After Crawling, Their Baby Leaves Nest : Once Hit by Hard Times, Goo Goo Candy Looks to Expand Out of South
“Sure, it’s the dumbest name ever heard. But it’s one people never forget,” insisted Jimmy Spradley, 29, president of Standard Candy Co. He was talking about his company’s principal product--Goo Goo candy bars.
For 74 years, Goo Goos have been acclaimed as “the South’s favorite candy bar,” but to this day the confection is little known outside the area. Spradley is trying to change that. Since becoming president of the Nashville candy company four years ago, he has watched gross sales rise from $2.7 million in 1981 to $15 million in 1985.
“But we have a long way to go. We’re still an insignificant candy maker next to the industry’s two giants, M&M;/Mars and Hershey,” Spradley said.
About 85% of sales are in Tennessee and bordering states, he said. “But if you look hard enough, you’ll find Goo Goos being sold in all 50 states. Not many, but they’re out there.”
Origins of Name
Many have surmised that the “goo” in Goo Goo stands for Grand Ole Opry, because Standard has sponsored radio broadcasts from the Nashville country music shrine for years. But the Opry began in 1925, and Goo Goo Cluster--a round bar made of caramel, marshmallow, roasted peanuts and milk chocolate--has been manufactured since its invention by candy maker Howell Campbell in 1912.
Campbell is thought to have named the bar after his infant son’s entire vocabulary: “Goo Goo.”
Standard Candy was on the verge of bankruptcy in 1982. The company had lost $400,000 in 1980. A year later, it moved into a new 65,000-square-foot plant, but a drought caused peanuts, a main ingredient in Goo Goos, to soar in price from 30 cents to $1.50 a pound. The company lost money again in 1981 and again in 1982.
That’s when James W. Spradley, 62, retired president of Stuckeys, the Atlanta-based chain of roadside stores and candy manufacturer, bought 50% of the company.
“I was nuts about Goo Goos,” said Spradley’s son, Jimmy. “The candy bar has an almost cult-like following.”
James Spradley became secretary-treasurer and named his son, an MBA graduate of the University of Chicago, president. Jim Fischer, 54, who had been chairman since 1974, continues in that position and has a 50% stake.
Standard Candy has been profitable ever since, Spradley said, although the privately owned firm does not reveal its earnings.
Jimmy Spradley turned the company around. He launched an aggressive sales program. He strengthened the distribution channels. Delta Air Lines introduced the candy bar as a snack on some flights. Bloomingdale’s in Manhattan, Marshall Field & Co. in Chicago and May Co. in Los Angeles have carried the candy bars as a specialty item.
Ice Cream Product
“It’s a constant struggle trying to increase sales to capture a bigger piece of the market,” Spradley said. “The chains feature the top 20 sellers. If you’re not in the top 20, you don’t get there.”
Three years ago, Fantasy Flavors, a Wheaton, Ill., ice cream company, began making Goo Goo cluster ice cream. The flavor is now sold by ice cream companies across the nation, with Standard deriving royalties. Goo Goo cluster ice cream bars were introduced in 1984.
In 1982, author Ray Broekel’s “The Great American Candy Bar Book” was published. It describes 1,500 American candy bars of yesterday and today, including some old favorites of the past such as Winning Lindy, Chicken Dinner, Fat Emma and Old Nick.
Broekel’s all-time favorite, however, is Goo Goo.
“If someone stuck me on a deserted island with just one candy bar, I would hope that it would be a Goo Goo,” Broekel said.
