Former Candy Industry Kettle Award Recipients provide their perspectives on some of the most challenging issues facing the confectionery industry today.
Since 1946, Candy Industry has been bestowing a Kettle Award on individuals working within the confectionery industry. As founder and publisher Don Gussow remarked in creating this unique honor, the Kettle Award was meant as “recognition of the contribution for ‘great or good’ of the industry, not only on the part of the person selected for the distinction, but of every member of the confectionery field who has devoted himself in whatever measure to make the business of candy making and selling a more profitable and happier one.”
This year, Candy Industry has reached out to Kettle Award recipients, asking if they could respond to four specific topics affecting the confectionery industry. The following individuals — Herman Rowland (1988) Herman Goelitz Candy Co. now Jelly Belly Candy Co.; Richard Palmer Jr. (1991); R.M. Palmer Co.; James Hanlon (1992), Leaf Inc. North America, retired; Duane Fox (1993), Spangler Candy Co., board member; Pat Hurley (2000), Spangler Candy Co.; Jim McGovern (2001) Peerless Candy Co. , now JM Consulting; Sal Ferrara (2002) Ferrara Candy Co., Inc.; David Hawk (2005) Gertrude Hawk Chocolates; William Kelley (2006) Jelly Belly Candy Co.; Gary Guittard (2008) Guittard Chocolate Co.; John Brooks Sr. (2010), Adams & Brooks, Inc.; and Pierson Clair (2011) Brown & Haley, Inc. — responded.