#86: Enjoy Homemade Chocolate from The Candyman

At The Candyman in Orient, homemade chocolate is a family business.

When Debbie Michta’s grandfather, William Heins emigrated from Germany, his first job in Brooklyn was working for a chocolataire. From there he ran a dairy farm in Dix Hills and by the late 1940s and 1950s he ran a luncheonette in the Huntington area. The luncheonette carried ice cream and candy too. However, as the days of the soda shop faded, one item clearly became more popular.

“As the years went on, you could see what the best seller was and that’s why we ended up selling the candy,” Michta said.

After Heins “retired” to Orient with his wife Catherine, he began selling chocolate from his home. During the 1970s, business thrived from his home and, with the help of his son William and his son’s wife Evelyn, The Candyman opened for business in February of 1980. Michta and her husband, Jim, moved out to Orient 23 years ago and are now running the business with the help of their daughter Sara. With four generations of family in the business, it’s safe to say the Michta family knows how to make chocolate and knows how to adapt to changing customer demands.

The chocolates in the case are all made by hand on premises. The cream, marshmallow and jelly centers are made fresh weekly. There is no shortage of homemade chocolate-covered pretzels, orange peels, graham crackers, or cookies. They do not make jelly beans or gummy products, but they offer them to the their customers as well.

The most popular items year-round are the turtles (caramel, nuts, and chocolate) and buttercrunch, but over a three-week period during the Easter holiday season, Michta estimated that her husband made about 1,700 pounds of milk chocolate bunnies. Each day they vary make and they can dip anywhere between 50 to 150 pounds of chocolate a day.

“We don’t make 50 pounds of one kind of chocolate. We’ll do 10 pounds of one kind every week to keep it fresh,” said Michta.

Although they are not required to date chocolate, they do it to keep their product fresh.

“We date our chocolate. We only keep it for about three months. Anything with nuts, milk, cream, or butter shouldn’t last more than three months,” Michta said.

Easter is the busiest time of year followed by Christmas, and not surprisingly, summer. Michta also credits a steady flow of year-round business from customers as well.

“If we didn’t have the ferry, we wouldn’t be here,” Michta said.

They do a big mail order business at Christmas and ship all year, though Michta does not recommend shipping in the summer months. The Candyman is temperature controlled but once the product leaves the store, the warmer weather can make the chocolate melt. They do have a website that lists their entire product line and even has a video on how to make candy canes. For now, orders cannot be placed over the web, but that may change. Michta’s chief concern is the ability to fulfill customer requests both in the store and online.

The next big rush at the store will happen leading up to Father’s Day weekend with the sale of fresh, local chocolate covered strawberries. Although they carry chocolate covered strawberries at other times of the year, they are not locally grown. She uses strawberries mainly from nearby and because the strawberry season is limited, they will sell out.

Michta’s favorite part of her business is really getting to know the people in the community. There will be adults who come in every week for their favorite chocolates and she has a large base of loyal, repeat customers.

“Being here as long as I have, 23 years, just getting to know everyone in this small community is great. There’s a Norman Rockwell feel here,” Michta said.

The Candy Man is located on Route 25 in Orient, just west of Village Lane and is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.