No leftovers at third-generation family chocolate shop
GOSHEN, Ind. (AP) - It's a look of "Are you kidding?"
Kare Andersen has just explained how Olympia Candy Kitchen in Goshen will amp up its candy-making schedule the day before Thanksgiving to get a jump on the Christmas rush when the subject of "leftovers" comes up.
"What do you mean, leftovers?" he says.
In other words, when you're in the business of selling chocolate nobody can resist, chances are there aren't going to be leftovers, not even when inventory maxes out for the sweets-crazy holiday season.
"No," Andersen repeats a couple of times, "not typically."
There haven't been many chocolate leftovers lying around the corner of North Main and West Clinton streets in the heart of downtown Goshen since 1912, when Greek immigrant Nicholas Paflas first began making hand-dipped chocolates and selling them over the soda fountain counter at was then known as Columbia Candies.
In 1920, Paflas met his wife, Leona. The couple purchased the sweet shop, renamed it Olympia Candy Kitchen and added a diner.
Now, in its third generation of family operation under the ownership of Andersen's mother, Kathy Andersen, Olympia Candy Kitchen has remained virtually unchanged for 75 years. There's still the familiar red and white awning hanging over the front entrance, high swivel stools at the soda fountain, polished wooden booths and glass cases upon glass cases filled with chocolate candies made every Wednesday.
"We don't make any of the hard candies," Andersen says. "But, like, the caramel, toffee and cream, we make from scratch. For caramel apples, we make the caramel."
The subject turns to the Charlie Chaplin Chocolate, and Andersen gives a nod of the head toward an Olympia Candy Kitchen treat made with a blend of chocolate, coconut and Spanish peanuts over marshmallows.
"I looked it up once, Charlie Chaplin actually liked that, so it's something he ate," Andersen says. "It started out on the East Coast, I don't know how it got here."
But the turtle is the one chocolate treat customers flock to this classically timeless drugstore soda fountain to nab.
"Oh, yeah, the turtle, it's good," Andersen says and notes that "by far" the turtle is Olympia Candy Kitchen's most popular item. "It's caramel that we make, but we don't add a bunch of water to it like most places do."
But there's more to Olympia Candy Kitchen than just homemade chocolates and candy canes exclusive to the holiday season. Andersen grabs a sandwich off a plate to point out the different ingredients of a Nut Olive toasted sandwich, "our unique sandwich."
"It's cashews and green olives, roasted cashews that we roast here," he says. "That's probably what we're most known for as far as sandwiches."
The Stuffed Olive Sandwich, he adds, "is the same thing . just lettuce and mayonnaise and olives."
Andersen, who grew up in Elkhart, has managed Olympic Candy Kitchen for his mother for the past 12 years, managing the day-to-day operations of the Goshen landmark that his family has been involved with for more than a century and continues to serve as a throwback to history for everyone who ventures in.
"I also like seeing generations come up," Andersen says. "People that are grandparents now, that are like, 'I remember when my grandparents brought me here,' that brings back a lot of memories. It's neat for them, I think, to reminisce and to remember those times . and it's so unique, and it's just a good product, and a fun place.
"One time," he adds, "a guy said, 'So it's kind of like Cheers without the beers, you know all the customers.' I mean, I know probably 50 to 70 percent of the customers that come in here, so it's a real family feeling."
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Source: South Bend Tribune, http://bit.ly/2fgSGz1
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Information from: South Bend Tribune, http://www.southbendtribune.com