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See's Candies

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See's Candy Shops, Inc.
See's Candies
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryRetail and candy
FoundedNovember 1921; 103 years ago (November 1921)
FounderCharles See
Headquarters
South San Francisco, California
,
United States
Key people
Pat Egan (CEO)
ProductsChocolate, candy, brittle
RevenueUS$ $410 million (2016)[1][2]
US$ over $80 million (2019)[3]
OwnerBerkshire Hathaway
Number of employees
1,500 year-round, 6,000+ seasonal
Websitewww.sees.com

See's Candy Shops, Inc., doing business as See's Candies, is an American manufacturer and distributor of candy, particularly chocolates. It was founded by Charles See, his wife Florence, and his mother Mary in Los Angeles, California in 1921. The company is now headquartered in South San Francisco, California.[4] See's kitchens are located at its headquarters and are also maintained at its original factory in Los Angeles,[5] where there are also retail shops. It also has an office in Carson, California.[6] The company has been owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Corporation since 1972.

Location and market area

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The See's Candies company primarily sells its products at its own stores, along with those of fellow Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary Nebraska Furniture Mart. See's Candies operates more than 200 stores in the following U.S. states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.[7] Most See's Candies stores are found in shopping centers. However, the company also operates a number of stand-alone stores, along with stores inside airport terminals across the United States. More than 70% of the company's stores are in California. There are also stores outside the U.S. in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea (taking advantage of the proximity of its main plant to San Francisco International Airport).[8][9] Seasonally – primarily during the year-end holiday shopping season – See's also offers its product in select markets in kiosks at malls and other shopping centers.[10]

See's sells its product outside these areas directly to consumers via mail order catalog and online orders, in order to control the age of its product.

In March 2020, See's Candies temporarily suspended operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first such suspension since World War II, when it became difficult to acquire sugar and other ingredients due to the war effort.[11] The company began to restore operations a month later, after implementing appropriate safety precautions.[12]

In 2020, See's Candies opened a store in Abu Dhabi in Nation Towers.[13]

History

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A See's Candies store in Sunnyvale, California

Charles Alexander See II (1882–1949) arrived in the United States from Canada in 1921[14] with his wife Florence MacLean Wilson See (1885–1956) and his widowed mother Mary Wiseman See (1854–1939). Mary See had developed the recipes that became the foundation of the See's candy business while helping run her husband's hotel on Tremont Island, one of the Thousand Islands, in Ontario, Canada.

The family opened the first See's Candies shop and kitchen at 135 North Western Avenue in Los Angeles in November 1921.[14] They had twelve shops by the mid-1920s and operated thirty shops during the Great Depression. See's first white and black "all porcelain" store was opened in Bakersfield, California on May 1, 1941.[15]

In 1936 See's opened a shop in San Francisco. It moved operations to make creams and truffles (60% of product sales)[16] to South San Francisco in order to take advantage of the location's cold weather.

Laurance A. See's divorce from his wife Elizabeth led to a landmark community property opinion in 1962 by Chief Justice Roger J. Traynor of the California Supreme Court for a unanimous court.[17] According to the opinion, Laurance worked for See's Candies, Inc. for the entirety of the twenty-one years of his marriage, served as president of its retail subsidiary for most of that time, and "received more than $1,000,000 in salaries from the two corporations".[17] The See case is still included in 21st century textbooks for future lawyers[18] and financial advisers.[19]

In 1972, the See family sold the company, which generated $4 million in pre-tax profit that year, to Berkshire Hathaway for $25 million.[20] On January 3, 1972, Blue Chip obtained a controlling interest in See's Candy Shops. Blue Chip later acquired 100% of See's for an overall price of $25 million. Wesco Financial Corporation was an 80.1% owned subsidiary of Blue Chip Stamps until its complete merger into Berkshire Hathaway in 2011. Warren Buffett has called See's "the prototype of a dream business." (2007)[21] At a 1996 luncheon in San Francisco, Charlie Munger revealed that See's was the first high quality business that Berkshire ever bought. Previous to that point, Berkshire had focused on undervalued assets that could be bought cheaply. The See's acquisition influenced their commitment to buying businesses with a strong reputation and brand recognition.[22]

See's production and warehouse workers are unionized.[23][24]

The 'couverture' chocolate used by See's is provided by the nearby Guittard Chocolate Company,[25] and nuts come from Mariani Nut Company of nearby Winters, California.[26] On June 20, 2012, See's Candies was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records for the world's largest lollipop, a giant chocolate lollipop weighing 7,003 pounds (3,177 kg) and measuring 4 ft 8.75 in (1.4415 m) long, 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m) wide, and 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) high, equivalent to 145,000 regular-size lollipops.[27] The previous largest lollipop record stood at 6,514 pounds (2,955 kg).

