Meet Lisa Hohmeier - part 11

 

Editor's Note: Continuing Meet Me Mondays!  I am Britta Malsch, the Purchasing Manager at Anderson's Candy Shop. I also help the Andersons with social media duties.  As I enter my 10th year at the store, one of my goals has been to help introduce our family of staff to our family of customers.  I hope you enjoy this series which will hightlight all the wonderful men and women who work hard to create the Anderson's Candy that you love!   

Eleventh in our series, is Lisa Hohmeier.

Lisa has been apart of the Anderson’s Candy Shop Family for over 10 years, she was the first employee hired to work in our Barrington shop when we opened that location over 10 years ago.  

Lisa remembers working closely with fourth-generation candy maker, Katie Anderson-Tedder when the Barrington shop was located at the other end of main street, in the historical part of town.  She remembers Katie telling her to taste the candy, “Yeah baby!” she remembers thinking at that first delicious bite. 

Something Lisa thinks will surprise customers about how our candy is made is “The amount of human effort that goes into each and every piece.” 

Lisa is a dark chocolate lover for everything! … except Peanut Butter Crunch!

Fond memories while working in the shop consist of the generosity of our customers.  “We had a customer pay the remainder of an older gentleman’s bill, since he didn’t have enough money.  We never told him, he thought he just got a great deal!”  “I love when someone comes in and realizes this is the candy their Gramma gave them years ago (they recognize the candy bar bags)!”

Lisa’s favorite holiday at the candy shop is Christmas, “I love Christmas because our candy is a part of so many families during celebrations!” Lisa also says “Valentine’s Day is hard with all the special packing and sticky strawberries.  It is a lot of set up for a short selling period.” 

On her days off, Lisa enjoys hanging out with her rescue greyhound and foster greyhounds.  She loves taking walks, pilates and gardening in her yard.  She enjoys driving her 1967 Pontiac and taking their cars to car shows and cruise nights.  

Meet Wendy Hollister-Hill - Part 12

 

Editor's Note: Continuing Meet Me Mondays!  I am Britta Malsch, the Purchasing Manager at Anderson's Candy Shop. I also help the Andersons with social media duties.  As I enter my 10th year at the store, one of my goals has been to help introduce our family of staff to our family of customers.  I hope you enjoy this series which will hightlight all the wonderful men and women who work hard to create the Anderson's Candy that you love!   Twelfth in our series, is Wendy Hollister-Hill.

Wendy has been a part of the Anderson’s Candy Shop Family for almost 7 years (November 2, 2015 to be  exact, “It was one of my favorite days EVER.  My 42nd birthday, a new job and front row seats for Rob Thomas!).  Wendy manages the Barrington location, making sure the store is stocked full of candy, decorating for all the different seasons and holidays and of course, helping all of our wonderful customers.  

Wendy originally started working in our Richmond location in the packing room, learning all the marks on top of the pieces and bars.  

Something Wendy thinks will surprise our customers about how our candy is made is “how many people it takes to make a piece of our candy.  We have no machinery, making our product is an art form.” 

Wendy prefers dark chocolate, for everything! 

Wendy has many memories of working at the candy shop, but one that stands out “was my first taste of molasses sponge candy.  It was my mom’s favorite.  Dad use to surprise her with a bag - and sometimes my sister and I would get some.  I was so excited to learn we made it.  

The first bite brought me to literal tears.” 

Holidays at the candy shop can truly be a different experience for everyone, Wendy says  her least favorite holiday is Arbor Day, “There are no special items to try, it’s an important day, just not highly recognized (or the holidays which require me to use a lot of glittery decor IYKYK” Her favorite holidays are “All of them! Each season and holiday brings new product or products only made during that season.  I get to change the decor and after I stop stressing about what to do, 

I can create some really visually pleasing displays.  

On her days off Wendy spends time with her family and also, thinking about how she can continue to contribute and make the Barrington location as great as it is, and even better (thank you Wendy!). 

