They do it the old-fashioned way.
The really old-fashioned way.
When Peter Behringer and his helpers go to work each day at Sweet Pete’s, they make a variety of candies using techniques that haven’t changed for hundreds of years.
They turn the simplest of raw ingredients — sugar, butter, flavorings and sometimes chocolate — into more than 1,000 different candies and other confections.
Candy has been a part of Behringer’s life for a long time.
In 1985, he was 11 years old when his mother founded Peterbrooke Chocolatier, named after Behringer and his sister.
“I grew up in a chocolate store. There’s no substitute for learning on the job,” he said.
In 2010, Behringer struck out on his own and opened Sweet Pete’s in Springfield. After he appeared on the reality TV show “The Profit” in 2014, entrepreneur Marcus Lemonis got involved.
Soon, Behringer moved from his small shop into the former Seminole Club Downtown along Hogan Street after transforming the 23,000-square-foot historic building into what he calls a “confectionary emporium.”
It’s one of the largest candy stores in the country.
In addition to on-the-job training, Behringer honed his craft at the Retail Confectioners International Candy School, where he studied the art of making sweet treats.
That’s where he learned there’s quite a bit of science involved.
“Making candy is the manipulation of sugar,” he said.
It’s a combination of how much sugar is used and the temperature that allows crystallization to be controlled to create hard or soft candies.
Behringer said the history of candy can be traced back to the Roman Empire, when honey was the sweet basic ingredient. Centuries later, the Greeks began using sugar cane.
In the 18th century, people began mass producing chocolate using mechanical equipment, including processes and machinery that led to candy bars.
“That opened the commercial market,” said Behringer.
He and his helpers in the kitchen use the same techniques today, creating hundreds of different confections eight hours a day, five days a week.
Unless some particular holidays are coming up.
“Before Valentine’s Day and Christmas, we might work 24/7,” Behringer said.
That’s what it takes to keep up with demand at the store and to fill orders from the shop’s website, sweetpetescandy.com.
The hours can be long and there’s no lack of heat in the kitchen when Behringer is melting sugar by the gallon to 310 degrees, but the response from those who enjoy his creations is worth it.
“Who wouldn’t want to make candy?” he said. “It makes people happy.”
@DRMaxDowntown
(904) 356-2466