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See's Candies shop in Hong Kong

In 1952, Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance spent a half day at the See's Candies store on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles, learning to dip chocolates and work the production line, in preparation for the "Job Switching" episode of I Love Lucy. The episode, which featured Lucy and Ethel getting jobs in a chocolate factory, became one of the most popular in the show's history.[28]

Singer Cher was working at See's in 1962 when she met Sonny Bono; she quit her job to become his housekeeper.[29]

In a 1987 Kidsongs video "What I Want to Be", the Kidsongs Kids visit the See's Candies factory during the "The Candy Man" song sequence.

In 1994, at a See's Candies location in South San Francisco, a driver delivering a bulk order of chocolate fell asleep while his truck was hooked up to one of the vats and pumping; the adjacent El Camino Real and Spruce Avenue were flooded with chocolate. Workers had to shovel it away from the storm drains once the fog had cooled it.[26]

A factory was visited to research the Sugar Rush sequence for Wreck-It Ralph.[30]

See's Candies was featured by Huell Howser in California's Gold Episode 908.[31]

Every year the South San Francisco facility mounts oversized holiday decorations atop its plant for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, Mothers' Day, and Independence Day.[32][better source needed]

On Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher's 2020 Netflix show, Never Have I Ever, main character Devi Vishwakumar's mother keeps a cabinet of See's Candies as housewarming/hostess gifts.[33][34]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "2016 Global Top 100 Candy Companies - 50-26 - Candy Industry". www.candyindustry.com. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  2. ^ Morris, Patrick (July 13, 2014). "Warren Buffett Bought This Company for $25 Million. Now It Makes Nearly $100 Million Every Year". The Motley Fool. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  3. ^ Mohamed, Theron (December 21, 2021). "Warren Buffett's favorite business is a little chocolate maker with an 8000% return. Here are 5 reasons why he loves See's Candies". Markets Insider. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  4. ^ "About Us." See's Candies. Retrieved on January 18, 2009.
  5. ^ Jung, Carolyn (October 29, 2008). "A Peek Inside the See's Candy Factory". Food Gal. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  6. ^ "Contact Us." See's Candies. Retrieved on January 18, 2009.
  7. ^ "See's Candies | Official Chocolate Shop Locator". chocolateshops.sees.com. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  8. ^ See's International Shop locations See's Candies. Retrieved on July 25, 2018.
  9. ^ "See's Candies | Official Chocolate Shop Locator". chocolateshops.sees.com. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
  10. ^ "About Us - See's Candies". www.sees.com. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  11. ^ Lin II, Rong-Gong (March 28, 2020). "Coronavirus forces See's Candies to suspend production for first time since World War II". Los Angeles Times.
  12. ^ Zavoral, Linda (April 22, 2020). "Coronavirus: See's Candies is resuming operations, reopening — but slowly". The Mercury News.
  13. ^ "Sees Candies now in UAE".
  14. ^ a b See's Candies website Archived August 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Bakersfield Californian, April 10, 1941, Page 12, "first all-porcelain store"
  16. ^ "Behance". www.behance.net. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  17. ^ a b See v. See, 64 Cal. 2d 778 (1966).
  18. ^ Blumberg, Grace Ganz (2022). Community Property in California. Frederick, Maryland: Aspen Publishing. p. 231. ISBN 9781543829587.
  19. ^ Burrage, Thomas F.; Little, Sandra Morgan (2003). Divorce and Domestic Relations Litigation: Financial Adviser's Guide. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. p. 75. ISBN 9780471456155.
  20. ^ Calvey, Mark (March 2, 2015). "Warren Buffett basks in sweet success of See's Candies, Bank of America deals". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
  21. ^ Peter Bevelin (2012). A Few Lessons for Investors and Managers from Warren E. Buffett. PCA Publishing and Intermountain Books.
  22. ^ Calvey, Mark (August 21, 2012). "Chuck Huggins, former See's Candies CEO, dies at 87". San Francisco Business Journal. Retrieved May 30, 2013.
  23. ^ Hawkes, Alison. "See's Candies strike settled". San Mateo Daily Journal. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
  24. ^ "Union-Made in America Halloween". AFLCIO. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
  25. ^ Palmer, Tamara (June 15, 2009). "Inside a Happy Habit: A Factory Tour of See's Candies". Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  26. ^ a b "The secrets of See's Candies". August 22, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  27. ^ "See's Candies creates world's largest lollipop". Guinness World Records. July 23, 2012. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  28. ^ Pick, Margaret Moos (2005). See's Famous Old Time Candies: A Sweet Story. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. p. 91. ISBN 9780811848671. OCLC 57392982.
  29. ^ "See's Candies Case Study". January 26, 2015. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  30. ^ "'Wreck-It Ralph' Shines Bright with New Lighting and Effects Technology". Animation World Network. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  31. ^ "See's Candy – California's Gold (908) – Huell Howser Archives at Chapman University".
  32. ^ http://www.everythingsouthcity.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Santa-getting-put-up-on-Sees-2013.jpg [bare URL image file]
  33. ^ "'Never Have I Ever' Season 1: All of Your Biggest Questions Answered (Exclusive) | Entertainment Tonight". www.etonline.com. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  34. ^ "See's Candies Product Placement Seen On Screen". Retrieved June 28, 2021.
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