It's no secret -- Americans have a sweet tooth. No matter their budget, consumers find a way to afford their favorite confection. Confectionery industry companies fill a niche market, but a very lucrative one. A confectionery may sell a small amount of a large variety of sweets while others specialize in a particular product. A chocolate confectionery practically sells itself. A candy confectionery may specialize in hard candy, taffy, caramel or other non-chocolate candies. Some confectioneries may specialize in pastries or ice cream.

Before deciding on the direction your confectionery company will take, study confectionery news and trends. Learn how governmental regulations dictate how you must operate your business. Learn the availability and costs of your raw materials. Find confectionery supplies and confectionery wholesalers. Study what other confectionery companies make or sell to avoid oversaturating a market. Many sources exist to discover this information.

1. Consider joining confectionery trade associations.

2. Keep up on the latest trends by subscribing to confectionery industry publications.

3. Identify news and trends on raw materials needed in the confectionery business.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Become a member of confectionery industry associations

Join an industry association to keep up on confectionery news and trends. These associations watch developments in technology, manufacturing, regulation and other areas that impact how a confectionery does business. Take advantage of the contacts that these industries have already made to get your news.

I recommend: The American Association of Candy Technologists represents the confectionery industry. The organization has an annual conference and six regional offices. Members can access confectionery-related technical papers on-line. The National Confectioners Association represents the confection industry, with education in manufacturing, research, public relations, retailing practices and government regulations.

Subscribe to leading confectionery magazines for the latest news

Find out the latest developments from confectionery manufacturers and suppliers in confectionery trade industry magazines. Such magazines make good sources of information on technological advances, regulations that may affect production, new products, training opportunities and other related news.

I recommend: Candy Industry calls itself the global magazine of chocolate and confectionery. The magazine contains links for various subscriptions as well as links to industry news, trade shows, e-newsletters and other information. The Manufacturing Confectioner publishes trade magazines and directories about the confectionery industry and related industries.

Look at the cost and availability of confectionery raw materials

The American confectionery industry relies on a number of raw materials grown overseas. Keeping up on growing and trading news on commodities such as cocoa and sugar makes good business sense. Availability and cost of raw materials affects a business's sales and profit margins.

I recommend: The World Cocoa Foundation tracks aspects that affect the cocoa industry, such as weather disasters, environmentally friendly cocoa growing and modern growing practices. The International Nut & Dried Fruit Foundation supports research in the industry, monitors trade barriers, supports quality standards and provides other services for members of the nut and dried fruit industries. Follow the commodity price of sugar at Bloomberg.com.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  The confectionery business relies on food products. Know and understand the regulations and practices involved in producing finished goods for consumer consumption. Study the availability of food products used in the production of your confections; watch natural disasters and other issues that may interrupt the flow of raw materials to your shop.

Looking for a confectionery business to provide chocolates, candies or other sweets for a business event? First, what is a confectionery? Common usage of the word refers to food items rich in sugar. So why do you need confectionery orders for your business? Often, businesses order them for staff meetings, sales meetings with clients, motivational meetings or other company meetings. It's key that you find confectionery industry companies to meet your business needs.

Confectionery wholesalers can vary widely on their pricing. You need to select a confectionery house with the lowest prices on products, shipping and packaging. Use the following questions to narrow down a confectionery company:

1. What is the purpose of you ordering confectionery goods? Do you need them for internal or external purposes?
2. How often will your business require you to order from a confectionery company?
3. How much confectionery supplies will you order at once?
4. What is the favorite confectionery good among your clients or employees?
   

Action Steps
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Pick a confectionery business with a wide range of choices

Use a confectionery manufacturer that offers the majority of brands your business requires. You need to find a company with the selection you want. If you prefer cupcakes, don't order from a company that mostly specializes in candy. Often, a chocolate confectionery company is what your clients and staff demand.

I recommend: Confectionery House offers cupcakes, cookies and candy for any business event, including edible decorations and candy molds. CandyWholesaler.com offers a variety of gift ideas for any occasion, plus a good selection of brands. TotallyChocolate.com has chocolate confectionery for trade shows and other business needs.

Compare prices in the confectionery industry

Once you find out the most popular confectionery items among your employees or customers, then perform an online search on them. Compare the prices, quantity and shipping costs for those items. Before placing your first order, ask for free samples or the confectionery item. Be careful on pricing for healthier alternative confectionery options, such as sugar-free, gluten-free, kosher and low-calorie options. Whenever you commit to one or two confectionery businesses, be sure they recognize your company as a frequent client. Seek discounts, freebies, rewards or free samples on new products from the confectionery company.

I recommend: FoodService.com has a rewards program for frequent buyers. CandyFavorites.com offers shipping discounts and deals based on your order size.

Use the confectionery industry for creative gifts, rewards

Looking to reward employees or offer incentives? Consider sweet goods as an option. Also, clients will always appreciate a sweet box of goodies as a way to thank them for their business.

