Tucked away in the back of a large warehouse, Pure Sugar Candy is innovating the candy industry — while gaining worldwide attention online.
Company founder Stacey Marks Nectow enjoyed an illustrious 33-year career as a broadcast news executive, but always loved creating candy on the side.
Her love for candy began when she was just 10 years old in a home economics class making hard candy. Though her professional life led her toward the news business, including stints at New England Cable News and WHDH, her love for candy making never faded.
“It’s been fascinating to build it because I never went into it knowing what it would be,” Marks Nectow said. “So, I did it out of the pure love for candy.”
From broadcast news to the candy business
While working in the news industry, Marks Nectow would make simple variations of hard candy. But as time went on, she decided to challenge herself, and began experimenting with making hard candy on weekends.
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“I don’t know if it was just that, creatively, I was not as challenged as I was,” she said. “I started saying, ‘I wonder if I can make a mold and make candy in a mold (a container used for shaping dessert items). So I taught myself how to make molds.”
Her first mold was of a Christmas ornament, which then sparked a wide array of creative ways to make hollow hard candy. She would often bring her candy to colleagues at the news station to get feedback on flavors and shapes.
Her creations began gaining attention from larger companies, including Williams Sonoma, which had seen her work at another candy shop and wanted to sell her products in their stores. Marks Nectow also utilized her industry connections and would receive requests from people she had met, including soccer ball-shaped candy for a sports network, which in turn led to tennis ball designs for the U.S. Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
At the time, she was still creating all of her candy from her home kitchen.
Manufacturing space became necessary with growing demand
As demand for her products continued to grow, Marks Nectow knew she had to expand her operations, officially start the company now known as Pure Sugar Candy and open a production facility. She obtained a FDA registration, food license and town registration and looked for a location to create and manufacture the candy products.
She decided on a warehouse space that was previously a break room, but has since been gutted and renovated to become a colorful candy factory.
“I built this out and wanted to make it fun,” Marks Nectow said. “The cooking center is red, the place where we keep molds are blue, so it doesn’t have to be a factory, it can be like a little fantasy land.”
All of Pure Sugar Candy’s products are fully handmade, something Marks Nectow said was important to her from the beginning. She said she preferred this method over machinery, and typically employs seven to 10 people per shift. Many workers have been with the company for several years and have referred friends and family, which Marks Nectow said is a testament to the facility’s positive atmosphere.
“I say this is our happy place,” she said. “I say don’t come in here and be negative. This is joyful work.”
Social media changes how the business reaches customers
Utilizing social media as both a marketing strategy and online store has changed the business, Marks Nectow said.
“I would say 80% of our business was through wholesale and anything else were orders that came through our website or someone saw it somewhere and wanted to come buy it,” she said. “Little boutiques would buy it, then people would see it then go to our website and buy it.”
After Marks Nectow’s son began working for her, he pointed to the benefits of using social media. She said they had Facebook and Instagram accounts, but did not fully utilize them. They then curated a list of influencers to send products to and partner with to sell products, which Marks Nectow said forced her to be more creative.
“I always have to come up with the next big thing, because if I’m not doing that, things get stale very fast on TikTok,” Marks Nectow said. “You are at 100 one day, then you’re at two the next.”
Products include sugar cubes, lollipops and Bubs
Pure Sugar Candy offers a wide variety of handcrafted candy, sold exclusively online. Products include flavored candy cubes in creative combinations such as peaches and cream, and key lime pie, lollipops, hollow candy and their most popular, which are a Swedish Candy called “Bubs.” Marks Nectow described a bub as “a candy where a gummy meets a marshmallow.”
These colorful candies are often sold in variety packs that coordinate with seasons, holidays or themes. Customers can purchase the candy through their website or on TikTok Shop, where they are a top seller, Marks Nectow said.
A video gone viral widens company’s recognition
The company’s visibility reached new levels when TV personality and entrepreneur Bethenny Frankel posted a TikTok reviewing the Bubs. The video has more than 25,000 likes and influenced her viewers to purchase the product and post their own reviews.
While Pure Sugar Candy already had a lot of attention online in the “candy world,” Frankel reaches a much broader audience with her three million followers, Marks Nectow said.
“Bethenny talks to three million people and that’s people who don’t necessarily follow candy, they follow her,” Marks Nectow said. “I think that was the difference in the magnitude of it and why people started talking about it in that way.”
A constant need for new ideas
Marks Nectow said ideas for mixes and new products often come from customers, as well as inspiration from other candy stores and videos that she views. She loves the variety the business brings and the chance to always be creative.
Pure Sugar Candy has created products for birthday parties, bridal showers and has even partnered with Netflix to make Bridgerton-themed lollipops for Williams Sonoma.
Now, staff members are preparing for fall products such as caramel apple-flavored products and Halloween-themed candy.
“You know, what I love about the television business is the same thing I love about this business — and it’s always creating something new,” Marks Nectow said.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: How Pure Sugar Candy’s handmade sweets became TikTok gold
