If the Easter Bunny hopped into the quaint showroom at Arnold’s Candies in Ellet, he would drool.
Peanut brittle, the company’s signature treat, and puffs in most every color and flavor fill the room with yummy aromas.
Just in case you’re wondering — it takes 2 minutes and 13 seconds for an Arnold’s butter mint puff to dissolve in the mouth. No chewing. No biting. Just a slow, sweet melt.
A couple of years ago, Greg Dauphin was having what he refers to as a quarter-life crisis. He was bored as a banker and looking for an adventure. So when Ted Arnold told him he was selling his business, the then 28-year-old jumped at the opportunity to be president of a candy factory.
Knowing that his mom in particular loved candy, he went to his parents’ home in Green with a bag of treats and a prayer. They talked about the venture and his need for some financial help.
“I gave them a spiel that I was a sad sap, losing my mind where I was working,” Greg said, laughing.
John and Cindy Dauphin liked their son’s idea, but mom warned him, “Honey, don’t quit your day job until you think about this a little bit.”
But the next day he turned in his resignation. It’s not that he wasn’t listening, but the young Dauphin just couldn’t wait to get started. There would be no dilly-dallying for him. Life was an adventure.
“All in one week, he quit his job as a banker, bought a business and we found out we were pregnant with twins,” said Dauphin’s wife, Melissa. “So, at that point we were wondering ‘what have we done with our lives?’ ”
The deal closed in April 2011, with Greg Dauphin sharing ownership with his parents. The family, along with Kyle Roberson — Greg’s longtime friend, Melissa’s brother and now the company’s vice president — worked round the clock updating business practices.
“We started at the beginning. Six months was dedicated to coming in here and scrubbing everything and throwing things away before we even got into the process of manufacturing,” Greg Dauphin said. “We had so many hurdles to climb. The packaging didn’t have nutritional facts on them. It wasn’t able to go to retail like that.”
Arnold’s Candies, like other area confectioners such as Hartville Chocolate Factory and Temo’s Candy Co., was a family business. Dauphin said Ted Arnold worked hard to keep the company running. This year, Arnold’s Candies is celebrating its 60th anniversary.
Arnold’s father, who started making candy at a very young age, set him up in business while living in Clyde, near Sandusky.
The family moved to Akron and opened Arnold’s Candies in 1953.
While the business got established, Ted Arnold, who is now 83, worked other jobs, eventually making and selling treats full time.
“We enjoyed it,” Arnold said of himself and his wife, Alice. “Our customers were so loyal. They were like family. And we all tried to help each other.
“When I had cancer, one of our really big customers … called my wife and wanted to know if there was anything at all that they could do to help us out. They said they would send a truck over. Send a man over. Do anything they could do to help us out.”
But eventually the time came for Arnold to retire.
“He [Ted Arnold] is in his 80s and was doing the best that he could, but there is so much to do here. We are physically and mentally tired at the end of the day. I don’t know how he did it for as long as he did,” Dauphin said.
Roberson, who has known Dauphin since childhood (both attended Green High School), is thrilled with his new gig. Previously, he was an assistant sales manager for a Budweiser distributor in South Carolina.
“I got a call from Dauphin that I will never forget. He asked me what I thought of the candy business. I told him he was crazy,” Roberson said.
And yet, after Dauphin enticed him with a box of chocolate-covered peanut brittle, Roberson uprooted and headed for Akron.
“It’s awesome, but it has also been hard work,” the 29-year-old said. “It has taught us patience.”
The bulk of the company’s business comes from selling their products to other businesses, which resell them under their own names.
The fathers of a combined five children (four for Dauphin and one for Roberson) are characters.
In February, the series Food Factory, which is premiering on April 10 on Food Network Canada, visited Arnold’s Candies to film a segment that will be aired at a future date.
“I knew from the moment we met Greg and Kyle that it was going to be a fun day,” said series director Tanya Blake. When asked how many pounds of sugar they used in a year, Blake said they used their best Austin Powers impressions when answering the question.
“Food Factory is a really fun show so to have Greg and Kyle be their kooky selves on camera was a really good fit for us,” she added. “I’m sure that this segment by far will be one of our funniest.”
During a tour of the spotless factory, Dauphin and Roberson yukked it up for Beacon Journal folks.
“If you hang out with us, you are going to have a lot of fun,” joked Roberson. “Candy is fun, it’s sweet and makes you want to run around the house a lot.”
Melissa Dauphin said, “It has really, really worked out for the better for us. He wanted something bigger. Banking is banking — it will always be the same thing.
“This has just allowed such a level of possibility and creativity. It’s a unique job. Our kids think it’s so cool. And there are not too many people in the world who can say, ‘I’m a candy maker.’ ”
Operations manager Tommy Bennett certainly is having a blast.
“I’m obligated to quality control, which makes me very happy,” he said, noting that means he sometimes has to taste the product. “I’m very proud of this candy.”
Speaking of eating, Dauphin and his mom cringed when asked if they had gained weight since buying the business two years ago.
“Thirty-six pounds,” Cindy said, shaking her head.
Her son huffed. He puffed. He grumbled. And then in a barely audible voice, he begrudgingly offered, “Sixty pounds.”
Kim Hone-McMahan can be reached at 330-996-3742 or kmcmahan@thebeaconjournal.com.