Pam and Don Hurt pose in the Southland Drive location and factory of Old Kentucky Chocolates. Don Hurt started in the baking business 50 years ago and eventually sold the Frankfort and Lexington McGee's Bakery locations to focus on confections.Photo by Sarah Jane Sanders
The month of February is always a busy time for Don Hurt, owner of Lexington-based Old Kentucky Chocolates.
After a short respite following the company’s busiest season — the Christmas holiday — February brings the single busiest day of the year, Valentine’s Day, as well as frantic preparations for yet another chocolate-laden holiday, Easter.
But this year the normal February frenzy was tempered by a celebratory milestone, as Hurt and Old Kentucky Chocolates celebrated its 50th anniversary on Feb. 17.
“I was 27 years old when I started the business. It’s hard to believe it has been that long,” said Hurt, who employs a staff of about 33 people at his factory and candy store on Southland Drive.
Hurt said today Old Kentucky Chocolates makes about 200 tons of chocolate each year. He also sells candies at two additional stores: one downtown at the Lexington Center and another at the Lansdowne Shoppes on Tates Creek Road. Select items can also be purchased through the company’s website, oldkycandy.com.
Hurt came to the candy business by accident, beginning with his service in the Army Reserve in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Hurt was initially assigned duties as a cook and eventually specialized in baking for large groups in the military. When he was discharged, he decided he wanted to open a bakery and purchased Magee’s Bakery in Frankfort, Ky. He began operating the bakery on Feb. 17, 1964, making his first candies in the back of the bakery in order to provide a less ephemeral type of inventory.
“The problem with running a bakery is that you really need to immediately sell everything you make, because good bakery items don’t have a very long shelf life,” Hurt said. “With candy, you could store it a little bit longer, which made it very appealing. You could make things a month ahead of time, and it still tasted good when people purchased it.”
Hurt started out making a variety of candies, including “a lot of peanut brittle,” but he didn’t begin making chocolates until a few years later, when he received word that a candy-making operation in Evansville, Ind., had gone out of business. He purchased the company’s chocolate-making machinery at a discount.
Soon after, Hurt bought the Magee’s Bakery location in Lexington and moved his candy operations there. In the years that followed, the candy division of the business grew and required more of Hurt’s time.
“In the late 1970s, I decided to sell my portion of the bakery business and just concentrate on the candy,” Hurt said. “That is what we’ve been doing ever since.”
The business moved several times before arriving at its current location at 450 Southland Drive.
Old Kentucky Chocolates makes about 20 different kinds of candies, including assorted chocolates, bourbon candies, fruit cakes and pulled creams, which are made with a formula he purchased from Col. Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame. The fruitcakes and bourbon candies sold at Old Kentucky Chocolates are all made with Jim Beam bourbon.
The stores also sell non-chocolate candies made by other companies, as well as gift sets and other products. In addition, Old Kentucky sells fundraising candy bars to schools and various civic groups. Hurt estimates they’ve sold roughly 2 million fundraising candy bars since they started making them.
Gary Dinstuhl, confectionery consultant, ran his own more-than-a-century-old family chocolate company near Memphis, Tenn., until he sold it a few years ago and teamed up with Old Kentucky Chocolates. By offering a fresher product made in Lexington withan emphasis on locally sourced ingredients, candy businesses like Old Kentucky fill a niche that larger competitors can't, Dinstuhl said.Photo by Sarah Jane Sanders
About 10 years ago, Hurt had the idea of selling potato chips covered in chocolate, but the product didn’t sell that well. Then a few years ago, he added some sea salt to give the candy a sweet and salty contrast. Today, it is one of the company’s top sellers.
“Probably the hardest thing to do in this business is to come up with new ideas,” Hurt said. “It’s amazing that just a little change like that can make all the difference in the world.”
Gary Dinstuhl, a confectionery consultant with Old Kentucky Chocolates, said that like many thriving small businesses, Old Kentucky Chocolates found success by providing a niche that larger competitors are either unable or unwilling to provide.
Along with the chocolate-covered potato chip, the two most popular items at Old Kentucky Chocolates — other than the fundraising candy bars — are the chocolate-covered strawberries and grapes, due in large part to the high quality and freshness of the fruits that were used. Both items are sold immediately after they are made, and the boxes in which they are sold recommend eating them within 24 hours.
The chocolate-covered strawberries are such a popular Valentine’s Day gift that the company ran continuous 24-hour shifts two days before the holiday to ensure an adequate supply, Dinstuhl said.
“There is an old saying here that you never meet the giant nose to nose, and I can tell you, we aren’t going to go head to head with Godiva or one of the other big chocolate makers,” Dinstuhl said. “But with us you know that when you buy a box of chocolate-coveredgrapes or strawberries, they will never be more than 48 hours old and they were made right here in Lexington. We strive for quality over volume.”
Dinstuhl said that, whenever possible, Old Kentucky’s ingredients are purchased from local suppliers and farms, including the strawberries. Dinstuhl estimates that the chocolate-covered strawberries, grapes and potato chips account for about 30 percent of all sales at Old Kentucky Chocolates.
Dinstuhl, himself a fourth-generation confectioner, came to Old Kentucky Chocolates a few years ago after selling a similar-sized chocolate and candy operation outside of Memphis. The business had been in his family since 1902, but since none of his children expressed an interest in taking over, he decided to sell the business and work as a consultant for a large chocolate company, which required a lot of travel.
Chocolate-covered strawberries were in such demand that the company ran continuous 24-hour shifts for two days leading up to Valentine's Day to ensure a plentiful and fresh supply.Photo by Sarah Jane Sanders
“This operation is very similar to the way my family business operated,” Dinstuhl said. “We have a small group of people who work really well together and enjoy what they are doing. It was great to have the opportunity to come to a place like Lexington and work at a place like this again.”
Dinstuhl said he hopes to stick around another 10 years or so he can help Hurt groom an eventual successor to run the business. Hurt and his wife don’t have any children, but he does have several nieces and nephews whom he hopes may be interested in running the business someday.
In the meantime, Hurt said he is more than happy to continue running the business a bit longer.
“Go out in our store and you’re going to see a lot of smiling faces,” he said. “To know you were able to do that, to make somebody feel happy, is about the best feeling in the world.”