Our Story
He was a pizza guy with a passion for cooking; she was a teacher with a passion for kids. They fell in love, and then fell into chocolate.
With Chef Michael as her pizza guy, Christina’s candy store became well known for the Sweetest Birthday Parties in Town. Meanwhile, with Christina as his inspiration, Chef Michael enrolled in classes to become a chocolatier. Now he makes the most delicious chocolates, candies, bakery, and popcorn.
Bring home the taste reminiscent of the old-fashioned candy store with Candy and Corn’s made-from-scratch treats. Whether it’s one of our tasty standards or a custom made goodie, our number one priority is to make it “Specially for You”. Chef Michael Tessone has over 30 years experience in the kitchen, and along with his talented staff, puts his heart into every batch of goodness he makes. Established in 2005 as Aunt Nina’s Sweets-n-Treats in Shorewood, Illinois, we started out with birthday parties at a bulk candy store. Chef Michael challenged himself to develop one gourmet line at a time, starting with popcorn. Once mastering techniques and creating his own recipes, he would move on to the next sweet challenge.
It was at this stage that Chef Michael discovered he was a natural born chocolatier. He enrolled in classes and became adept at making brittles, caramels, toffee and so much more from scratch. Yet it was his “turtle” that became his signature masterpiece. Because Turtle is the trademarked name for the pecan caramel patty made by DeMets, we had to first create our own name for this well known favorite. We landed on calling OUR pecan caramel patties “Charlies.” We named them after our silly beagle, who was very sweet and a little nutty. We even used his goofy, grinning face as our mascot. People loved our Charlies, and our love story, and began flocking to our small storefront. It soon became obvious we needed more space.
In 2009 we moved our store to Crest Hill, shortened our name to Sweets-n-Treats, and became the largest candy store in Illinois. We continued our birthday parties, added an ice cream shop, and expanded into bakery. We even tackled bringing our treats out and about in the form of concessions, wholesale, and fundraising. We were definitely on a sweet roll (pun intended of course). Then life happened and things came to a pause. Although Christina’s heart was in the candy business and her party room was her pride and joy, her actual heart was giving out. A serious condition was discovered, and all future plans were put on a different path.
In 2015 we closed down our dream store and relocated to a single storefront in Minooka under yet another name. Our web name has always been candyandcorn.com so we decided to finally make our store name match our on-line presence. Our name wasn’t the only change we made. Although we surprisingly fit quite a bit into our smaller home, we did have to give up our ice cream parlor and birthday parties in order to place more of our emphasis on homemade treats. Currently with our focus on production, we make over 50% of our products in house. From popcorn to cupcakes, from cookies to caramels, we have quite the lineup.
But don’t worry! We also stock old-fashioned favorites like salt water taffy as well as the hottest trends in the candy market. If we don’t carry something, we will help you find it or find out where it has disappeared to. We also have used this opportunity to take special orders to an entirely new level, complete with individualized tags/labels, custom colors, and creative designs. Looking for the perfect gift or party treat, look no further than Candy and Corn. Our table favors, sweets tables, dessert platters, and gift baskets, to name a few ideas, will be sure to please.
We made many changes along the way to becoming Candy and Corn, but one thing you can count on is that our dedication to making our customers happy has never wavered. Our number one goal is to make sure you leave with a smile on your face. Come on in and see what’s new and taste a piece of heaven.