Courtesy / Chatham Candy Manor
Chatham Candy Manor in Massachusetts is expanding production to an industrial site in Portland. Here, co-owner Robbie Carroll mixes candy in a copper kettle.
Updated: May 31, 2022
Cape Cod chocolatier finds a sweet spot in Portland for growing business
A 67-year-old candy-making company in Massachusetts has been on a growth spurt since new owners took over a few years ago. Now Chatham Candy Manor is expanding — and has landed in Portland.
Wife-and-husband team Paige Piper and Robbie Carroll have leased 5,000 square feet of industrial space at 651 Riverside St. to open a new production and distribution facility for hand-made confections.
The transaction was arranged on behalf of the tenant by Sasha Bogdanovics and Jon Rizzo of the Boulos Co. and on behalf of the landlord, 815 Forest Ave LLC, by Vince Ciampi of Porta & Co.
“The business has grown at least 30% to 40%,” Piper told Mainebiz. “So we really maxed out our space.”
With an increase in internet orders, the business needed a new production and distribution facility.
Desoto station wagon
Chatham Candy Manor was founded in 1955 by Naomi Louise Turner in the Cape Cod town of Chatham, Mass.
Courtesy / Chatham Candy Manor
Internet orders surged for the company’s small-batch, hand-dipped chocolates.
“She was an entrepreneur, far ahead of her time, charming, independent, beautiful and totally eccentric,” the company’s website says.
Turner and her daughter, Naomi “Dutchie” Turner, would arrive in Chatham “around the first of July in her yellow push-button drive Desoto station wagon filled to the brim with candy making supplies, card tables, sheets and a couple of old battered suitcases.
"They would set up the card tables, cover them with the sheets, make a batch of fudge, dip some chocolates and be open for business by the 4th of July!”
Mother and daughter used to sleep in the back room of the store or in the back of the station wagon, in hopes of making enough money by August to rent a house for the month. Naomi made the candy according to old family recipes. After Labor Day, the pair would pack up and move on.
When the elder Turner died, Chatham Candy Manor went to Dutchie Turner and her husband David Veach. They transitioned the seasonal summer business into year-round.
“Naomi found herself dipping chocolate at all hours of the night while Dave had to package them up and ship them out the next day,” the website says.
From finance to retail
Four years ago, Turner and Veach sold the business to Piper and Carroll.
Carroll was born and raised in Chatham and spent summers working at the Candy Manor. His mother had worked there since before he was born. After graduation from Bentley University, Carroll worked in banking and finance.
Piper is a native Mainer. She grew up in Minot, in Androscoggin County. She also attended Bentley. During her time there, she interned at Unum, IDEXX and WEX. After graduation, she worked in sales.
“We decided we’d love to try to do a small business together and do something kind of different,” said Piper. “This was the perfect opportunity.”
Candy Manor does a lot of in-store business, particularly during the summer and holidays. A goal of the couple was to increase the mail-order channel.
The pandemic propelled the company’s existing customer service website into online sales.
While the storefront business remained pretty similar to before the pandemic, mail orders more than doubled. It became apparent they’d need more production and distribution space.
In 2017, mail order sales were $100,000 per year. By the end of 2021, they were $829,000.
“We needed a facility to house and fulfill our mail orders,” said Piper. “We think Maine is the perfect place.”
Sea salt caramel
Production for the storefront will remain in Chatham. Storefront sales are the bigger part of the business.
A popular item is a sea salt caramel made in small batches in a copper kettle viewable through the store window.
“When it cools, we cut it by hand and we dip it,” she said.
During the summer, they make huge amounts of fudge in the kettle.
The pickup in mail order was by design.
“When we first got there, we totally redid the website,” said Piper. “We wanted to do something that told a story, and also something that was easy for customers to use. When the pandemic hit, we started advertising, which we had never done before. Now we have new people ordering and customers who have come for a long time but didn’t know we shipped.”
Maine boomerang
The original plan was to expand on Cape Cod.
“But the housing market here is incredibly difficult and I wasn’t sure we could staff a location here,” said Piper.
So the thought was to create a stand-alone facility.
“We love Portland and I grew up in Maine,” she said. “The idea of coming back and creating something in Maine means a lot to me.”
Courtesy / Porta & Co.
Fit-up will include installation of a new chocolate tempering machine and extruder.
The business has about 50 employees — year-round and seasonal and full-time and part-time. A couple of them plan to move with the business to Portland.
“We’ll hire as the need grows,” said Piper. “We hope to have 20 employees before 2023.”
The goal is to begin Portland operations in August and to have a full assortment of chocolates ready to go for this year’s holiday season.
There’s a fair amount of fit-up in Portland.
“The space is great. It’s very big and open,” said Piper. “But we have to make sure it’s food safe. That includes redoing the floors, moving in equipment, a little bit of plumbing, and having generators installed, because candy is susceptible to heat so if the power goes out, we have make sure our AC stays on.”
Courtesy / Porta & Co.
The Portland building had a good-size space to lease.
Equipment purchases include new chocolate tempering machines for hand dipping. The company currently has the type of machinery but it dates back to the 1980s. Other installations include new fridges and freezers and an extruder, which helps to size candies perfectly.
It’s unclear at the moment what the total investment in fit-up will be, she said. Financing will come from cash flow.
“We planned and saved for this,” she said.
The couple is moving to Maine and giving management of the Chatham operation to an employee who has worked at the story since he was a teenager.
“He expressed interest in opening a business someday, so this will be a great opportunity for him,” said Piper.
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