THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 21, 1995 TAG: 9507190163
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 20 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Business
SOURCE: BY NOREEN FARRELL NICKOLAS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 121 lines
THE H.E. WILLIAMS CANDY CO., a manufacturer nestled among several private homes on Perry Street in South Norfolk, is not a Fortune 500 company with a million dollar payroll, large corporate offices or an aggressive sales staff.
But whatever the successful business may lack in size, in state-of-the-art equipment, or a sales staff, it more than makes up for with an ounce of assembly line efficiency here, a pound of ingenuity there and a large measure of family commitment and pride.
A typical work day has four full-time employees shifting from one work station to another, pouring and pulling, running and stirring and finally; weighing, bagging, labeling and boxing, on average, 1,500 pounds of candy a day.
``They can produce as much as anyone can at the Ford Plant,'' boasted owner Harold Eugene Williams, 66.
Williams began turning out Peach Buds, a popular peach-flavored hard candy with a coconut center, in 1919, when Shafter L. Williams Sr. moved his dreams and plans for the factory from North Carolina to Virginia.
The shop was then located on Chestnut Street near the Berkley Ferry. Later, the operation moved to Bainbridge Boulevard and Allegheny Street.
After the elder Williams' death in 1939, his wife Irma ran the business with her sons, Shafter Jr. and Gene, until her death in 1976.
By 1982, Gene bought out his older brother and the 3,600-square-foot, two-story, yellow-and-white structure they now use was built.
In addition to Peach Buds, the company also manufactures several other varieties, including Coconut Tri-Colors, a soft strawberry-vanilla-and-chocolate-flavored candy.
Although the company has never employed a salesman, it had $234,000 in sales last year.
``Our advertising is done through word-of-mouth,'' Gene said.
Most of the company's inventory is shipped to supermarkets in North and South Carolina.
Locally, the company sells to Bunny's Restaurant in Suffolk and Sentry Food Marts in Chesapeake and Portsmouth. Many churches, schools and businesses also purchase the candy to use in fund-raising projects.
``We sell 50,000 boxes a year for fund-raising,'' Gene said.
To accommodate their specific needs, Gene said, his family has relied on each other to design, build or modify much of the machinery used in production.
A hoist and boom were constructed to haul the only cooking kettle to a cooling table for mixing colors and forming candy slabs, he said.
Before the boom was built, two people had to lift and move the copper kettle filled with 140 pounds of sugar-and-corn syrup mixture heated to 310 degrees. Now one person moves it easily, Gene said.
Additionally, conveyors and batch rollers, which create the square or triangular shapes of the candy, were customized. By adding a washing machine motor and widening the belts the process became more cost efficient.
``The modified conveyor saves one person's salary,'' Gene said.
And despite its years of continuous use, the factory still depends on a candy-pulling machine that was built in 1898 to mix oxygen with the sugary blend. The mixing turns the yellow candy mixture white.
Since its founding 75 years ago, the business has never closed down and has always been run by family, Gene said. Unlike some family businesses, where jealousy and fighting are a problem, Gene said the factory has kept his family close together.
``When Mother died we divided it up,'' Gene said. ``And there was no arguing over it.''
Gene retired last year, and had a mild stroke over this year's Memorial Day weekend. But after some recuperation he's jogging again, tending to his 18 flower beds and helping out at the shop when needed.
``He's a fighter,'' said Lillie Mae, 60, who married Gene 43 years ago.
Lillie Mae manages the office and said she handles everything that no one else wants to deal with. Like the health department or the Federal Drug Administration, she said.
The couple has four children and their only daughter, Ann Litchfield, 41, came to work at the factory five years ago after working for General Foam Plastics in Norfolk for 15 years.
Litchfield needed to spend more time with her daughter, Laurie, who was 16 at the time, and felt her family would be more understanding of her circumstances, she said.
``If I need to take off I can,'' Litchfield said. ``And I know I won't lose my job.''
Litchfield works alongside Annetta Bagley, 56, who is Lillie Mae's sister-in-law. Bagley has stirred, weighed and bagged candy for 20 years. And while she often thinks of it as ``just a job,'' she said she enjoys working at the factory because the workers look after each other.
Gene buys them lunch every day. And during the summer, their slow season, they work six hours a day, four days a week, but get paid for eight hours.
Gene said he does this because the shop is not air-conditioned. And from October to December they work 10 to 12 hours a day seven days a week to meet the holiday rush. It's his way of making up now for the extra time they put in later, he said.
Roy Carawan, who is Bagley's brother, has worked part-time for several years cooking the candy, but started full-time in April after retiring as a chief inspector with the U.S. Customs Service in Norfolk.
``It's hot, and it's hard work, but I enjoy it,'' Carawan said.
And after 12 years stuffing thousands of bags of candy, Emily Eure, 65, a family friend, can fill the bags without stopping to count.
``It takes 16 Tri-Colors to fill a seven-ounce bag,'' Eure said. ``I know that is about three handfuls.''
Gene attributes the success of the his candy to a recipe that is not too sweet.
``It tastes like food,'' he said.
And the success of his business, he said, is the result of his belief in paying for things only when he has the money.
``I've never paid more than $2,000 interest in my life,'' Gene said.
So the best advice he gives to others who ask him is to be thrifty.
``Don't borrow too much money. Because it's too hard to pay back,'' he said. ``And do the best you can with what you got.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by STEVE EARLEY
Gene Williams, 66, owner of H.E. Williams Candy Co., mixes up a
batch of hard candy. The company was founed in 1919 by his father.
Lillie Mae Williams, married to Gene for 43 years, manages the
office for the South Norfolk family business. ``He's a fighter,''
Lillie Mae, 60, says of Gene, who is recovering from a mild stroke.
by CNB