Consumer Thoughts

Today I had the opportunity to visit the Albanese Candy Factory & Outlet in northwest Indiana. 

The second you get out of the car in the parking lot, you smell sweetness. It’s very hard to explain… it kind of smells like Gummi Bears. The Albanese company is famous for them! Upon entering the factory, the sweet smell takes on a hint of citrus. The sound of running water fills the air, but as you look to your left, you realize it’s the chocolate fountain! It’s not at all like you would imagine… the base is above a checkout counter, and it’s at least 6 feet in the air. A round pole runs up to the ceiling and chocolate pours surprisingly quickly down the outside of it.

Lots of gifts like stuffed animals and mugs adorn the shelves near the chocolate fountain, but the rest of the store is filled with candy. There are gourmet chocolates and nuts in bins along one side of the wall and counters, and all sorts of gummi candies and Jelly Belly jelly beans along the other! On kiosks in the center of the room are gourmet lollipops, candies featuring characters like Spongebob and Hello Kitty, and novelty candies such as mini gumball machines.

Perhaps the most interesting parts of the store are the windows into the factory itself. Walk up a small ramp and look at lots of silver machines. We were there near closing so not much was going on, but the floor was covered in flour! Workers in white clothes (with hairnets, of course) walked back and forth doing their tasks. There were buttons to press on the wall, which presumably would give you information, but there was music playing and we didn’t press them.

The only downfall was that the candy seemed a bit expensive… the gourmet lollipops were 87 cents each, and I used to buy the exact same ones at the grocery store at 4 for a dollar. Then again, the Jelly Belly selection was $5.99 per pound (feel free to mix and match), and a quick check of the Internet shows Jelly Belly selling them for over $7 a pound!

Overall I’d go back, but it would be bad for my waistline! Oh, I almost forgot… they tossed a small plastic baggie into our bag with 4 gummi hearts and a little card saying the company is family owned and run, and thanks for our business!