Candy House strikes deal with airport retail chain

Joplin-based Candy House has inked a partnership deal with national airport retailer The Paradies Shops.

Candy House's gourmet sweets already are available in eight airports across the U.S. through the deal with The Paradies Shops, which has 500 stores in 75 airports. Candy House owner Terry Hicklin said he plans to pitch his products in early December at a Paradies conference in hopes of extending the contract to another 67 airports in the chain that have not already chosen Candy House as a wholesale supplier.

"We're looking at a potential breakthrough that could double our business," Hicklin said, noting that the Paradies account already has grown to a six-figure value after just a few months. "It could be a seven-figure account if we brought on all these airports."

The deal came about through contact with Darrell Hurst, who recently took over as general manager for the Paradies Shops location inside Kansas City International Airport. Wanting to offer regionally-produced goods in his stores, Hurst did a Google search for "Missouri chocolate" and found Candy House's site, www.candyhouse.net. A few e-mails and phone conversations later, Candy House products were available in KCI under names such as "Kansas City Crunch" and "Missouri Mud Munch." Hurst said the new products have been a huge success.

"It has this local flair that's not only gourmet and very good, but it's a local souvenir, too," Hurst said. "It's a huge perceived value, and it tastes good."

Candy House, which started in 1970 and was purchased by Hicklin in 1999, operates a factory in Joplin and retail locations in Joplin and Springfield.

Once Candy House was an official supplier for the KCI Paradies stores, Hurst said it was only a matter of time before the company's products spread to other Paradies locations.

"Once I got Terry locked into our support center and our corporate office, then they could take it and really nationalize it," Hurst said. "They've listed Terry now as what they call a Top 5 provider of gourmet foods for the Paradies Shops."

Hurst said being in the Top 5 provider list is a great place to be - especially right before a big conference such as the one Hicklin will attend Dec. 9-11 with representatives from all 500 Paradies stores in attendance.

"The sky's the limit in a sense of the business that he can generate and what they can do," Hurst said. "Terry is in a unique situation that he has put together not only a great-tasting quality product, but he's combined that with the custom packaging."

For instance, Candy House has created Tarheel-branded candies for a North Carolina airport.

"It's going to be a big challenge, if a lot of those airports come on," Hicklin said. "It could really stretch us to the next level - and that's what we want to do."

According to Hicklin, Candy House has bucked the recession because chocolate is "an affordable luxury." He said business is up 8 percent to 9 percent compared to last year.[[In-content Ad]]