Albanese confectionery owner
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Albanese Confectionery to Invest $33M in Hobart
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. It's crowned by a pastel Victorian house filled to the brim with all sorts of treats, made by Albanese and other companies.
Gummy bear-festooned billboards pop up along Interstate 65 near the U. License plates from everywhere dot the parking lot. Happy kids and adults exit with bags almost filled to the brim, making it one of the highest volume candy stores in the United States. The store receives more than two million visitors each year. The company's original location is still open, at W.
West U. Albanese started out as a bricklayer, like his father, and he was looking for something to supplement his income as he had a young family to support. In , the United States was in the midst of tough economic times — and Northwest Indiana in particular. And we thrived, when everything said we should have failed.
His first employees were family members — his wife, Debbie, and his parents — and they started out roasting nuts, then moved to include chocolates and gummies. You don't ever, ever skimp on quality. And keep the prices reasonable — and you don't deviate from those two main principles.
Albanese's gummies are renowned by fans due to their fruity flavors and chewy texture and that don't get stuck in your teeth. Albanese keeps sales figures close to the vest, but he said that Albanese is one of the largest producers of gummies in the industry. He credits the success of the privately held, family-owned company to organic growth and word of mouth. We don't advertise much , but we rely on people telling other people.
If they like the product, they'll tell other people. Albanese's three daughters — Tess, Bethany and Dominique — are now part of the family business as well. I estimate we touch directly 1, people economically. Indirectly, we touch more than 10, This is about more than my family.
It's about everyone's family and that is my favorite part. The Albanese candy store is a feast for the senses. A tangy, sweet smell hits customers as they enter, followed by a candy wonderland — a giant chocolate waterfall a la Willy Wonka, jelly beans and gummy bears in colors that span the rainbow, a gift basket area, candy favorites from bygone eras like Mallow Cups, and bins full of everything from Gummi Butterflies to chocolate-covered peanut-butter-filled pretzels.
Getting the right design of the outside of the store required some research, Scott Albanese said. He wanted the store to become a tourist attraction and he had Willy Wonka in mind when he designed it.
I wanted to go to Disney and measure. Something that's 8 foot tall is 6 foot tall. I didn't want it to be boring, so we went with a Victorian house up to five colors — a painted lady — and avoided a giant hot dog. Albanese's highly automated manufacturing facility hums with the voices of workers and noise of machines churning out treats.
Bags of cornstarch sit next to the gummy bear machinery, where gelatin, water, sugar, citric acid, flavoring and coloring are mixed before being injected into molds made out of cornstarch. The candy cools for 24 hours before it is emptied on a quick-moving conveyor belt. The bears are tumbled to shake off the remaining cornstarch and on their way to being weighed, bagged and boxed to be shipped to a candy store near you. Along the way, machines scan the bears to determine which ones meet standards in terms of size, shape and color.
Boxes of rejects sit at the end of the lines and may eventually be bagged and sold at a discount as Gummi Goof-ups in the store. The factory produces more than , gummy bears an hour in the facility which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In another room, hundreds of chocolates are tumbled in big silver vats until they achieve that ideal sheen. Scott Albanese points out a trio of pipes in the ceiling, indistinguishable from others except for their colors — one white, one medium brown, and one dark brown, which are filled with white, milk and dark chocolate, respectively.
On Fridays, the company sanitizes its nut-roasting area. Albanese said it's important to him that each nut is roasted and caramelized to achieve its ultimate flavor profile. On a recent afternoon, Albanese's shop is packed with candy lovers, from a grandmother surprising her young grandson with his first trip to a pair of newlyweds.
We wanted to stop to get snacks for the airport. Kaylea Jackno loves sour gummies and Lukas loves chocolate, so it took some time to mull the diverse selection. Albanese is grateful to his customers for generating his business growth over the past 34 years.
They don't have to spend money here and we appreciate them. Website : www. Skip to content. Colorful gift boxes filled with sweet treats sit beneath a chocolate fountain at the Albanese Candy Retail Outlet in Hobart.
What was originally a side job became Albanese's passion and an unlikely success. Employees help customers taste samples and make selections at the Albanese Candy Retail Outlet in Hobart.
The pipes are programmed to dispense exact proportions of the three chocolates. Christin Nance Lazerus is the news editor for the Post-Tribune. Albanese Confectionery Group. Locations: E. Lincoln Highway and W. Latest Suburbs. New Life Covenant Church to give away 4, free face masks on Saturday. Two Aurora men charged with manufacturing and delivering marijuana. Opened: Number of employees on-site: about Recommended on Chicago Tribune.
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Subscribe for $1/mo. Albanese Candy is a candy manufacturer located in Merrillville, Indiana, founded in the year by Scott Albanese, specializing in the production of gummies.
I stopped in to grab a treat for my wife's birthday, and picked some up for my son, as well. I happened to stop at this seemingly fun candy store today en route back from northwest Indiana. However, I was dismayed by its operation although the product is good, as most candy is. My two issues comprise the way I was waited on by the many youthful staff in a busy atmosphere.
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.
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Albanese serves up sweet success
Albanese makes more than kinds of candy. Milk-chocolate covered anything and everything walnuts, peanut butter Ritz crackers, blueberries. Dark-chocolate covered anything and everything coffee beans, pretzels, cashews. Then there are fancy chocolate-dipped creams and cordials and toffees. All that adds up to a whopping 60 million pounds of candy each year. Albanese is considered a large producer in Indiana, but medium-sized for the candy industry, she says.
Indiana's Sweet Spot: Albanese Candy Factory
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.
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.
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.
