Kevin Baker has gone from making fighter planes to making world-class chocolates.
The founder of Nebraska's very own Baker's Candy opened the company in 1987 and is close to celebrating 20 years in business. Baker's love of making things goes back a long way, specifically to his service in the Vietnam War.
"He actually got his start n the aerospace industry; he's an inventor by trade," said his son, Todd Baker, of his father's beginnings. "After the war, the only job he could find was as a mechanic in a chocolate factory. He came up with all kinds of ideas to make better machines, and that was the start of Baker's Candy."
With these tentative machine plans in mind, Kevin Baker transformed the Baker household into a work zone for the burgeoning business.
"The machines were built one by one in our family home - in the basement and garage," Todd Baker said. "We literally built the business board by board."
Baker's Candy is located at 831 S. Baker St. in Greenwood.
Kevin Baker's primary goal, after creating effective and efficient machines, was to open the business with no debt. He designed the machines to do virtually all of the labor-intensive work, which also allows the candy to be made cheaply and sold cheaply.
In fact, Baker's machines do so much of the work that the factory only needs to employ about a dozen employees, even with its ever-increasing output, Todd Baker said.
Kevin Baker also decided to not use advertising, which also decreases research and development costs. Word-of-mouth advertising is all the Baker business uses.
Interestingly enough, this emphasis on cost reduction is exactly what makes Baker's chocolate and candies so delectable, Todd Baker said. Using machines as the primary means of production "made the process so cheap that we could buy the best and sell it for the cheapest, which gives us a really secure niche in the chocolate market," he said.
This small family business is not so small anymore. It has four fully automated production lines in its factory and also has an outlet store.
"On a general day, we can do upwards of 3,000 pounds of chocolate," Todd Baker said. "We did over 300,000 pounds last year, and that's just the chocolate. That doesn't include the nuts and caramels and stuff."
As their business has grown, so has their collection of different types of chocolates and candies. One of their recent developments has been making sugar-free chocolates, which they began producing after diabetes numbers in the country started drastically increasing.
Julie Zielinski, the manager of From Nebraska Gift Shop, 803 Q St. in Lincoln, also mentioned the increasing selection Baker's Candy has to offer.
"We have their meltaways, chocolate-covered potato chip clusters, chocolate-covered cashew clusters, and we have boxes of their chocolates in various sizes," Zielinski said.
Baker's Candy, she continued, is incredibly popular, especially among former Nebraska residents. Overall, the favorite flavor seems to be the milk chocolate, but some of the newer flavors, such as orange, mint, mocha and raspberry, are growing in popularity.
What makes Baker's chocolates different from others is the "creaminess."
"They're called meltaways - put it in your mouth, and they do just that," Zielinski said.
When customers come in looking at Baker's Candy for themselves or for gifts, Zielinski always tells them "the best way to enjoy it is put it in your mouth, bite it in half, get one piece in each side of your mouth and let it melt slowly and fill each side of your mouth with chocolate."
"Once you've had (a Baker's chocolate), a Hershey's Kiss will just never be the same again," Zielinski said.
Kevin Baker and his family are proud to still own and operate one of the few small, family-owned food manufacturing businesses left in Nebraska. Todd Baker mentioned their outlet store boasts products from other small businesses in the state.
"There's not a lot of food manufacturers left here in the state," he said. "It can be difficult for small businesses to get started, and we've certainly seen a lot of outsourcing in our 20 years here, but we really enjoy being a Nebraska company and being family owned and operated."
