The year was 1983, and Linda Harkavy, then 38 and an assistant to the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections, was severely injured in an automobile crash.
During her recuperation, she vowed to change the direction of her life. And she did — from prisons to lollipops.
“Try this one,” Harkavy said. “It’s Root Beer Float. And here’s a Cherry Cheesecake.”
Today, she is the president of Linda’s Lollies, a company she founded a year after the accident. Headquartered in New York City, it makes “gourmet lollipops” in more than 50 flavors, pledging that each lollie “lasts an hour, contains no fat or preservatives and has fewer than 100 calories” — just barely, at 98.
“I made up the list of flavors myself,” Harkavy said. “I had 36 or 38 at first. There was Key Lime Pie, German Chocolate Cake, Amaretto . . .”
Lauren Sorrentino, her director of sales, piped up. “She’s still dreaming them up. She’ll be sitting at her desk and she’ll say, `What about Tangy Tangerine’?”
“I have a new line — Linda’s Little Lollies,” Harkavy continued. “The new flavors are Ice Cream, Tropical Fruit, Coffee, Tea, Sour. I predict they’ll be the hit of the show.”
The show is the second annual All-Candy Expo, which opened Tuesday and runs through Thursday at Navy Pier.
Linda’s Lollies is among about 350 candy companies at what is billed as “the largest all-candy show in North America.”
While the vast majority are American companies — and are said to represent 90 percent of all candymakers in this country — there also is a 14-nation international contingent.
Alas, the show is not open to the public.
The National Confectioners Association, the trade association for candy manufacturers and the sponsor of the event, limits attendance to people associated with the candy business and designed the expo primarily for buyers for supermarkets, convenience stores, fancy food shops and mass merchandisers such as Wal-Mart and Kmart, who were eager for the efficiency of such a gathering.
Last year’s inaugural attracted 6,000 industry representatives — from suppliers of raw materials to manufacturers of candymaking machinery; this year, the total is 10,000, including 3,000 buyers.
“This is a $21 billion-a-year business,” said Larry Graham, president of the 114-year-old confectioners association. “Candy is the largest category of snack food. It’s bigger than cookies or crackers or salty snacks.”
In 1996, each of us Americans downed 24.3 pounds of candy, which includes chocolate products.
Not bad, but we could do better. According to 1995 figures, we came in eighth in the world’s top 15 countries in consumption of chocolate with 11.5 pounds per capita. Switzerland was first with 20.7. Heaven only knows what’s wrong with Spain, which was 15th with 3.3 pounds.
“We think we can grow,” Graham said, meaning the candy business. “In our country, candy tends to be an impulse buy. It’s usually marketed that way. But in Europe, it’s more a shopping list or pantry item. The Irish, for example, have a hard-candy bowl in their homes.”
It’s also quite seasonal, the top four seasons, in order of gross sales, being Halloween, Christmas, Easter and Valentine’s Day.
If you are one of those poor souls who feels guilty about eating candy, maybe you should spend a morning with James Johnson, the association’s director of international marketing service, as a visiting reporter recently did.
“Candy is a fun food, a treat, an affordable luxury,” Johnson said. “You can’t eat yourself healthy with candy, but our party line is that there’s a place in any well-balanced diet for candy or chocolate.”
Hear, hear. And Johnson, who probably eats considerably more than 24.3 pounds of candy a year, is quite trim. “I’m the poster boy for candy,” he asserted, patting his flat stomach. “Remember, most candy is fat free.”
Another characteristic of the industry is its traditionally small, regional scale.
Although the biggest companies–Hershey, Mars, Nestle and Favorite Brands International–dominate sales, some 90 percent of candy makers are family-owned, small- and medium-sized companies.
Such as Butterfields, “Disappearing from Candy Jars Since 1924,” which is located in Nashville, N.C., population 3,200. “This company was started by three men, who were friends and held other jobs,” said owner Brooks West, who bought the company with his wife 11 years ago.
“It’s a family business, and I think that’s what this country and the best American capitalism is all about.”
