Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremy Spindler.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Jeremy. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Candy making has been a lifelong hobby of mine. I began making fudge, penuche, peanut butter balls, and dipping things in chocolate with my mom when I was just a kid. As an adult I taught myself how to make caramel, brittle, and other candies, and it remained largely a holiday passion until a few years ago.
I moved to Boston about 11 years ago to pursue a Ph.D. in music theory and composition at Brandeis. After the financial crisis obtaining an academic job became nearly impossible, so I started looking for other things to do with my life. I was headed down an academic administration job path, which probably would have worked out ok if I had stuck with it, though it wasn’t what I really wanted to do, which was teach.
When I noticed the burgeoning specialty food industry, farmer’s markets, and local food movement I thought it might be fun to try selling some homemade candy to friends and family for the holiday season – this was in October of 2011. So, I did it. Once I started getting inquiries about my sweets from people I didn’t know I figured that it was time to make it a legit business and get all the paperwork and permits lined out.
Fortunately, Somerville (where I live) allows residential kitchens and I was able to get my home licensed in June of 2012. I started selling at farmer’s markets, special events, online, and to a lesser extent wholesaling to other businesses. Little by little the business grew. My full time administration job became part-time, then I decided to leave it all together to focus solely on the business. By 2015 my little venture got too big for my home kitchen and we (my husband and I) decided to look for a storefront where we could both produce our products and sell them on site.
We landed at 2257 Mass. Ave. in North Cambridge, where we have been open to the public for about a year and a half now. In addition to our products, you can find books, gifts, and ingredients all related to confectionery on our shelves. We also do party favors, wedding favors, corporate gifts, and classes here at the store.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
For the most part, things have worked out fairly smoothly. We had the luxury of being able to start as a tiny home businesses, which meant we were able to grow in little baby steps, as opposed to having to run out of the gate full blast.
The biggest struggle was getting everything lined out with the storefront in time to open for the holiday season of 2015. Navigating permits and zoning was quite a headache – there are lots of hurdles to jump – but the city employees were generally quite helpful. As expected, our opening was delayed quite a bit (about 3.5 months) for various reasons, but we were still able to open in early December. Though stressful and exhausting, in the end everything worked out ok.
Please tell us about Spindler Confections.
We hand make a variety of confections include an extensive line of Chocolates, Caramels, Brittles, and Pate de Fruits (these are kind of like gummy candies, but don’t have gelatin in them). Where possible we use local ingredients such as honey, maple sugar, maple syrup, butter, and fluff.
Our flavors lean towards old-fashioned and traditional, though we do some more adventurous candies such as an Orange Dream Swirl Caramel, and we are working on a line of chocolates using MEM brand teas. They should be on the shelf by early summer.
There are relatively few chocolate shops that make their own products in the Boston area. That is one of the biggest differences between us and many other confectioneries. There are a handful though, and they are generally quite good. Burdick, E.H. Chocolatier, Sweet Lydias, and Serenade Chocolatier are the ones that readily come to mind. However, we all have our own niche. Mine is caramel, though our recently expanded line of chocolates seems to be surpassing our caramels in popularity.
I think what I am most proud of is all the physical and mental labor that has went into designing our store and recipes. We did as much of the buildout as we could ourselves. All the shelving, cabinets, checkout counter, and decorating we built. Also, we are approaching the 5 year mark and we’re still around!!
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I can honestly say I wouldn’t have changed much of anything. The way we started and grew worked quite well for us.
However, working with a lawyer during the buildout and permitting phase of opening our storefront might have saved a bit of time.
Contact Info:
- Address: Spindler Confections
2257 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA - Website: www.Spindlerconfections.com
- Phone: 617-714-4871
- Email: spindlerconfections@gmail.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Spindler-Confections-254735901269399/
- Twitter: @spindlerconfect
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/spindler-confections-cambridge
Image Credit:
Photos courtesy of Susan Cotter, Chris Goetchius, and Afton Cyrus
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