Amy's Candy Bar is a

confectionery 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 ...

located in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. The store was opened in June 2011 and is owned by Amy Hansen, a graduate of Chicago's

French Pastry School The French Pastry School (FPS) is a vocational secondary school located in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Its courses cover pastry, baking and confectionery arts. The French Pastry School is a for-profit school,Ben Goldberger“New Che ...

. The store is well known for its

caramel Caramel ( or ) is a range of food ingredients made by heating sugars to high temperatures. It is used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons or candy bars, as a topping for ice cream and custard, and as a colorant ...

s which are made

in house Outsourcing is a business practice in which companies use external providers to carry out business processes that would otherwise be handled internally. Outsourcing sometimes involves transferring employees and assets from one firm to another. ...

. The store has been recognized by ''

Food & Wine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and sea ...

'' and was also featured on the talk show ''

Steve Harvey Broderick Stephen Harvey Sr. Also aired August 16, 2015. (born January 17, 1957) is an American comedian, television host, actor, writer, and producer. He hosts ''The Steve Harvey Morning Show'', ''Family Feud'', ''Celebrity Family Feud'', '' ...

''.

History

The store's owner, Amy Hansen, graduated from Chicago's French Pastry School at Kennedy-King College in 2006. Hansen had worked in various positions in the

marketing industry The advertising industry is the global industry of public relations and marketing companies, media services, and advertising agencies. Several large advertising agencies, including WPP plc, Omnicom, Publicis Groupe, Interpublic and Dentsu, are a ...

until 2010, after being laid-off, when she began planning to open a candy store. Hansen was able to obtain a grant from the Small Business Improvement Fund from the Chicago city government in addition to a small business loan to assist with starting costs and redesigning the interior. In June 2011, the store opened at its present location along

Damen Avenue Damen Avenue is a street in Chicago, where it is 2000 West in the grid. It is west of State Street, the city's north–south baseline. Known as Robey Street for politician James Robey prior to 1927, it was renamed in honor of Father Arnold Dam ...

in the Ravenswood neighborhood. The store was designed to appear as a European-style

boutique A () is a retail shop that deals in high end fashionable clothing or accessories. The word is French for "shop", which derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in anc ...

, which is reflected in the glass jars lining the walls that store the various products.

Products

Amy's Candy Bar carries a variety of

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

gummies Gummies, fruitgums, gummi candies, gummy candies, or jelly sweets are a broad category of gelatin-based chewable sweets. Popular types include gummy bears, Sour Patch Kids, Jelly Babies and gummy worms. Various brands such as Bassett's, Harib ...

, and

licorice Liquorice (Commonwealth English) or licorice (American English; see spelling differences; ) is the common name of ''Glycyrrhiza glabra'', a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring is ...

products, and sells over 200 different candies. While products are generally domestic, many sweets are imported from various parts of Europe such as Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. In addition, Amy's Candy Bar also carries caramels and

nougat Nougat refers to a variety of similar confections made from a sweet paste hardened to a chewy or crunchy consistency.. The usual version in Western and Southern Europe is made from a mousse of whipped egg white sweetened with sugar or ho ...

that are made by Hansen. The recipe for the homemade caramels and its other varieties was inspired from the French Pastry School, and consists of a

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of Churning (butter), churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 81% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread (food ...

from Europe,

sea salt Sea salt is salt that is produced by the evaporation of seawater. It is used as a seasoning in foods, cooking, cosmetics and for preserving food. It is also called bay salt, solar salt, or simply salt. Like mined rock salt, production of sea sal ...

glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula , which is often abbreviated as Glc. It is overall the most abundant monosaccharide, a subcategory of carbohydrates. It is mainly made by plants and most algae d ...

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this proces ...

, and

vanilla bean Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla ('' V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not autogamous, so pollination is required to make the plants produce the f ...

. The caramels are considered to be a highlight of the establishment. The store also features a selection of ice cream and can also provide customized baked goods such as sugar cookies and cupcakes.

Awards and recognition

In 2015, Amy's Candy Bar was recognized by ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine in an article, "These Are America's Best Candy Shops", and also highlighted some of the products made

including sea-salt caramels and their OMG Candy Bar. It was also named "Coolest Candy Store" by ''

Time Out Chicago ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 333 cities in 59 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition became ...

Kids'', and was included on ''

''s Ultimate Candy Guide as well as their "5 Best New Candy Shops". In addition, the store was featured on the talk show ''

'', and was given one year of free access to an

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...

platform to begin online sales of their products.

References

External links

* {{Official website Confectionery companies of the United States Companies based in Chicago Food and drink companies established in 2011 2011 establishments in Illinois