Nostalgic Candy Empire: How Spangler Builds a Sweet Moat with a Century-Old Brand

Spangler Candy Company, owner of Sweethearts and Dum Dums, is building a sweet future on a foundation of nostalgia.

The 120-year-old candy maker has carved out an enviable niche in the market with its portfolio of nostalgic brands, many of which are themselves over a century old. While its product sales can't rival giants like M&Ms or Reese's, Spangler executives say its candies stand the test of time, carving out a unique space in a category dominated by chocolate, caramel, and crispy bits.

"These brands carry incredible history," said Evan Brock, Spangler's vice president of marketing. "That history makes it difficult for competitors to replace them. You obviously can't replicate that nostalgia and heritage overnight."

The candy maker, steered by fourth-generation family members, sees annual sales growth at a "satisfying" rate of 3% to 5%, the executive revealed.

Spangler was founded in 1906, initially producing baking soda, cornstarch, and spices, and only entered the candy business two years later.

Today, its business is entirely focused on candy, yet none of the major candy brands in its portfolio were originally created by Spangler itself. Instead, the company has grown through acquisitions, often buying assets that were in financial distress or bankruptcy.

Spangler brought Dum Dums into its fold in 1953—its largest and most well-known brand, which now produces 2.3 billion of the small lollipops annually, commonly found in banks, school offices, and barbershops. The Ohio company added a seasonal candy cane business a year later and grew it to account for nearly half of all candy cane production in the U.S. today.

"We're really good at fixing heritage brands that have remarkable history in the marketplace," Brock said.

More than half a century later, Spangler is still using that strategy to revive struggling candy brands. The company acquired Bit-O-Honey in 2020 and quickly set about refreshing it after realizing the brand "needed some love," Brock said.

After researching the market, Spangler gave the brand a complete overhaul to better appeal to its predominantly adult consumer base. The company changed the packaging, including making the bee mascot less childish. Spangler also restored the original recipe, softening the sugar pieces and increasing the amount of almonds.

These changes have paid off, with sales soaring 50% over the past year.

"Frankly, it was a big change and we were a little nervous," Brock recalled. "But it was the right step, returning Bit-O-Honey to its original recipe and getting consumers to keep coming back."

Sweethearts, acquired in the same deal, had its classic flavor mix and the original recipe that gives the candy its signature crunch restored. In recent years, the candy has also added new and trendy messages to its heart-shaped candies to keep up with dating consumption trends.

Ahead of this year's Valentine's Day, Spangler added phrases like "Love in This Economy" to its iconic conversation hearts, such as "Split Rent," "Share Logn," and "Buy n Bulk," alongside classic phrases like "Cutie Pie" and "Marry Me." These playful sayings sparked buzz, drawing attention to the brand known as the "only candy that talks."

Spangler doesn't make drastic changes to all its brands. Other candies it has acquired have been kept as-is.

Shortly after acquiring Necco wafers in 2018, Spangler chose not to alter the product. The company observed that consumers wanted to embrace Necco's nostalgia and concluded that changing the nearly 200-year-old candy could actually harm the brand.

"The fact is, other marketers, other brands would give anything to have the nostalgia our brands have, but to sustain that heritage, you have to stay relevant with consumers," Brock said.