'Koch’in’ up a Kettle

By now, most of you have probably heard the news: Mike Koch, v.p. of manufacturing for Morley Candy Co., is this year’s Kettle Award recipient. Considering the slate of candidates there were nominated this year — Marty Palmer, president and ceo of Palmer Candy Co.; Rick Ross, president and ceo of Galerie; and Dave Taiclet, president of the Gourmet Food Group of 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc.; — that’s quite an accomplishment. Given their experience and involvement in the confectionery industry, these are all heavy hitters.

And that doesn’t mean Koch isn’t. Rather, of the four, Morley Candy is probably the smallest in terms of revenue. But what Morley Candy lacks in size, Koch makes up in heart. Having started in the confectionery industry from the ground up, and I meant this literally — he started working at Morley Candy in 1973 sweeping and mopping floors in the evening while attending Notre Dame High School — Koch worked his way up, first becoming a candy maker, then maintenance supervisor, quality control director, warehouse manager, director of R&D, and finally to vice president of manufacturing.

In 2008, he became part owner of company. Under his leadership, the company became ISO certified and SQF Level 2 certified an last year SQF Level 3 certified.

From what I understand, those are not easy goals to reach for large operations, much less smaller ones.

While focused on continuously improving and growing the company, Koch also found time to give back to the industry, being an active member of the Retail Confectioners International, the National Confectioner’s Association and the American Association of Candy Technologists.

Those efforts did not go unrecognized as he received the RCI’ s President’s Award in 2012 and in 2013 Koch was inducted into the National Confectionery Sales Association’s Candy Hall of Fame. To best sum up Koch for those who don’t know him, he’s a candy maker’s candy maker and just a truly good person.

Tradition has it that the recipient of the Kettle Award gets roasted by a committee or family member and/or a close friend or colleague. Of course, unless it’s a committee member who’s doing the roasting, no one knows who the recipient will be until that envelope is opened. Hence, to do an impromptu roast, takes some special skills.

Last night, Graham Nice, regional sales manager for Campbell Wrapper Corp. was asked to do the honors. A close friend of Koch’s for 25 years, Nice — who’s known for his sharp and at times severe wit — seemed to be the ideal choice to put Koch on the spit.

Well, after throwing out a few cheap shots at our Kettle Chairman and yours truly, Nice was almost at a loss for words, that is roasting words. You see, Koch’s a really “nice” guy in the best sense of the word.

It’s truly gratifying to see that in this industry, “nice” guys can finish first. Listen, when Marty Palmer, one of our nominees tells me after the reception that he told Koch that he hoped the Morley Candy maker would be the recipient that says a lot.

So congrats to you Mike, and Marty, and Rick, and Dave, for proving to us once again, that class, craft and conscientiousness go a long way.