32°04′51″N81°05′16″W / 32.0807°N 81.0877°W /32.0807; -81.0877
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 The store inSavannah'sCity Market | |
| Company type | Candy manufacturers |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1973 (53 years ago) (1973) |
| Founders | Stan and Pam Strickland |
| Headquarters | 225 EastRiver Street Savannah,Georgia (flagship store) |
Number of locations | 7[1] |
| Revenue | $35 million[2] |
| Owners | Stan Strickland Tonya Strickland Rhett Strickland |
| Website | www |
Savannah's Candy Kitchen is a chain of candy manufacturers established inSavannah, Georgia. It was founded in 1973 by Stan and Pam Strickland.[3] Today, it has eight stores around the United States,[1] plus several franchises under the name River Street Sweets, but itsflagship store is at 225 EastRiver Street in Savannah. A second Savannah store was opened in the Abraham Minis Building inFranklin Square inCity Market.[3] It also has two stores atHartsfield-Jackson International Airport inAtlanta (Concourse B, opened in 2005; Concourse C, opened in 2012).[4][3]
The company is the largest producer ofpraline in the United States.
Stan and Pam Strickland founded River Street Sweets in 1973,[5] having fallen in love with ornaments atChristmas markets in Germany.[6][2] They soon realized that selling candy year-round was a mistake, however. Rent was $50 a month, and they had trouble making it. To help make ends meet, Pam became a teacher, then a librarian, and Stan a wine salesman. In the meantime, they tried to sell the store but could not.[2] They bought somepralines while inCharleston, South Carolina, and customers bought them from their store. They went to a gift show in Atlanta a short time later, in 1978. Their son, Tim, found a fudge-making machine, which his parents bought.[2]
The Stricklands looked for recipes to make praline. Stan would man the stove, and make some in a saucepan. One night, they made three pieces of candy, put it onwax paper, "and boy, it was good," said Stan.[2] They then found out they could make pralines in the fudge-making machine, despite recommendations from the manufacturer against doing so, warning that it could kill somebody.[2]
Stan purchased a slab ofmarble, weighing about 800 pounds (360 kg), from a localstonemason on which to let the hot pralines cool. After making a batch, some customers walked in and could smell the candy being made.[2]
In 1991, the Stricklands got divorced and split the company and the family. Pam got the original name and two stores; Stan got two stores (Atlanta and Orlando) and later opened a rival company, Savannah's Candy Kitchen, also on River Street. Their children, Jennifer and Tim, worked exclusively for Pam, and the family did not speak for about twenty years.[2]
In 1996, the company expanded and moved part of their production into a factory outside of town to handle itsmail orders.[3] It now uses one in Savannah, in a 75,000 square feet (7,000 m2) facility.[2]
The business expanded outside of Savannah for the first time in 2003, when it opened an outlet in Charleston.[3]
Around 2008, Jennifer and Tim broke the silence and began communicating with their father.[2] Seven years later, Savannah's Candy Kitchen and River Street Sweets merged brand names. The first franchise location opened at theTanger Outlet Mall inPooler, Georgia.[4] As of 2016, sales of the combined entities were $35 million.[2][7] They make 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg) of pralines a day (the most in the United States), and between 5,000 pounds (2,300 kg) and 7,000 pounds (3,200 kg) of candy per day in total.[2] Some products were not a success, including chocolate-covered bananas.[2]
As of 2019, the business has been in the Strickland family for three generations, and is now the largestcandy store in theSouth.[4]
Above the River Street entrance to the Candy Kitchen hangs a copper kettle.[4] Inside the store there is asalt water taffy machine that dates to 1914.[3]