Betty Jane Candies has been serving Iowans confections for three-quarters of a century. Back in 1938, Peter Kloston, an entrepreneurial candy maker from Joliet, Illinois, had heard that a candy company had shut down in Dubuque, Iowa and that there was a surplus of skilled candy makers looking for work.
Anxious to seize the opportunity, he relocated his family to Dubuque and opened a store on, yes Main Street, and named it Betty Jane Candies. The company quickly became a mainstay of the city. During three generations of Klostons, Betty Jane Candies grew from a small store on Main to a healthy confectionery business, encompassing a production facility on the city’s West side and three retail locations (two in Dubuque and one in Cedar Rapids, Iowa).