Meet Emma Bertuccioli - part 9

 Editor's Note: Continuing Meet Me Mondays!  I am Britta Malsch, the Purchasing Manager at Anderson's Candy Shop and also help the Anderson's with social media duties.  As I enter my 10th year at the store, one of my goals has been to help introduce our family of staff to our family of customers.  I hope you enjoy this series which will hightlight all the wonderful men and women who work hard to create the Anderson's Candy that you love!  

Ninth in our series, is Emma Bertuccioli.

Emma has been a part of Anderson's Candy Shop Family for a little over two years.  

Much like a few of her co-workers, Emma too started as an "after school kid."  She would come in after she got done at school and pack candy into boxes or put freshly made candy away.  

Emma works in the storefront and packing room.

Emma first remembers learning how to use the cash register along with 

putting away candy and packing. 

Emma prefers all things in dark chocolate! 

Fun times in the packing room gave Emma the fond memory of "having a wrapping caramel race with a few co-workers (I won!)" 

Emma says her favorite holiday at the candy shop is Halloween "because I love the decorations and our chocolate molds."  Her least favorite is Christmas, "we run out of everything which makes packing more stressful!" 

On her days off Emma enjoys spending time with her family and friends, enjoying the nice weather. 

Meet Ethan Luedke - part 10

 

Editor's Note: Continuing Meet Me Mondays!  I am Britta Malsch, the Purchasing Manager at Anderson's Candy Shop. I also help the Andersons with social media duties.  As I enter my 10th year at the store, one of my goals has been to help introduce our family of staff to our family of customers.  I hope you enjoy this series which will hightlight all the wonderful men and women who work hard to create the Anderson's Candy that you love!  

Tenth in our series, is Ethan Luedke

Ethan is our newest edition to the Anderson's Candy Shop Family.  Ethan started at the shop in the fall of 2021 and works in the packing room and store front.  If you have shopped with us on a weekend in the past year, chances are you have seen Ethan's smiling face!

When he first started, Ethan remembers learning how to stamp the wax paper bags we put candy bars away in and learning how to properly put candy away.

Something Ethan thinks may surprise customers is that not only are the chocolates dipped in the Richmond shop but that "all of the fillings (like Buttercream, Caramel, and Nougat) are made here." 

Ethan doesn't have a favorite when it comes to milk or dark chocolate, for him it's the filling inside the 

chocolate that counts the most! 

Fond memories for Ethan while working at the candy shop include when he and Xander get into discussions about their musical tastes. "Xander has terrible taste," he jokes.

Ethan's favorite holiday to work at the candy shop is Easter. "Easter because of the cream and marshmallow eggs" he says.

And, like a few other of our staff...Valentine's Day is his least favorite, "because of the heart boxes."

(oh yes... so pretty but very difficult to pack up!)

On his days off, Ethan enjoys playing video games.

Meet Xander Novak - part 8

 Editor's Note: Continuing Meet Me Mondays!  I am Britta Malsch, the Purchasing Manager at Anderson's Candy Shop. I also help the Andersons with social media duties.  As I enter my 10th year at the store, one of my goals has been to help introduce our family of staff to our family of customers.  I hope you enjoy this series which will hightlight all the wonderful men and women who work hard to create the Anderson's Candy that you love!   Eighth in our series, is Xander Novak.

Xander has been a part of the Anderson's Candy Shop Family for a little over 2 years. He works in the storefront with customers and also in the packing room. 

Xander started when he was a student at Richmond Burton Community High School as an "after school kid" helping out on weekends and pitching in on night shifts during our busy holiday seasons. And, he has stayed with Anderson's as he has begun his college journey!

One thing that Xander remembers doing when he first started at the shop was learning to follow our "maps" and pack candy into different boxed assortments.  

Like most of our staff, the number one thing Xander thinks would surprise customers is that the candy is all really handmade at our store in Richmond. 

