in a day across their many stores, so ordering that many isn't a problem.  Even if I sold a a Hershey bar a day, which I usually don't, it would take over 40 years to sell that many Hershey bars in my store.  So, I don't get the price advantage of buying directly from the manufacturer or the volume discounts that these manufacturers undoubtedly give to huge companies like Walmart.  Can you get a Hershey bar cheaper at Walmart?  Absolutely.  But can you get Walnettos at Walmart?  Absolutely not.  Which brings me to what is housed in the rest of the candy distributor--bulk candy!

Bulk candy is candy sold by the pound in large plastic bags or boxes.  All of the candy found in the purple and white bins at the store are bulk candies--all 171 kinds.  Most gummis and wrapped candies come in 5 pound bags, but chocolates tend to be in bigger quantities--10-30 pounds.  These candies are also the candies you read me whine about bagging because those 5-30 pound quantities have to be broken up into .15-.50 pound bags for your consumption.  This is done according to the individual price per pound by weight.  I could make things easier on myself by charging the same amount for everything like most other candy stores, but I find that unfair.  Some candies, like chocolates, are more expensive, so why should you pay chocolate prices for gummis?  This is also the reason why I've started bagging some candies in $2.00 bags.  Some of the more expensive candy, like Wilbur Buds or Chocolate Covered Pretzels, separated into $1.00 bags just wouldn't give you enough candy.  So, my buck-a-bag system now includes several deuce-a-bag items as well. You may also notice that the quantities sometimes change in your bags and that is according to the most up-to-date pricing I'm charged at the distributor.  Sometimes you get a few more gumdrops and sometimes you get a few less, but either way, it's always at the fairest price I can pass along to you.

If you weren't aware, there are many manufacturers of gummis.  Farley, Trolli, Candytech, Haribo, Albanese, and more.  I've started to carry more and more Albanese when given the option.  I have found the texture and taste to be superior to other brands, and Albanese gummis are made in the USA, which I love.  I do sometimes swap out one brand gummi for another when my preferred brand is out of stock.  So, if that gummi cola bottle you're eating tastes slightly different than it did last week, that's probably why.  There are some bulk candies I don't carry because the quantity is too great to sell while they're still fresh--Circus Peanuts are an example.  They only come in 30 pound quantities, and take my word for it, that's a lot of Circus Peanuts! 

On this trip to the distributor, I had my three sons with me.  Jack, aka "my helper", was rolled around the warehouse in his stroller to keep him from wreaking havoc on the piles of gummis and boxes of candy bars.  Pushing him along was either Tommy, aka "the candy eater", or Georgie, aka "George" as he likes to be called now.  This was a light day for me, and the boxes of candy fit into the back of the van without having to put the seat down.  Each of these boxes pictured was packed full of cartons of count goods and 5 pound bags of bulk candy.  They are deceptively heavy for their size!

The highlight of the trip, believe it or not, is going to Hardee's afterwards.  The staff at the distributor even know this now and ask the boys what they will get this time.  It's always the same--Little Big Cheeseburger combos with only ketchup on the burgers with Cherry Cokes.  Jack gets Hardee's now as well--a kid's cheeseburger meal plain, please!  Now that it's summer, we have to eat in the car as we drive through Amish farm country back to the highway so the candy won't melt.  But that's okay from my standpoint.  It cuts a little time off what is usually a 3.5 hour excursion from start to finish.

When I get back to Carlisle, the bulk candy gets unloaded into my house for bagging and the count goods are brought into the store for stocking.  The store only has enough room for so much candy, so I try to cycle new candy into stock whenever I can.  If you ever want something specific that you can't find in the store, just ask.  Make sure you give me enough lead time though, because I don't go get candy every week.  And if you're planning a special event and need larger quantities of any particular candy, just let me know, and I'll pick it up for you.  I can also do favors and gift baskets and help you put together a candy buffet for your reunion, wedding, or party, so just stop by or email me to get the ball rolling.  Again, don't forget to give me some time to get everything together for you.  Although a lot of my candy comes from this distributor, I do order some items in, and those take more time to arrive.

I apologize, if I haven't already, for not being open seven days a week, but truthfully, I'm a one-person operation with some help from three children and a frazzled husband.  Without those two days off each week, I wouldn't have candy bagged for you on Tuesday, my husband would be committed from Daddy Daycare post-traumatic stress, and my kids would probably forget what I looked like.  No joke--remember they're all boys, and their patience and memories just aren't that great.  Thanks for understanding and coming back to the store--we all appreciate it!