Who among members of any generation (except, maybe, the Millennials) hasn’t received SweetHearts for Valentine’s Day at one time or another? They’ve been a tradition for 153 years. And, though there won’t be any in stores this year, they will be back in 2020…
The New England Confectionary Company (NECCO) has made SweetHearts – the little candy hearts with the little lovey messages on them – for as long as any one alive can remember. They’re famous for having started romances and starring in numerous romantic stunts over the years. But now, since NECCO was sold the SweetHearts brand to the Spangler Candy Company last summer, SweetHearts are out of production.
No small undertaking…
The production of SweetHearts candies is an onerous undertaking. It ain’t easy to make all those separate colours, then stamp them with all those different expressions of amour. And NECCO was making 19 million pounds / 8.64 million kg of them every year. That represented 80 percent of the ‘conversation hearts’ market and took 11 months to manufacture. It translated to 100,000 pounds / 45,450 kg a day. And more than 8 billion individual SweetHearts candies a year.
‘Conversation hearts’ may still appear in a few places…
There are other brands of message-bearing heart-shaped candy. But, taken together, they account for only about 20 per cent of the traditional demand at Valentine’s time. Spangler’s was crazy not to take up the torch and pound out the little sweeties in time for 2019, you say? No way they could tool up for the 2019 Valentine’s Day market in time. But they are already planning to get SweetHearts back on the shelves for 2020.
“We are looking forward to announcing the relaunch of Sweethearts for the 2020 Valentine’s Day season.” Spangler’s CEO, Kirk Vashaw said in a news release last September. And then silence. But Spangler recently advised news organizations and distribution partners that SweetHearts will definitely be back in 2020, via a cute illustration:
Mourn not for your Sweeties…
All is well in SweetHearts Land in spite of the 2019 hiccough. Try making your sweetie a heart-shaped cookie or cake this year, decorated uniquely by you. Serve him/her heart-shaped Toast with his/her Valentine’s Day breakfast. (Just get yourself a big, heart-shaped cookie cutter; toast the bread first.) Or serve heart-shaped Hashbrowns (same cookie cutter as a mold), or even Fried Eggs (smaller cookie cutter, well greased, and pre-heated in the pan so the eggs won’t stick). Following those examples, you can also make heart-shaped Pancakes or Tea Biscuits. Let your imagination be your guide…
~ Maggie J.