BUSINESS
A former Detroiter heads West
to find his pot of chocolate.
ivy
When Sammy Davis Jr.
asked in a song, "Who
can take a sunrise?
Sprinkle it with dew?
Cover it with chocolate
and a miracle or two?" Kevin Sher-
man didn't realize he would grow up
to be that indomitable person — the
candy man.
Sherman, formerly of Oak Park,
has made a name for himself as presi-
dent of Sherman's Confections, Inc. in
Glendora, Calif.
Sherman, who manufactures can-
dy distributed throughout the coun-
try, moved to California eight years
ago. There, he worked for his brother-
in-law, Dave Klein, known to many as
"Mr. Jelly Belly," the man who, con-
cocted the multi-flavored jelly beans,
reputed to be Ronald Reagan's
favorite candy.
Klein was distributing nuts and
candy when Sherman started work-
ing for him. "I was his first forklift
and head schlep. I learned the candy,
nut and health food business from the
ground up," Sherman said.
Later that year, Sherman and his
_ -
wife, Barbara, opened up their first
IMO candy store, "The Jelly Belly," in
Studio City, Calif.
It was one of the largest candy
stores in California which offered a
•-•
variety. "We always had unique
items. Our concept was selling pro-
0
ducts that nobody else had," noted
Sherman. Sherman's first store car-
•
ried 15 liqueur-flavored lollipops — in-
cluding mai-tai and apricot brandy.
,-.. He also sold chocolate-covered butter
toffee macadamia nuts.
Many celebrities shopped in his
Studio City store. Valerie Bertinelli
Van Halen, Mike Farrell (of
M*A*S*H), Peter Nero, Sissy Spacek
and Judd Hirsch all bought goodies
there.
Scott Baio lived around the block
and 'was in many times. Tony Danza,
► l. James Darren, Jonathan Winters and
Barbra Streisand also stopped in and
purchased noshes. The most
fascinating celebrity he met was
Marlon Brando. He came in late one
Oa
SWEET
SUCCESS
Kevin Sherman literally throws himself into his work.
STEVEN M. HARTZ
Jewish News Intern
night as Sherman was closing and
spent over an hour shopping.
In 1982, Sherman purchased his
second store in Arcadia, Calif. There,
he first started manufacturing his
own chocolate.
"I bought a chocolate melter that
had the capability of melting 80
pounds of chocolate a day;' said Sher-
man. "The business soon grew into a
wholesale as well as retail business!'
A distributor asked him to make
a low calorie candy snack. This is
when Sherman created Krack-O-Lite,
a carob muffin with crisp rice and top-
ped with an almond. The distributor
sold them to health food stores. Next,
he introduced Muffs, a carob muffin
with peanut butter, crisp rice and
chocolate stripes. He then sold the
carob and crisp rice scraps to the
distributor who sold them to frozen
yogurt stores.
Later, Sherman produced two
more flavors, coconut and white
chocolate, and Oreo cookies and white
chocolate with crisp rice — to come up
with a cookies and cream scrap pro-
duct. "This is when I registered the
topping under the name, 'Scrapple, "
Sherman said. "Within a few months,
it was the number one selling topp-
ing in California."
Sherman sold his Studio City
store in 1984 and purchased the
Garvey Nut House No. 2 in San
Marino, Calif. His wholesale business
began to boom, and in 1986, he sold
the Arcadia store and purchased a
larger store in Glendora. Recently, he
purchased an additional 10,000
square foot manufacturing plant in
Covina, Calif., where he produces 50
custom toppings, from a ground
peanut butter to a an apple cobbler
crumb. Presently, he operates out of
both plants.
Sherman's toppings are now fin-
ding a home at frozen yogurt stores
in Michigan. "My customers love
them;' said Cindy Schwartz, owner of
Cindy's Sundae Lovers in Farmington
Hills. "They are unique, fresh and
perfectly designed to top frozen
yogurt; all of his toppings are bite-
size."
His latest creation is "Shermanet-
tes," small chocolate nuggets with a
surprise center inside. Some of his
Shermanettes include: Marsh-ins,
tiny chocolate covered masrhmallows;
S'mores, filled with graham crackers
and marshmallows; Rocky Road, nut-
ty chocolate marshmallow center;
Mini Malts, tiny chocolate malt balls;
miniature Oreo cookies; toffee bits
and diced cashews. "Use these to
make chocolate chip cookies. They are
sure to be delicious with the surprise
center inside the chocolate chip,"
noted Sherman. He is manufactur-
ing a whole line of sour candies,
engrossing jelly- or gummy-type can-
dies in a sour sugar solution; this
should make the mouths pucker all
over the country.
Sherman has also created a line
of chocolate clusters. His clusters are
not your basic chocolate and peanuts.
They are individually wrapped and
made up with cookies and mar-
shmallows, toffee and almonds and
anything else that comes to his
imagination.
Sherman is also in the process of
marketing his line of doughnut topp-
ings — crushed pecan praline, confet-
ti coconut (rainbow-colored) and al-
mond crunch toffee — to name a
few. He attributes his success to
creativity, hard work, non-stop
marketing and treating his customers
like kings and queens.
"You need a burning desire to be
successful in business today. If you
want all the big toys in life, you have
to work hard, stay on top of
everything, and learn how to get the
most out of your employees while
maintaining a respectful relationship
with them.
"I always tell my employees,
`Don't ask me for a raise; ,ask me for
more responsibility! It is with respon-
sibilty that pay raises come.
"My goal is to have our custom-
made confections in every candy store,
frozen yogurt store, ice-cream store
and doughnut store in
America. ❑
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
39