The History of the Annabelle Candy Company -
Susan
Gamson Karl, the CEO of Annabelle Candy Co., is the granddaughter of
founder Sam Altshuler and she has provided the history of her wonderful
Bay Area company exclusively for our "Lost San Francisco" page....
In
1917, in the middle of the Russian Revolution, future Annabelle Candy
Company founder Sam Altshuler and a cousin decided to flee to China,
escaping by train in borrowed Army uniforms to avoid being conscripted
into the service.
The
two arrived in Harbin, China, where they took a ship to Japan and then
to the U.S., docking in Seattle. From Seattle, 19-year-old Sam took
another boat to San Francisco, where he was offered a job in a candy
store on Mission Street, beginning his 54-year career in candy.
Sam quickly picked up the trade and began his own small candy company, making confections in his kitchen.
During
the late 1920s, Sam sold his candy in front of movie theaters, which
didn’t have in-house concessions at the time. He soon developed a
following for his product and eventually opened a small sales stand in
the Crystal Palace Market.
As
his business continued to boom, Sam began to move his family from
Russia to the U.S. However, when the Great Depression hit in 1929, Sam
was forced to close his shop and focus on manufacturing instead of
retailing, making candy out of a small factory on a shoestring budget.
He carried on in this manner throughout the depression, selling his
candy wherever he could while saving money to open a larger, more modern
candy factory.
In
1932, in San Francisco, he married Sylvia, and two years later they had
a daughter, Annabelle. Unfortunately, the start of World War II (1941)
brought with it sugar rationing, forcing the small factory to close, so
Sam took a job at a shipyard in Sausalito, CA. There he conducted a time
and motion study that the U.S. Navy used to streamline its ship
manufacturing process. The Navy awarded Sam with a commendation for his
contribution to the war effort.
He
also worked for a local candy company during the war as a salesman to
wholesalers in California’s Central Valley. When the war ended, Sam
opened a new candy factory and took on a partner to ensure sufficient
capital for future expansion.
In
1950, he bought his partner out and formed a new corporation, naming it
the Annabelle Candy Co., after his daughter. After years of
experimenting, the first successful candy from Annabelle was the Rocky
Road bar, which Sam named because of the way the top of the bar looked.
In
1965, Sam moved the business across San Francisco Bay to its present
location in Hayward, California and through the 1970’s Annabelle
purchased the Golden Nugget Candy Company, which had a factory at the
corner of Market Street and Duboce for many years, adding the Big Hunk
and Look candy bars along with the Cardinet Candy Company, makers of
U-No and Abba-Zaba bars to the company’s lineup. All candy bars are now
made in Hayward today.
Sam
passed away in 1971 leaving behind a candy legacy and big shoes to
fill. Not that he had big feet. Annabelle ran the company as did her son
Gary until 1997.
In
1997 Susan Gamson Karl, Annabelle’s daughter became President and CEO,
managing the day-to-day operations. In 2011, Sam Altshuler was entered
into the U.S. Candy Hall of Fame. In that same year, the company was
named as the most outstanding female owned business in the San
Francisco-East Bay Region.
The photo shows the Golden Nugget Candy Company on Market Street, San Francisco in the circa 1964. Source: S.F. Public Library
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