Doscher's Candies chews on flavored taffy's success
134-year-old downtown business grows but stays original
By Anna Guido
Enquirer contributor
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ABOUT DOSCHER'S
• Founded: 1871
• Number of employees: Six
• Interesting Fact: Doscher's French Chew Taffy
was recently featured on the Food Network's "Unwrapped" show as one of
several food items that have the word French in their name but aren't
French. So what's behind French Chew's name? Taffy was first
introduced in France in the late 1800s, and the Doscher family played
off the candy's origin in naming its product.
• Two shiny copper kettles dating to
1893 still are used to beat the eggs, then mix the corn syrup, sugar
and other ingredients in Doscher's French Chew Taffy. |
CINCINNATI (May 16, 2005) - In the back room of a modest storefront at 24
W. Court St., 12,000 bars of Doscher's
Famous French Chew Taffy are made
each weekday. It's a ritual that started in 1871 in an adjacent building on
Central Parkway. Pam Curtis of Price Hill - one of six workers at Doscher's Candies - feeds
the freshly cut taffy into a wrapping machine at a rate of about 75 bars per
minute, adjusting the machine's speed depending on who's in front of her
packing the bars into boxes.
"She takes care of this machine like it's
hers," said Greg Clark, who bought the family-owned business less than a
year ago and already is bumping up production and sales. "Our goal this
year is to make 3 million bars."
Before Clark bought Doscher's Candies from Harry Doscher Jr. - whose
78-year-old father still has a hand in the business - the store made about
1.5 million bars of French Chew Taffy a year.
The senior Doscher, whose grandfather started Doscher's Candies, comes in
most days about 10 a.m. but likes to keep a low profile. "He knows
everything about the equipment - the nuts and bolts of the machines," Clark
said. This day, Harry senior wasn't in. But workers were in full swing making
vanilla-flavored French Chew. It sells better than chocolate and strawberry,
so it's usually made more often - about three days a week.
French Chew is available at Meijer, Bigg's, Jungle Jim's International
Market, Supreme Nut & Candy Co. stores, Cracker Barrel stores nationwide and
at some old-fashioned candy Web sites. And beginning this summer, French
Chew will be available in United Dairy Farmers stores, Clark said.
Clark also has eight candy brokers distributing French Chew Taffy to
wholesalers west of the Mississippi for distribution to retail chains with a
national presence, such as Target and CVS.
Opportunity arises
A native Cincinnatian, Clark grew up eating Doscher's French Chew Taffy.
"At the swim club in the summer, my mom would give me a buck and I would go
and buy as many as I could," he said.
Clark is not a stranger to the candy business. His dad, Bill, is an owner of
Cincinnati Premier Candy, a St. Bernard company that makes marshmallow
cones. When the younger Clark heard from his dad that Doscher's Candies was for
sale, he said he jumped at the chance to buy the business.
"I was on a business trip in Arizona and my dad called and said, 'Guess
what? Harry Jr. wants to sell French Chew.' "
Clark said he flew back to Cincinnati immediately.
Before buying the business, Clark, 36, worked as a financial adviser. A
McNicholas High School and University of Cincinnati graduate, he said he
liked his former profession but enjoys his new work much more because he's
working with "an actual product versus a service."
Making changes
Besides increasing Doscher's French Chew Taffy's market presence, Clark also is making
changes to everything but the recipe that he believes will boost business.
He's starting to make the taffy in the original ¾-ounce bar in addition to
the current 1.62-ounce bar; he's also considering making bite-size pieces;
and he's making special holiday wrappers, including an orange, black and
white Halloween wrapper with the signature French Chew little boy as
Frankenstein. If business grows as expected, Clark said Doscher's Candies will outgrow its
location in two years.
That's likely to happen, since "taffy is a good seller, especially in the
summer because it doesn't melt," said Van Billington, executive director of
Retail Confectioners International in Glenview, Ill.
Source:
Cincinnati Enquirer |
