Albanese candy hours
Subscribe in a reader. For a daily update of Candy Blog reviews, enter your email address:. Albanese Confectionery is a small family-run confectionery company in Indiana. They started in and though their candies encompass chocolate covered nuts, nut mixes and chocolates. But in the past ten years, Albanese has become known for their extensive line of gummis that not only come in a wide variety of flavors, but also in some innovative shapes. The pieces are quite large, about the size of tree frogs I was familiar with seeing in Northern California.
Albanese serves up sweet success
In retrospect, the early s might not have been the best of times to start a new business, Scott Albanese said. Albanese, CEO and owner of the Albanese Confectionery Group, opened his first candy store in Merrillville in , a poor year economically and one marked by a national unemployment rate of 10 percent and a regional unemployment rate of 16 percent.
Albanese and his family still operate the original small candy outlet store in Merrillville, across from the Lake County Public Library, and in opened the Albanese candy factory and outlet store in Hobart. Albanese said looking back, the reason he and his family have succeeded is because they stayed with the same formula for success. We kept the same basic principles, and for us the formula that was successful was that we kept our food quality high and prices as low as we could. The formula still works well," Albanese said.
His interest in selling candy and nuts was sparked when his wife told him of her attempt to purchase pistachios for him and how much was being charged per pound. After the original candy store in Merrillville was opened, it was soon discovered that they needed to manufacture their own candy, Albanese said.
In , we started manufacturing our own product," Albanese said. Prior to building the Hobart store and making the move there, Albanese said he and other employees spent two years in the late s researching how to make the best gummi bears. The formula to make gummis has proven a winning one, since Albanese Gummi Bears have been shipped around the world including 41 countries, flown into space and won the award of "best in class world wide," Albanese said.
We are extremely honored that they call Hobart their home," Snedecor said. James Dragon, director of engineering at Albanese, recalled the business had about 10 employees when he started there in The company currently has about on its staff, he said. The project, expected to begin this year, will include adding another production line, a packaging line, bulk sugar system and other production-related work inside the factory at E. Lincoln Highway.
They gave me an opportunity to grow and succeed and become great in my field. Scott is an amazing person. He always looks to be optimistic and into the future and how to succeed. He never gave up when things got bad. The first couple years at the second location were difficult," Dragon said. Dragon said he was in high school when he used to go to the Merrillville candy store with his mom and grandmother.
One day I went to the candy store on a Saturday and Dorothy Albanese, Scott's mother, knew me and asked me if I wanted to start working for them on Monday. I started working in February of as a candy store attendant," Dragon said. Dragon said after graduation he continued to work at the Merrillville store during his summers, then when the Albanese family built the plant he was allowed to work alongside Scott. I look up to him as a father figure," Dragon said.
The candy manufacturing plant and retail sales building sit inside a picturesque, pastel-colored Victorian-style building looming impressively on the south side of U. Albanese started out with 7. They subdivided that land to get us a start. They really are good partners for us," Albanese said.
Albanese said he and his family traveled to Las Vegas, and when he was there learned that architecture is what attracts people to a location. He came up with the painted Lady, a Victorian style facade for the Hobart business. The chocolate waterfall inside the retail area, the largest of its kind in the country, was custom built with the assistance of a Hobart heating and cooling person. Originally the chocolate was circulating at 2, pounds a minute, not pounds a minute as it is now.
Another special aspect about the business: there are windows from the retail to the manufacturing part of the business so customers can see what's going on. In addition to candy, the store also manufactures vitamins and pharmaceuticals, and a technical group is working on creating new products. Eighty percent of what we produce in the lab fails. We'll persevere until we find a solution or find it's impossible," Albanese said.
They were all trained by us We tend to promote from within and refine talent from within," Albanese said. The company's soldier-shaped gummis were sent to deployed soldiers in Iraq in , and in , gummis were part of a large scale stained-glass window mural at the museum Espace Luis Vuitton Toyko in Japan.
He said all three of his daughters had jobs of their own, but said yes when asked if they were interested in becoming part of the candy making business. They are very capable. I'm semi-retired," Albanese said. Daughter Bethany Albanese said her dad didn't just hand over the business to her and her two sisters.
They had to work their way up the ranks. We learned from the ranks up," Bethany said. She serves as director of operations and brand controller, while her sister Tess oversees the puchasing team and financing. Sister Dominique is research and development manager and oversees quality control.
Bethany credits both her parents, Scott and Debbie, for giving the family a solid work background based on a marriage of mutual respect. Again their true success was trusting each other. They truly trusted each other and that's what we have taken on," Bethany said. Albanese admits to having a fondness for candy, but usually for sweets that are unique in flavor.
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Please call to upgrade your subscription. Subscribers can log in for unlimited digital access. Tony V. And plans are to continue growing the Albanese Confectionery Group. As part of the project, Albanese plans to hire to new employees by , Dragon said. Dragon was only 16 years old when he started working for Albanese in A spillage of chocolate was reported on a customer's clothing so changes had to be made.
Albanese said he is proudest of the opportunities his business has given to people. Albanese and his wife, Debbie, are looking ahead to their retirement.
I'm not going to live forever," Albanese said. And it took a few years before the Hobart store became successful. Fortunately that was the worst of it," Albanese said. There was a problem with reporting this article. Report Abuse. The business news you need With a weekly newsletter looking back at local history.
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Coming out of the bitter cold into the warmth of the store was just what I needed on a blustery day.
Scott Albanese has all the hallmarks of a mad scientist — white lab coat, high-tech machines and ideas to achieve new discoveries. But his drive is to make the world a little sweeter — by making the highest quality roasted nuts, gummies and chocolates. Albanese Confectionery Group's high-tech manufacturing and distribution facility covers seven acres along U.
Albanese Candy Factory, Merrillville: Hours, Address, Albanese Candy Factory Reviews: 4.5/5
However, even though Albanese has been making candy since , I only discovered the company this year. Albanese Candy produces high-quality chocolates in their Merrillville, Indiana, factory, as well as award-winning gummi candies. You can buy all of their candies in the outlet store adjacent to the factory. Gummies are my favorite non-chocolate type of candy, but until I tasted Albanese gummies, I thought they were all about the same. One taste of Albanese gummi bears tells a different story.
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In retrospect, the early s might not have been the best of times to start a new business, Scott Albanese said. Albanese, CEO and owner of the Albanese Confectionery Group, opened his first candy store in Merrillville in , a poor year economically and one marked by a national unemployment rate of 10 percent and a regional unemployment rate of 16 percent. Albanese and his family still operate the original small candy outlet store in Merrillville, across from the Lake County Public Library, and in opened the Albanese candy factory and outlet store in Hobart. Albanese said looking back, the reason he and his family have succeeded is because they stayed with the same formula for success.
Albanese Candy
Albanese Candy is a candy manufacturer located in Merrillville, Indiana , founded in the year by Scott Albanese, specializing in the production of gummies and chocolate covered goods. In late , a factory measuring ,square-foot [1] and an outlet store was opened in Hobart, Indiana. The company employs roughly workers and ships to 39 countries. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. Learn how and when to remove these template messages. A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. Please discuss further on the talk page. November Learn how and when to remove this template message.
Albanese Confectionery Group Employee Reviews in Merrillville, IN
If you would like to ship your order out to a P. Box, overseas, to military personnel please email us at customerservice albaneseconfectionery. All orders are shipped from our factory in Merrillville, IN. Click here for a map showing expected shipping times via UPS Ground. Click here for a map showing expected shipping times via FedEx Ground.
