The sweet smell of chocolate hits your nose as soon as you step through the doors.
Its peak production time at the See’s Candies factory in Los Angeles. Despite all the various types of machinery, however, the factory also seems unusually quiet, as workers are able to chat at a normal volume even as the factory is making up to 167,000 pounds of confections every day.
On the main floor, automation helps with about half of what it takes to create the candy, the rest is done by hand. It helps to be dexterous and quick, there’s no time for a repeat of the conveyor belt confusion from that old “I Love Lucy” episode.
“None of the candies are easy because there are so many pieces of equipment involved in making them; the recipes have to be adhered to explicitly,” said See’s Candies factory manager Dave Chapman, who adds that even the ones crafted with automation are eyed with care. “They have to be checked every few hours to make sure everything is correct.”
In addition to quality assurance testing for taste and appearance of the product, there are other checks performed periodically along the candy’s route on the conveyor belt, such as scanning for debris.
It takes around a half hour for each piece of candy to travel from its starting point to being boxed at the end of the conveyor line. There are several lines in the plant and all stretch a bit longer than a football field. Their accompanying machinery can be programmed to produce several different candies, which helps to keep up with changing product demands throughout the year.
Everything is done by hand in the Bon Bon Room. Here, candy artists dip various centers into chocolate and caramel. If tinting, such as adding a pink coating, is required, each batch of white chocolate must be blended with food coloring to the exact shade before pouring it into the dipping basin. The centers are dipped into the coating and then the top of each candy is brushed with the proper swoosh mark across its top to indicate what is inside. Some of the candies made here, such as the Scotch Kiss, are also wrapped in paper by hand.
The Bon Bon Room’s creations, such as Red Hot Swamp Goo and Marshmint, are the hardest and most labor-intensive in the factory to make. An example of the intricacies of some of these candies can best found in Red Hot Swamp Goo, cinnamon jelly layered with honey marshmallow and dark chocolate, and Marshmint, honey marshmallow coated on all sides with dark chocolate and topped with minty green jelly.
“The gelatin portion is handmade, the marshmallow portion is handmade and it used to be, when it was enrobed, it was actually chocolate in the hands of ladies who would cup their hand, put it in the chocolate and squeeze their hands to force the chocolate up onto the sides,” Chapman said. The goal is to leave the red or green tops chocolate-free.
To help with the demand for all these treats, there is also a factory in San Francisco and, although there is some crossover, there are candies that are particular to one plant or the other.
The holiday season represents about 50 percent of See’s annual sales and is the “craziest” time for the factory, Chapman said. It helps that the candy production can be staggered according to its shelf-life, with some pieces made two months ahead of their shipping date.
“We don’t necessarily come up with a new piece every year, but we do come up with different assortments and packaging,” See’s Candies assistant marketing manager Julie Moldafsky said. “This year, we have our new ornament, a little tin snowman, and inside we have two scotchmallow trees.”
There is also a Mini Sweets Delights box with six different pieces, including a milk buttercream topped with a poinsettia decoration, and the larger Christmas Memories box with an assortment of favorites, plus the poinsettia-bedecked milk buttercream.
See’s traditional treats are always in demand. Chapman’s favorites are the rum nougat and the butterscotch square.
“Butterscotch square is such an old-fashioned candy, it’s basically sugar and butter coated in chocolate, you can’t go wrong there, right?” Chapman said. As for the newer candies, he likes the maple cashew brittle, which is a seasonal candy available over the holidays and for Father’s Day.
Moldafsky enjoys the maple cashew brittle and dark California brittle, which is an almond brittle center enrobed in dark chocolate.
“It’s the perfect mix of crunchy, buttery, nutty, chocolatey. I need that salty/sweet combination to really enjoy a piece of candy,” Moldafsky said.
The holidays aren’t here yet, but See’s Candies is already planning ahead with new packaging for Valentine’s Day. The romantic holiday is only 10 percent of the company’s annual sales, but it’s the biggest day for last-minute purchases.
For more information on See’s Candies, go to sees.com.