If you were to spy Xander sneaking a piece of candy for "quality control" you would see he prefers milk chocolate over dark. 

One of Xander's fond memories of working at the shop is "When the ghosts haunted the candy shop in front of my eyes."

  (Oh, Xander... In a building with so much history (yep, we have been making candy here in Richmond since 1926), it's not uncommon to hear the old building creek, or to mistake the whir of the melters or the AC unit kicking on, to be something else ... especially during night shifts during our the holiday rush. )

Xander enjoys working most during the Christmas Season at the candy shop.

 "It's so joyful and we are constantly busy," he says.

 His least favorite holiday is Easter "because of the strange molds." (There are many! More than 20 styles of solid chocolate molded figures! He's right - keeping track of all the different solid chocolate Easter Bunnies is quite the job!) 

On his days off, Xander spends his time with his dog or playing video games.

Meet Rebecca Hile - part 7

 

Editor's Note: Continuing Meet Me Mondays!  I am Britta Malsch, the Purchasing Manager at Anderson's Candy Shop. I also help the Andersons with social media duties.  As I enter my 10th year at the store, one of my goals has been to help introduce our family of staff to our family of customers.  I hope you enjoy this series which will hightlight all the wonderful men and women who work hard to create the Anderson's Candy that you love!  

Seventh in our series, is Rebecca Hile.

Rebecca has been a part of the Anderson's Candy Shop family for about two years. She works in the packing room putting away chocolates and preparing orders as well as in the storefront.   

One of the first jobs Rebecca remembers doing when she started at the shop was stamping labels on our iconic red and blue candy bar bags and learning how to "put away candy into their appropriate boxes." 

Rebecca thinks customers would be surprised to know just how much "time and labor that is put into making each piece."

Rebecca prefers milk chocolate but does enjoy a few things in dark.  (Ask her when you meet her in the shop!) 

Fond memories Rebecca has had while working at Anderson's include meeting wonderful people 

and making new friends. 

When it comes to holidays at the store, Rebecca says "All the holidays are cool in different ways!"

"Valentine's Day is challenging with packing customer requests into hearts and Christmas is amazing seeing all the production that gets done in the time allowed!" She enjoys watching everyone work hard to make every request possible on time.

On her days off, Rebecca loves being outside enjoying nice weather.  

"Gardening, walking, camping, riding bicycle and motorcycle, mowing grass and square dancing!" are among her favorite things to do. Oh, and she's a farm girl at heart and loves taking care of her chickens, too!

Meet Briana McKee - part 6

 Editor's Note: Continuing Meet Me Mondays!  I am Britta Malsch, the Purchasing Manager at Anderson's Candy Shop and also help the Anderson's with social media duties.  As I enter my 10th year at the store, one of my goals has been to help introduce our family of staff to our family of customers.  I hope you enjoy this series which will hightlight all the wonderful men and women who work hard to create the Anderson's Candy that you love!  Sixth in our series, is Briana McKee.

Briana (Bree) has been a part of the Anderson's Candy Shop Family for 4 years.  Bree works in just about every room in the shop, minus the Cooking Room.  Her main focus these days has been the Dipping Room, where Bree is the newest Dipper. 

The first thing Bree remembers doing while working at the shop "I learned how to put candy away and how to pack chocolates."  

Something Briana thinks will surprise customers about how our candy is made is "how everything is made by hand and how many different steps it takes to have such amazing candy!"

Bree prefers all things in dark chocolate!

"I have many fond memories while working here," Bree recalls, " but I'd have to say my favorite memory is when Leif was still with us.  His fun and happy personality would brighten up your day and how he would go out of his way to tell you a corky dad joke just to make you smile!"

Briana says her favorite holiday to work is Christmas "because it's constantly busy and fast moving."  Her least favorite time would be summer "because it's really slow." 

On her days off Bree enjoys gardening or  spending time with her husband and three children.