 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Manufacturing |
| Founded | 1855 |
| Headquarters | Ponchatoula, Louisiana |
Key people | Robert Nelson, President [1] |
| Products | Confectionery |
Number of employees | 164 in 2014 [2] |
| Website | Elmer Chocolate |
Elmer Candy Corporation is a confectionery company that was founded in 1855 as the Miller Candy Company in New Orleans, Louisiana. [2] The company sells seasonal holiday candies and, in 2014, was the second-largest manufacturer of Valentine boxed chocolate in North America. [2]
In 1855, a German immigrant, Christopher Henry Miller, started the Miller Candy Company in New Orleans. [3] When Augustus Elmer married Miller's daughter, the company name was changed in the early 1900s to Miller-Elmer Candy Corporation. Elmer's five sons joined the business and, around 1914, the company became Elmer Candy Corporation. [1]
In 1936, the Elmer brothers came up with a new cornmeal based cheese curl. A product naming contest was held in New Orleans, and the winning name entry was CheeWees. In 1946, a new company, Elmer's Fine Foods, was formed to market their new cheese curl product, [4] but the brothers continued operating Elmer Candy Corporation for their chocolate business.
In 1963, Roy Nelson, a native of Chicago, bought Elmer Candy Corporation, including the trademark name, CheeWees, from the descendants of Augustus Elmer. [3] The Elmer family retained control over Elmer's Fine Foods and continued to sell their cheese curls under various names.
In 1993, Elmer's Fine Foods repurchased the trademark name CheeWees from Elmer Candy Corporation. [4]
Roy Nelson recruited his son, Allan, to help manage Elmer Candy Corporation. In 1970, due to antiquated facilities in New Orleans, the Nelsons moved their company about 60 miles (97 km) northwest, to Ponchatoula, Louisiana. [1] In order to stay competitive with larger chocolate companies, the Nelsons concentrated on production of seasonal holiday chocolates (Valentine, Easter, and Christmas) for regional consumption. [5]
By 2004, Robert Nelson, Allan's son, was president of Elmer Candy Corporation. [1]
Louisiana Creole cuisine is a style of cooking originating in Louisiana, United States, which blends West African, French, Spanish, and Native American influences, as well as influences from the general cuisine of the Southern United States.
Pralines are confections containing nuts – usually almonds, pecans and hazelnuts – and sugar. Cream is a common third ingredient.
Edy's Pie is an American brand of chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream bar wrapped in foil. It was the first such dessert sold in the United States. It is marketed by Dreyer's, a division of Froneri.
Terry's Chocolate Orange is a chocolate product created by Terry's in 1932 at Terry's Chocolate Works in York, England. The brand has changed ownership several times, and production was moved to Poland in 2005. Since 2018, the Terry's Chocolate Orange has been produced in Strasbourg, France, by Carambar.
Hershey's Kisses is a brand of chocolate first produced by the Hershey Company in 1907. The bite-sized pieces of chocolate have a distinctive conical shape, sometimes described as flat-bottomed teardrops. Hershey's Kisses chocolates are wrapped in squares of lightweight aluminum foil. A narrow strip of paper, called a plume, sticks out from the top of each Hershey's Kiss wrapper. Originally designed as a flag for the "Hershey's" brand, the printed paper plumes were added to the Kisses product wrapper in 1921 to distinguish the Hershey's Kiss from its competitors who were offering similar products.
Pecan pie is a pie of pecan nuts mixed with a filling of eggs, butter, and sugar. Variations may include white or brown sugar, cane syrup, sugar syrup, molasses, maple syrup, or honey. It is commonly served at holiday meals in the United States and is considered a specialty of Southern U.S. origin. Most pecan pie recipes include salt and vanilla as flavorings. Pecan pie may be served with whipped cream, vanilla ice cream or hard sauce.
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are an American candy by The Hershey Company consisting of a peanut butter cup encased in chocolate. They were created on November 15, 1928, by H. B. Reese, a former dairy farmer and shipping foreman for Milton S. Hershey. Reese left his job with Hershey to start his own candy business. Reese's are a top-selling candy brand worldwide, with more than $2 billion in annual sales generated for The Hershey Company.
Cheese puffs, cheese curls, cheese balls, cheese ball puffs, cheesy puffs, or corn curls are a puffed corn snack, coated with a mixture of cheese or cheese-flavored powders. They are manufactured by extruding heated corn dough through a die that forms the particular shape. They may be ball-shaped, curly, straight, or irregularly shaped. Puffcorn is a similar food, without cheese flavoring.
Chunky is a candy bar with milk chocolate, raisins, and roasted peanuts — using a sectioned and truncated pyramid shape. Chunky is produced by Ferrara Candy Company, a division of Ferrero SpA.
Elmer's Fine Foods, or just Elmer's, is a snack food company based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Elmer's started in 1946 in making snack products, including its popular CheeWees and Mardi Gras cheese curls sold in various southeastern states. Until their chocolate business was sold, they also specialized in the production of seasonal candies such as Heavenly Hash and Gold Bricks, that are popular in the Gulf Coast states. Their manufacturing plant and offices are located in the Ninth Ward, a part of New Orleans that was heavily flooded by Hurricane Katrina.
Coconut candy refer to various candies made with coconut or coconut flavorings.
The cuisine of New Orleans encompasses common dishes and foods in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is perhaps the most distinctively recognized regional cuisine in the United States. Some of the dishes originated in New Orleans, while others are common and popular in the city and surrounding areas, such as the Mississippi River Delta and southern Louisiana. The cuisine of New Orleans is heavily influenced by Creole cuisine, Cajun cuisine, and soul food. Later on, due to immigration, Italian cuisine and Sicilian cuisine also has some influence on the cuisine of New Orleans. Seafood also plays a prominent part in the cuisine. Dishes invented in New Orleans include po' boy and muffuletta sandwiches, oysters Rockefeller and oysters Bienville, pompano en papillote, and bananas Foster, among others.