I recommend: M&M's offers personalized candy for any business thank-you item or gift. The Chocolate Pen offers customized gifts and incentives, including chocolate company logos. Zaro's Bakery has gift baskets with bagels, cookies and breads

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Use a confectionery house that offers quick reorder options. This allows you to set the date and amount of your next order without hassle.
• •  Don't forget to read the policies for confectionery companies on shipping sweets in hot weather seasons. Find out the fees for keeping them cool or packaging fees for warmer weather.

The candy-making or confectionery business is one that offers products to appeal to everyone. Confectionery companies offer goodies that can tempt any palate. With knowledge of the confectionery business you can find work not only as a candy-maker; you can also find work with confectionery industry companies that sell confectionery supplies. Other options might include working as a sweet treat designer for a confectionery house.

As you get your confectionery education and training, you’re going to learn a broad skill set that can equip you for any number of jobs within the confectionery business. Most classes offer some training in each of the following areas:

1. Confectionery products. With knowledge of the basic candy-making supplies, you can begin to branch out into specialty products as well.

2. Confectionery machinery. As you work with machines that mass-produce candy, you gain experience troubleshooting problems that might slow down production.

3. Confectionery management. You can learn the skills to work in a variety of business settings from large to small. You can also pave the way for a management position for yourself.

Action Steps
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Take confectionery classes

Whether you take baking classes at a culinary school and then branch out to making candies, or take a more informal approach to your confectionery education and training, you are sure to find a program of study that's right for you.

I recommend: The Pennsylvania Manufacturing Confectioners Association offers a number of short courses in confectionery education and training. The National Confectioners Association offers short courses in confectionery manufacturing as well. Sugar Plum Candies offers a number of hands-on classes. This confectionery company lets you pick and choose whether you wish to attend all its courses, or just ones specific to your interests. The courses can also help you with your confectionery business and keep you informed of trends within the confectionery industry.

Get confectionery training at home

While you may need to take additional courses to get the business skills, this is an option for learning about the confectionery business. You can master techniques for making candy and create your own signature products.

I recommend: You can get started with making your own candy with the free ebooks at Incredible Edible Crafts. If your candy confectionery business is a small boutique business, you are sure to find information here that you can use. Sugarcraft offers videos for purchase that can help you master the techniques of making candy confections.

Learn specialized confectionery crafts

Becoming a chocolatier is an example of specialized candy making. Whether you use this specialized knowledge to help mass-produce chocolate or to hand-dip special candies, this is a rapidly growing field of business. Confectionery wholesalers have a steady demand for well-crafted chocolate products.

I recommend: You can find information on how to get training for the chocolate confectionery industry from wiseGEEK. Ecole Chocolat offers a premier chocolate confectionery training opportunity. Chocolate Alchemy has information on preparing coco beans from scratch.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Know what your special talents are as you get your confectionery education and training. If you know you want to focus your post-training career on specialty candies, then learn all you can about that field. If you want to be a manager, then focus your studies on the business side of your coursework.

Confectionery key terms and information are helpful to a wide variety of businesspeople. From the creators of confectionery goodness, to the distributors, the retailers and the consumers, knowing confectionery key terms helps keep everyone knowledgeable about the topic and well informed enough to help make business and consumer decisions.

Most confectionery key terms are products themselves, but other terms involve words that surround the cooking of the confectionery products. Everyone in a confectionery kitchen should be well aware of the lexicon surrounding this field, but those who have any part of the distribution and sale of these products should also be well aware of these words and definitions to help facilitate the proper explanation and communication about the products to their fullest potential.

Action Steps
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Artificial sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners are sugar substitutes that are sometimes used in confectionery products. Some sugar substitutes are natural while others are created out of synthetic substances.

I recommend: Find out more about the artificial sweetener aspartame from the Aspartame Resource Center. Learn how the artificial sweetener Truvia is made from the stevia plant. Rebiana is the natural ingredient that gives it its flavor.

Hard-crack stage

Hard-crack stage is a high-temperature stage in the cooking of hard sweet confectionery products such as suckers, lollipop's, jawbreakers, lemon drops, peppermints, candy canes and rock candy.

I recommend: Learn about hard-crack stage from baking911.com.

Toffee, taffy, tuffy

Toffee, taffy, and/or tuffy are sugars that are cooked to the soft-crack stage (see previous baking911.com chart) that have been pulled to have an elastic texture.

I recommend: Discover toffee differences and the ABCs of toffee from The Nibble. Learn more about the science of taffy from Exploratorium.

Liquorice

Liquorice contains the extract of the liquorice root and is chewier and more resilient than gum. Unlike gum, though, it is made to be swallowed and digested.

I recommend: Learn all about liquorice history and facts from Liquorices.com.

Marzipan

Marzipan is an almond-based doughy confection that can be served in several different ways. It is often formed into shapes or it can be flavored with spirits such as Kirsch or Rum and divided into small bite-sized pieces and coated in chocolate to prevent the alcohol from evaporating.

I recommend: Look at the marzipan confection info from Marzipan Confections.

Divinity

Divinity is a nougat-like confectionery that is made of egg whites with chopped nuts.

I recommend: Find a wide variety of divinity information and resources from Mahalo.com.