Kilwins, also known as Kilwins Chocolates, is an American company, specializing in confectioneries such as candy, ice cream, and fudge. In 1947, Katy and Don Kilwin opened the first location in

Petoskey, Michigan Petoskey ( ) is the largest city in and the county seat of Emmet County, Michigan, and is the largest settlement within the county. Petoskey has a population of 5,877 at the 2020 census, up from 5,670 at the 2010 census. Petoskey is part of N ...

and the company is still headquartered there to this day. There are 178 locations in the United States, across 30 states.

History

Kilwins was founded in 1947 as "Kilwin's Candies and Gifts" by Don and Katy Kilwin in Petoskey. The company began as a

mom-and-pop Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have a small number of employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being ...

bakery and candy operation, and the next year expanded to making fudge in-house. They sold off the bakery portion of their business in 1971 so that they could concentrate on candy production. In 1976, a second branch was opened in

Traverse City, Michigan Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, Michigan, Grand Traverse County, although it partly extends into Leelanau County, Michigan, Leelanau County. The city's population was 15, ...

by Jim Szocinski, who first worked for the company in 1961. The company was sold to Wayne and Lorene Rose in 1978, and three years later, they began to franchise. In 1995, the company was purchased by Don and Robin McCarty. By 2007, the couple had expanded the business to more than 60 locations. In March 2023, the company was sold to Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, a private-equity group based in Los Angeles. As of November 2020, there are over 150 franchisee-owned stores nationwide in 25 states. About half of these locations are in popular tourist destinations, such as near resorts and at beaches. The company owns select franchises located across the country, however the vast majority of locations are independently operated and are not owned by the corporation. The company is currently in the process of selling more franchises and expanding the number of company–owned locations across the country. ''

Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

'' magazine in 2018 listed Kilwins in the top 100 of its Franchise 500 Rankings.

Production

The company is best known for chocolates, fudge, and ice cream, but also makes other sweets including barks, brittles, candies, clusters, taffy, truffles, and chocolate-covered pretzels, Oreos, and Rice Krispies. The stores allow customers to watch staff produce the confectioneries. The company uses marble tables, which cools the fudge from the bottom. Ice cream is produced at the company's main facility in Petoskey. Kilwin's has been described by some as 'old fashioned sweets'. In 2018, Kilwins was one of the food vendors for

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...

Philanthropy

Kilwins' owners, Don and Robin McCarty, helped found the grassroots organization South Africa Medical Expedition (SAME), which helps South African orphans, women and families in Limpopo Province, Keyalani Village. The focus is on impoverished or HIV/AIDS infected children.

References

External links

* {{official website, https://www.kilwins.com 1947 establishments in Michigan Food and drink companies established in 1947 American chocolate companies Confectionery companies of the United States Ice cream parlors in the United States Tourist attractions in Emmet County, Michigan