Getting to work in a lab creating new types of candy is definitely an exciting prospect which most people would love to be a part. For Clarence Walsh, a La Porte resident and fifth generation candy creator at American Licorice Company, it’s just another day at the office.
Walsh, originally from Palos Park, Illinois, is the next in a long line of confectionary innovators that stretches back to 1914 when American Licorice Company was founded in Chicago.
These days most family-owned businesses are smaller companies run out of a storefront or modest factory. Counter to that, American Licorice Company is a growing, family-owned company that produces Red Vines and Sour Punch which can trace its history back five generations and over 100 years.
“I think it’s pretty amazing,” Walsh said when speaking about being the 5th generation and continuing the long tradition of candy making. “There’s some crazy statistic out there that most family companies don’t make it past the 3rd generation. My brother and I both have kids now so the 6th generation is on the way.”
American Licorice Company was started in 1914 by Walsh’s great-great grandfather, Martin Kretchmer, who opened their first factory on West Jackson Boulevard in Chicago.
“He had been in the chocolate business with a cousin and he had seen all these chocolate companies coming in and the competition was increasing. He decided to sell his shares and he bought a formula for licorice and the rest is history. He left one family business to start another family business.”
There’s a legend within the Walsh family that American Licorice Co. was originally a one man operation featuring Kretchmer and a cart that would travel downtown everyday to sell licorice.
“I don’t know how true it is,” Walsh said. “The legend is that the way he started was that he had a little cart and he was just kind of making licorice at home and he would fill up his cart. Then he’d go down to downtown Chicago and sell what he could, and eventually he had enough to get a factory and build it from there. How much of that is true, I couldn’t say.”
Walsh is the Senior Business Development Manager with American Licorice Co. now and he focuses on new product development and also manages corporate social responsibility.
“It’s just a really great way to experiment,” said Walsh when commenting on what attracted him to the new product development side of the business. “We’re making things in the lab that we don’t even have the capability to make in our building so you really get to step outside the box and try new things that nobody is really doing.”
“With product development we call our lab ‘Area 51.’ It’s all locked up and only the people on the innovation side can really go back there because the candy business is extremely competitive. We tell our associates not to post anything about what we’re doing inside the building unless we give them permission because we don’t want things getting leaked on Facebook or anywhere else. There’s a lot of secrecy!”
At the end of 2015, American Licorice Co. achieved the Zero Waste Facility Certification. The company pledged to meet the certification standards in 2012, before Walsh was managing corporate social responsibility, but it’s an initiative that he embraced to help the company and the environment.
“We’re really focused on our impact on the environment,” said Walsh. “It was just a kind of no-brainer that if we want to lessen our impact we’ve got to stop putting our waste just into landfills. We’ve done that a couple ways, first by reducing our scrap generally and then most of that program is about diversion. Most of our scrap is recycled if it’s plastic or cardboard and if it’s candy waste, that will go to farmers to feed to their livestock.”
In 2005-06, American Licorice Co. was growing and looking to expand. That led the company to La Porte and the benefits of that re-location are evident when Walsh spoke about the facility they are in and the employees who have helped make the company a success.
“La Porte just had everything we were looking for. It had a good workforce and the building we’re in is pretty massive so moving to this location gave us the ability to expand if we need to. We’re a family business and the people that work for us in La Porte are kind of an extension of the family.”
Walsh’s 16-month old son, Liam, and another on the way, will make up the 6th generation, and the future of American Licorice Company. Now, though, Walsh still enjoys working alongside his father, Tim, and the rest of his family who also works at the company.