Abdallah Candies is a fifth-generation, family-owned

chocolatier A chocolatier is a person or company who makes confectionery from chocolate. Chocolatiers are distinct from chocolate makers, who create chocolate from cacao beans and other ingredients. Education and training Traditionally, chocolatiers, ...

and

confectionery Confectionery is the Art (skill), art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlappi ...

Apple Valley, Minnesota Apple Valley is a city in northwestern Dakota County in the State of Minnesota, and a suburb of the Twin Cities. The population was 56,374 at the 2020 census, making it the 17th most populous city in Minnesota. In 2014, Money.com' named Apple ...

. It was established as the Calhoun Candy Depot in Minneapolis in 1909 by Lebanese immigrant Albert Abdallah and his wife of Swedish descent, Helen Trovall. The company was renamed Abdallah Candy Company in 1916.

History

In the early years, Albert made

candy Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English, New Zealand English), is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, i ...

in a copper kettle over an open flame, working from recipes purchased from a local salesman. His recipes for caramels,

toffee Toffee is a confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses (creating inverted sugar) along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of . While being prepared, toffee ...

truffles A truffle is the fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, predominantly one of the many species of the genus ''Tuber''. In addition to ''Tuber'', many other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including '' Geopora'', '' Pe ...

and assorted chocolates are still used by the company today. In the 1930s, in addition to candy and ice cream, the store featured a 200-seat restaurant. In February 1935, Abdallah's was forced into bankruptcy and closed due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. After two years, Albert paid back his creditors and opened a smaller store a few blocks from the original, focusing on candy and ice cream. In 1951, Abdallah's opened a new factory on 38th Street and Cedar Ave in Minneapolis. With this expansion, Abdallah's began to focus on wholesale sales. Albert retired from the business in 1961, turning over the business to his son-in-law, Glenn Oletzke, who was married to Albert's daughter Marie. In 1964, a fire caused by a gasoline truck explosion outside the factory forced them to rebuild. In 1966, Abdallah Candies opened a new facility with a gift store in Burnsville. Marie and her daughter, Vicke (Oletzke) Hegedus, operated the gift store. Glenn retired in 1974, leaving the business to his son, James, and Vicke's husband, Stephen Hegedus. The wholesale business began to expand, first regionally, then nationwide. In 1987, James retired and Stephen's son, Steven Hegedus, joined the company. Steven became president in 2002. After expanding sales nationwide, the company needed additional space and established its headquarters in Burnsville in 1998. In 2017, the company expanded further and moved production to Apple Valley. As of 2021, Abdallah Candies operates exclusively in Apple Valley. The company celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010, after which Stephen and Vicke retired.

Products

Abdallah Candies produces more than 20,000 pounds of candy each day. Nearly 1 million caramel apples are produced during September and October and sold locally and online. The company developed a caramel apple-dipping machine to replace the labor-intense, hand-dipping process; the machine coats 4,000 apples an hour. Abdallah Candies sells to approximately 7,000, mostly

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. I ...

, customers. About one-third of the candy the company makes is sold under

private label A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...

s. The

Christmas season The Christmas season or the festive season (also known in some countries as the holiday season or the holidays) is an annually recurring period recognized in many Western and other countries that is generally considered to run from late November ...

accounts for about 35 percent of annual sales.

Company ownership

*1st generation: Albert Abdallah and Helen (Trovall) Abdallah *2nd generation: Abdallah's daughter, Marie (d. 2009 ), and husband, Glenn Oletzke. Oletzke took over the company in 1961. *3rd generation: Oletzke's daughter, Vicke Hegedus, and her husband, Stephen. Stephen joined the company in 1963 and took over as president and CEO in 1974. Vicke managed the factory retail store until 2010. *4th generation: Steven Hegedus joined the company full-time in 1987, and took over as president in 2002. Steve was nominated for the Kettle Award by Candy Industry magazine in 2014.

Facilities

The Calhoun Candy Company was located at Hennepin Avenue and Lake Street in Minneapolis’ Uptown neighborhood. Following bankruptcy and closure during the Depression, Abdallah opened a new Uptown location a few blocks away from the original store in 1937. In 1951, the company moved to a former Minneapolis grocery store on East 38th Street; a fire destroyed that building in 1964. In 1966, the company opened a new facility in Burnsville. It was later expanded to . The company moved to its current location in Burnsville in 1997. The original facility was expanded to in 2004.

References

External links

*{{official, www.abdallahcandies.com 1909 establishments in Minnesota American confectionery Confectionery stores Confectionery companies of the United States Burnsville, Minnesota Companies based in Minnesota Lebanese-American history