Zingerman's latest venture, Candy Manufactory, is reminiscent of Willy Wonka in more than just name.

The latest member of the Zingerman's family of businesses specializes in making old-fashioned candy through traditional methods, methods that have gotten lost in today's industrial agriculture culture.

"We're playing with sugar," says Charlie Frank, managing partner of Zingerman's Candy Manufactory. "We're doing things the way they should be done. The way they were done a long time ago."

That includes making fudge on a slab and cooking nugette. Right now it's Frank and one employee sharing space with the Zingerman's Bakehouse on Ann Arbor's south side. Frank expects to hire another 5-6 people within the next year. He wants to expand to 100 repeating wholesale customers from the current 80 plus he has today to accomplish this.

"We'd like to be known across the country," Frank says.

This is Zingerman's 8th spin-off. The Ann Arbor institution started as a deli in the Kerrytown neighborhood in 1982 by Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig. It has since grown to a whole community of businesses, including a creamery, bakehouse and customer service.

Source: Charlie Frank, managing partner of Zingerman's Candy Manufactory
Writer: Jon Zemke