See's sweet success

Mary See—if she were here—would be very happy. See's Candies sold a whopping 30 million pounds of candy last year. This sweet success may be due to many things: those friendly faces behind the old-fashioned See's store counter and the great selection of chocolates. But if the late Mrs. See had her say, she'd insist See's is about two things: integrity and using the best ingredients.

See's could have easily failed. The See family, originally from Canada, landed in Los Angeles in the roaring '20s. Charles A. See, Mary See's son, wanted to bring his mother's homemade candies to the masses. This wasn't a novel idea.

"In those days, in L.A. there was apparently a candy store on every corner so the competition was fierce," said Richard Van Doren, vice president of marketing for See's Candies.

But Mom gave her blessing and some rules—she demanded her recipes not be altered and only top-notch ingredients must be used.

Customers, noticing See's quality, started gobbling up the goods. See's survived the Depression and the butter and sugar rationings of World War II with innovative marketing techniques (during the Depression Charles See asked his landlord to lower his rent and in turn lowered his candy prices) and they never strayed from using high-quality ingredients.

A peak at Mary See's own recipe cards shows the words Challenge Butter.

"She said you will use Challenge Butter or they won't taste right," explained Van Doren. Challenge, a California company and the largest butter maker in the West, is the only butter See's has ever used.

"We are very proud to be the oldest continuous supplier to See's Candy," said John Whetten, president and chief executive officer of Challenge Dairy Inc.

See's relies heavily on many California products. Nuts from Blue Diamond Growers in Sacramento and chocolate from Guittard Chocolate in Burlingame help make the candies what they are.

A tour of the See's kitchen in South San Francisco (See's also has a kitchen in Los Angeles) shows something unexpected. People. Lots of them. Much of the candy making is done by hand. Candies are decorated or dipped using a human touch. While thousands of chocolates whirl by on conveyor belts, they are checked and rechecked with the steady eye of the See's candy makers.

"It's labor intensive. I was a little bit shocked myself when I first came to See's. I couldn't believe how many people were involved in making the candy," said Jim Paine, production manager for See's Candies.

But employees seem to love it. The average stay is 25 years—and much longer in Van Doren's case. He's been with the company for 47 years.

"I don't know if it gets in your blood," he said. "It's truly a fun place to work—you are making people happy."

(Jennifer Harrison is a reporter in Davis. She may be contacted at j.harrison@comcast.net.)