Excerpt
SUGAR BOILING.
This branch of the trade or business of a confectioner is perhaps the most important. All manufacturers are more or less interested in it, and certainly no retail shop could be considered orthodox which did not display a tempting variety of this class. So inclusive is the term "boiled goods" that it embraces drops, rocks, candies, taffies, creams, caramels, and a number of different sorts of hand-made, machine-made, and moulded goods. It is the most ancient method of which we have any knowledge, and perhaps the most popular process of modern times; the evidence of our everyday experience convinces us that (notwithstanding the boom which heralds from time to time a new sweet, cooked in a different manner, composed of ingredients hitherto unused in business), it is the exception when such goods hold the front rank for more than a few months, however pretty, tasty, or tempting they may be, the public palate seems to fall back on those made in the old lines which, though capable of improvement, seem not to be superceded. Of the entire make of confectionery in Canada, at least two-thirds of it may be written down under the name of boiled sugar. They are undoubtedly the chief features with both manufacturers and retailers, embracing, as they do, endless facilities for fertile brains and deft fingers for inventing novelties in design, manipulation, combination, and finish. Notwithstanding the already great variety, there is always daily something new in this department brought into market. Many of the most successful houses owe their popularity more to their heads than their hands, hence the importance of studying this branch in all its ramifications. The endless assortment requiring different methods for preparing and manipulating make it necessary to sub-divide this branch into sections, order and arrangement being so necessary to be thoroughly understood. When we consider the few inexpensive tools required to make so many kinds of saleable goods, it is not to be wondered at so many retailers have a fancy to make their own toffees and such like, there is no reason why a man or woman, with ordinary patience, a willing and energetic disposition, favored with a fair amount of intelligence, should not be able to become with the aid of THIS BOOK and a few dollars for tools, fairly good sugar boilers, with a few months practice.
There are reasons why a retail confectioner should study sugar boiling. It gives character to the business, a fascinating odour to the premises, and a general at-homeness to the surroundings. No goods look more attractive and tempting to the sweet eating public than fresh made goods of this kind. A bright window can be only so kept by makers. Grainy or sticky drops may be reboiled; scraps and what would otherwise be almost waste (at least unsightly) may be redressed in another shape, and become, not only saleable, but profitable. There are many advantages which a maker possesses over one who buys all. For instance, clear boiled goods should be kept air tight, and are therefore delivered to the retailers in bottles, jars, or tins, on which charge is made, these have to be repacked and returned. Breakages are an important item, so is freight—the cost of the latter is saved and the former reduced to a minimum.
Whatever means are adopted to benefit the retailer and advertise the business by brighter windows, cleaner shops, less faded goods, and healthier financial conditions must contribute to the general prosperity of the trade, from the bottom step to the top rung of the ladder.
It should be the aim of all amateurs to study quality rather than price. Goods well made, carefully flavored, and nicely displayed will always command a ready sale at a fair price, giving satisfaction to the consumer and credit to the maker. Give your customers something to please the eye as well as the palate, so that every sale may be looked upon as an advertisement. Cheap, bulky, insipid stuff is unprofitable and damaging to the trade as well as to the seller. I venture to assert that more would-be makers have come to grief trying to cut each other in price for rubbishy candies than through any other cause. Look at the number of firms who have a reputation, whose very name command trade at good prices, year after year add to the turnover....