Spangler Candy Company has a long and diverse history. Most recently, its chairman and CEO, Kirk Vashaw, was the recipient of our Kettle Award this year; in 2008, Vashaw became the 7th president in Spangler Candy Co.’s 117-year history and the first fourth-generation family member to lead the company. 

A family history

"Spangler was started in 1906, when Arthur G. Spangler purchased the Gold Leaf Baking Powder Company for $450 from a Sheriff’s Sale, and moved the operation to Bryan, OH, and changed the name to Spangler Manufacturing Company. Early products included baking soda, baking powder, corn starch, laundry starch, spices, and flavorings," says Vashaw.

Over the next eight years, Arthur was joined in business by his two brothers, Ernest and Omar, and the company began making and selling candy items.

"The company’s first candy brand, introduced in 1911, was the Spangler Cocoanut Ball. In 1913, the business moved to its present location on North Portland Street in Bryan. Between 1914 and 1920, we manufactured treats including Crème Peanut Clusters, Bryan Drops, hand dipped chocolates, chocolate bars, ice cream cones, soda pop, and cough drops. By 1920, all of the products manufactured by the company were candy, so the name was changed to Spangler Candy Company," he explains.

In 1922, Spangler purchased its first hard candy equipment, and became successful at making hard candy sticks and penny apple suckers. In 1940, the company began making marshmallow circus peanuts, and marshmallow topping also became a big item. Six years after that, in 1946, the company reorganized from a partnership to a corporation. 

"By 1947, the second generation of Spangler family members took over leadership of the company, and Spangler was manufacturing more than 60 different confectionery items. By 1960, second generation family members serving as company leaders included Ted Spangler (president), Harlan Spangler (treasurer and financial officer), Norman Spangler (secretary & production manager), Frank Spangler (purchasing and product design), Charles Spangler (transportation manager and sales), and Albert Spangler (Toledo wholesale manager), with first-generation leader Ernest Spangler serving as honorary chairman," Vashaw says.

Spangler acquired the Dum-Dums brand from the Akron Candy Company in Bellevue, OH, in 1953. One year later, the company acquired the A-Z Candy Cane Company from Detroit. In 1966, Spangler introduced the Dum-Dums Drum Man, developed by the Howard Swink Advertising Agency in Marion, OH, as the mascot of what had now become the company’s flagship brand. 

"In 1978, C. Gregory Spangler, part of the family’s third generation, became president of the company.  That same year, the company purchased the Saf-T-Pops brand from Curtiss Candy Company in Chicago. Several additional products were acquired in subsequent years, including Astro Pops from the Nellson Candy Company in Los Angeles, CA in 1987; and Suck An Egg and Save-A-Sucker from Innovative Confections in Idaho Falls, Idaho in 1995," notes Vashaw.

1990s and beyond

Dean L. Spangler, also from the family’s third generation, became president in 1996, and Greg (C. Gregory Spangler) became the chairman, Vashaw adds.

"Other third generation family members with the company by then were Pat Hurley, director of quality, and Bruce Spangler, who managed the company’s wholesale business. Also in 1996, Spangler established its first internet presence at spanglercandy.com. That year, we began a 10-year process of management restructuring, shifting from purely family-focused leadership to a more professional management focus," he comments.

In 2001, Spangler entered into a co-manufacturing relationship with Sunrise Confections in Juarez, Mexico, to manufacture commodity candy canes.

"The company also ceased production of chocolates that year, and other than marshmallow circus peanuts, the company focused solely on hard candy products, namely Dum-Dums, candy canes, and Saf-T-Pops,” Vashaw shares. In 2003, Spangler established a relationship with Imagination Confections to begin marketing candies under the Disney brand, and as a fourth generation Spangler family member, Vashaw joined the company to manage that relationship. By this time there were two more fourth generation Spangler family members working for the company: James B. Knight as director of marketing, and John Spangler as IS technical support.

Spangler Candy Company celebrated its 100^th anniversary in 2006, and published a book, A Sweet Century: The 100-Year History of Spangler Candy Company and the Spangler Family, to commemorate the occasion.  

"We also opened the Spangler Candy Company Store, Museum, and Factory Tours, featuring tours through the factory on the Dum-Dums Trolley,” Vashaw relates. In 2008, Vashaw became president of Spangler, and in 2011 he was elected president and CEO, becoming the seventh chief executive in the company’s 105-year history.

"By 2011, Dum-Dums was identified as the No. 1 lollipop brand per IRI [now Circana] scan data, and in 2014,” Vashaw says. Dean Spangler retired as chairman and Vashaw was appointed chairman and CEO. Later that year, William G. Martin was appointed president and CFO and became the first person outside of the family to serve as president.

In 2018, Spangler acquired three iconic candy brands: Necco Wafers, Sweethearts Candies, and Canada Mints, when the New England Confectionery Company filed for bankruptcy.

"Later that year, we purchased the adjacent 20-acre facility just west of the existing candy factory and spent the following four years renovating an old power tool manufacturing plant into Spangler’s west campus. In 2020, we acquired the Bit-O-Honey brand from Pearson’s Candy Company in St. Paul, MN, and moved the equipment to Bryan, where production began in late 2022," he explains.

Throughout the company’s history, Spangler has committed to being “a positive force in the communities where [it does] business,” and has strongly supported the residents and community of Bryan, OH in many ways.

"In 2022, we collaborated with the city’s Municipal Utilities department in the painting of the water tower located on the Spangler campus. This now iconic tower’s bright red water tank is decorated with eight 65-foot-tall Dum-Dums," Vashaw notes.

"Although the pandemic forced the closing of the Spangler store and museum in 2020, we have since purchased a building on the city’s historic courthouse square and plan to open Spangler Candy World, a much larger and more adventurous venue, that will include an interactive museum, retail store, family activities, and a large screen tour of the factory," he reveals.