Hammond’s Candies
Hand-pulled candy canes, ribbon candy and old-fashioned confections made by hand in a Denver, Colorado factory since 1920
✅ Made in USA
Our assessment
Company details
Where Hammond’s Candies products are made
Handmade in Denver
Hammond’s states on its own site that its candy is handmade in the USA and handcrafted in America. The lollipop line is described as pulled, twisted and packaged by hand in the company’s Denver, Colorado-based candy factory — the same building that hosts public tours.
Hand-pulled, not machine-extruded
The signature candy canes, ribbon candy and lollipops are made by the old hot-slab method: cooked sugar is pulled by hand on a hook, striped, rolled and cut. That process is why the company employs candy makers rather than only machine operators, and why no two canes are identical.
One plant, grown in place
The company moved to its current 35,000-square-foot facility on Washington Street at 58th Avenue in 2004 and roughly doubled in size by 2011. Production stayed in Denver through every expansion rather than being contracted out.
Hammond’s publishes the claim plainly: the company’s own site is titled “Hammond’s Candies | Handmade in the USA | Tradition Since 1920,” and its stated commitments include “Handcrafted in America.” Individual product copy backs this up at the line level — the lollipops, for example, are described as hand-pulled and packaged in the Denver factory. On that evidence we label Hammond’s Made in USA. Hammond’s Brands, the parent group, has also acquired other American confectioners, including Old Dominion Peanut Company of Norfolk, Virginia; shoppers buying outside the core Hammond’s Candies line should read the package.
The story
Carl T. Hammond, Sr. learned the trade the long way. He took his first apprenticeship in a Denver candy factory in 1913, left for the Army in 1917, came home from the First World War in 1918 and went straight back to apprenticing at another Denver candy house. In 1920 he opened Hammond’s Candies and launched Carl’s Piggy Backs, chocolates topped with shredded coconut.
His slogan — “Nothing is more important than quality” — is what the company credits with carrying it through the Great Depression. In 1930 he bought a recipe from a friend for a bite-sized marshmallow confection wrapped in caramel, named it the Mitchell Sweet, and it is still sold today. His son Tom came into the business as an apprentice candy maker in 1945 after being discharged from the Navy, took over on his father’s death in 1966, and bought the enrober that let the company coat treats in chocolate at volume.
The business stayed in the family into the 1980s. Tom’s daughter Robin brought her husband, Emery Dorsey IV, in to learn candy making in 1983; when Tom died in 1985 the keys passed to Emery, who ran it alongside Robin and June Hammond for another sixteen years.
The turn came in 1995, when Williams-Sonoma ordered hand-pulled lollipops, chocolate-covered toffee and peppermint pillows. That single account took Hammond’s from a Denver institution to a national one. In 1999 three candy-industry veterans took over; the factory doubled, staff went from ten to more than sixty, and the plant opened to the public for tours and an annual December Candy Cane Festival. Today Hammond’s Brands employs up to 200 people and ships handmade Denver candy canes as far as Japan, Kuwait and Spain.
Why they matter
Confectionery is one of the categories where American production quietly disappeared. Hard candy is cheap to make offshore in volume, and most of what sits in a checkout aisle reflects that. Hammond’s Candies went the other direction: it kept the hot slab, the hook and the hand-cutting in a single Denver plant, and it built a business on the fact that those things are visible.
The factory tour is the proof point. A company that lets several hundred thousand visitors a year walk past the production line has committed to the line staying where it is. It is a harder promise to unwind than a label.
For anyone trying to buy American candy, Hammond’s is a rare thing — a century-old confectioner that publishes where its products are made, still makes them by hand, and has grown to national scale without moving the work.
Shop Hammond’s Candies products
Browse Hammond’s Candies candy canes, lollipops and confections available now in the Buy American store.
Shop all Hammond’s Candies products → Visit Hammond’s Candies website →
Frequently asked questions
Where is Hammond’s Candies made?
In Denver, Colorado. The company has made candy in Denver since 1920 and has operated from a 35,000-square-foot facility on Washington Street at 58th Avenue since 2004.
Is Hammond’s Candies made in the USA?
Yes. Hammond’s own site is titled “Handmade in the USA” and lists “Handcrafted in America” among its commitments, and individual product lines such as the hand-pulled lollipops are described as pulled, twisted and packaged by hand at the Denver factory.
Who founded Hammond’s Candies and when?
Carl T. Hammond, Sr. founded the company in 1920 in Denver, after apprenticing in two Denver candy factories and serving in the First World War. His first candy was Carl’s Piggy Backs.
Can you tour the Hammond’s Candies factory?
Yes. The company opened the plant to the public in 1999 and now welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors a year, including an annual Candy Cane Festival each December.