Grannies garage candy business … it’s not the place you’d expect a candy company to be born. And it’s also not the kind of company you think would be started by two grandmothers.

But that’s exactly where and how Ice Chips candy got its start.

The fast growing candy company is the brainchild of Charlotte Clary and Bev Vines-Haines.

Both are grandmothers with 41 grandchildren between them.

And they’ve also been best friends for 30 years.

It seems that starting businesses was something they did in their spare time to beat boredom.

But they never expected grannies garage candy business to be a blockbuster.

How did they go from zero to millions in sales?

Well, part of their secret to success is not being bored…

Grannies Garage Candy Business Beats Boredom

When their kids were teenagers they launched three different businesses: a murder-mystery dinner theater, CD reproductions of photographs, and tabletop ads for restaurants.

In 2004, the two BFFs  started a natural skin care line because they didn’t like the products or the prices being offered by large companies.

They fit out a one-car garage with stoves and sinks, bought ingredients in small batches, and printed their own labels.

The candy idea came along in 2009.

At first, they treated the product as a sideline, cooking it up in kitchen pans and selling it to the same health-food stores that carried the skin care products.

They knew they were on to something big when one of the storeowners said, “I have owned this store for 20 years and I have never had a product fly off the shelves like that.”

After that, the grannies garage candy business began take off.

A Different Kind of Candy and GrandMa

So what makes the grannies garage candy business so special?

Well Ice Chips is candy made with xylitol, a natural sweetener that protects teeth and is safe for diabetics.

But there’s more to the story. See here’s what  makes their story so special. Both of the grannies’ husbands worked construction, and in 2008 business dried up. Neither couple had accumulated enough Social Security benefits to live off of.

Clary was 56 and Vines-Haines was 72, so getting a job proved difficult. And to make matter worse, both couples were in danger of losing their homes and having to move in with their children.

But when Ice Chips got popular, they started making enough money to keep their homes. But something else happened to their candy line … something that would virtually jump start sales.

Shark Tank Loves Grannies Garage Candy Business

They applied to be on the hit television show, Shark Tank and were accepted.

The panel of celebrity venture capitalist was more than thrilled with the idea of candy made by grannies.

The two got an offer from Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran but ultimately it through. However the appearance generated 1,000 additional wholesale accounts for their business, which has grown to $6 million in annual revenue.

Ice Chips now operates out of a 21,500-square-foot facility with a boiler room and a machine that fills and seals pouches. It has 34 employees, not including sales reps. The founders’ husbands help, too, happy in later years to “no longer be running roof lines 30 feet up and working on their knees every day,” says Clary.

Both women have a goal for their candy … they want Ice Chips to become a household word, which is why they aren’t slowing down.

No Retirement is the Best Retirement

In fact none of the women are talking about retirement.

When they aren’t working or doing things they enjoy in their spare time such as kayaking or tending their chickens, they answer a lot of mail from older people–women especially–who wonder if it’s not too late to start something of their own.

The answer is NO it’s never too late.

As the two women would tell you two grannies worked hard and got their product on the checkout stand right up next to the Mars Bars and the Snickers. That’s quite an accomplishment for the grannies garage candy business.

You can learn more about the Ice Chips Candy company and even try some for yourself by going here.

The post Grannies Garage Candy Business appeared first on The Women's Financial Alliance.