There’s some sweet stuff cooking on Long Island.
Nassau Candy, a long-standing family business with factories in Hicksville and Ronkonkoma, has been doling out delectable chocolates and other treats since 1918.
“Though we’re a large, national company with more than 1,000 associates, we haven’t forgotten our small-family business roots,” says Lance Stier, owner and head of M&A, business development, and strategy at Nassau Candy and CEO of NC Custom.
It all started with a storefront in Hempstead. The business remained a retail operation for 66 years until Stier’s father, Les Stier, and uncle, Barry Rosenbaum, acquired a candy and tobacco distributing company in 1984.
By 1987, the business was making its own confectionaries under the brand names Nassau Candy and Nancy Adams. With the business in its second generation, Lance Stier and his siblings and cousins hold leadership roles in the company, and founders Les, the chairman and CEO, and Barry, the president, act as their mentors.
The business is always evolving — Lance says Nassau Candy is one of the only U.S. manufacturers that makes candy fruit slices and Jordan almonds, “as the process for both is time intensive and very unique.”
Nassau Candy also makes molded chocolates (such as bars and one-shot products, like truffles and barks), enrobed chocolates (like pretzels and sea salt caramels), panned confections (like dark chocolate almonds) and hundreds of others.
The company distributes its candies to thousands of customers, including national retailers, independent candy shops, ice cream shops, internet resellers, specialty food stores, large grocery chains, corporations, and specialty markets.
Most recently, Lance helped launch NC Custom, which customizes products such as apparel, health, and beauty items (like lip balm and sanitizer), confectionery items, drinkware, and bags for customers ranging from corporations, to zoos, to aquariums, to national parks, to college bookstores.
“We combine these items with thematic artwork to build unique and sought-after collections across the corporate, travel, and specialty retail industries,” Lance says.
Nassau Candy’s product development and creative teams also customize labels for the companies they service. The business has partnerships with major brands such as Godiva, M&M’s (Mars Wrigley), Mrs. Fields, and S’well.
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