Kimmie Candy Company
Lindsey Cortes
MG-488
Professor Lawrence Tam

Abstract
I decided to do my research/logistics paper and presentation on Kimmie Candy Company, a local candy factory in Reno, NV. Being a Reno native myself, it really hits home for me. I’ve seen their candy everywhere, but never imagined it was being made here in my back yard. I had the privilege of working with Kimmie Candy last year on a fundraiser for Reno/Sparks Relay for Life. I was also given a tour of their facility and saw how all their creations were made. In their gift shop, they have a taste bar of samples of everything they make to taste and sample before customers can make their purchase.

History
Established in 2000, Kimmie Candy Company was started by Joe Dutra on his family farm in Sacramento, CA. The farm was part of an international agriculture seed business and has stayed a family affair even since. Though manufacturing was moved offshore to Korea; as the business began to grow, the search was on for a USA manufacturing location (Kimmie Candy, 2014).
In 2004, they decided it was time to bring Kimmie Candy back to the United States and create American jobs. The Dutra family chose Reno, Nevada because of its business-friendly climate and close proximity to California, their home state. Kimmie Candy Company bought a building in 2006 and built the factory in 2007. It had its first full year of production in 2008 and has been growing exponentially ever since (Kimmie Candy, 2014).
Today, Kimmie Candy proudly states, "Made in America" on every package. Since opening the Reno factory in 2007, the Company has grown from 7 to 25 employees. Even during 2010's challenging economic times, Kimmie Candy still grew by 40 percent; Dutra remains determined to continue creating jobs and opportunity in the USA so that like him, others can also know The American Dream (Kimmie Candy, 2014).

Facility Warehouse Location
With the goal of creating more American jobs in 2004, Dutra relocated himself and the previously-offshore Korean manufacturing operation of Kimmie Candy to Reno, Nevada. By 2007, he had purchased an industrial building and converted it to what is now Kimmie Candy's state-of-the art candy production facility. By 2008, Kimmie Candy Company of Reno was in full operation. By 2009, the company had experienced global expansion with not only coast-to-coast sales in the United States but also Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, and the Middle East (Kimmie Candy, 2014).

Procurement
Kimmie Candy uses local suppliers for their materials. One of their biggest raw materials is chocolate that is specially made which they go through 40,000 pounds every 7-10 days. Lead time for their chocolate is 4-6 weeks, for organic chocolate, lead time is 8-12 weeks due to the fact it can take up to 100 days to produce. Kimmie uses many unique and various suppliers for their raw material. One particular supplier, Blommer Chocolates, has readily available sometimes double supply depending on Kimmie’s needs and demand.
Sugar is another raw material which is purchased in large quantities, 8,000 pounds at a time. Other raw materials contain almonds, pistachios, reactor coating, and ingredients for natural coloring. All shipped raw materials are passed through quality control to review specifications. To Kimmie Candy, supplier loyalty is very important to than price especially when there’s a relationship established.
When they’re in need of new suppliers, they use the 80/20 rule, which is finding the products or services that generate the most income (the 20%) and drop the rest (the 80%) that only provide marginal benefit (W.C. Benton, 2014)
An estimate of how much material they will need over two months will help with how much material to reordering, which is processed electronically. Kimmie Candy Company is making moves to be greener and have less of an impact on the environment.

Demand Management
Kimmie Candy’s retailers include; Winco foods, Cost plus, It’s Sugar, Sweet Factory, J. Sosnick & Son, Inc., Raley’s, Ross Stores, Five Below and Bulk Barn. Their online retailers include; ShopKimmiecandy.com, Candy Warehouse, Candy.com, Nuts.com, Candy Crate, Nationwide Candy, Bulk Candy Store, and Candy Nation. Their distributors include; Nassau Candy, Albanese Candy, Redstone Foods, Garvey Nut & Candy, Dutch Valley Foods, TR Toppers, Lipari Foods, and b.a. Sweetie (Kimmie Candy, 2014).
Kimmie Candy’s newest products include chocolate covered dates and espresso beans. The seasonality of their products is their natural coloring. As a premier confectionary panner, they offer solo colors for every special event or occasion. Kimmie Candy makes seasonal and holiday mixes and custom colors are available thru contact production (Kimmie Candy, 2014).

Order Management
Customers can purchase and sample Kimmie Candy Monday – Friday, 8am-5pm at their gift shop in Reno. Also available to purchase at any of the retailers, online, and distributors listed above using any monetary means. There are operation cost to the company for these types of orders which are; credit card processing fees, administration, labor, paper, postage and packaging. Their priority orders can be requested by phone, email, online or in person.
The quality control team inspects every batch of candy to ensure it’s to the standards of the company before packaging.

Customer Service
Today there are about 35 team members working at Kimmie Candy, they all work together to monitor customer service management. The company is open to feedback using Facebook, Twitter, Factory, their online site, email, by phone or in person. Their blog is on their site to share updates and news that’s happening within the company.
They also offer free factory tours which gives their customers or anyone would wants to see how their delicious candy is made. Contact tours@kimmiecandy.com or 1-888-532-1325 to schedule or make a reservation.

Inventory Management
When more supplies are needed, depending on the material’s inventory or demand a purchase order is produced in the accounting department and electronically sent to the supplier if it’s not already set up to automatically be delivered. All dead or defected inventories are sold at a discounted price, not destroyed unless expired.

Warehouse Management
The Kimmie Candy facility in Reno is 20,000 square feet although the actual manufacturing warehouse is 6,000 square feet. Because of the size of the warehouse and limited space they also have a third party logistics storing warehouse where extra inventory is stored. The rental fee is $5.00 per pallet per month, as well as the loading fee.

Packages and Handling
Large shipments are packaged and delivered in bulk. Naturally, the only special consideration the candy needs is low temperature, high heat would melt the chocolate in their packaging. Something special about their packaging it does say ‘Made in America, peanut and gluten free.”

Transportation
Kimmie Candy arranges transportation pick up for their supplies. For large distributors, needing large pallets of product, these companies arrange for pick up. Truck is the main transportation. For international orders, the products are delivered by plane.

References
McCrea, B. (2013) Supply Chain and Logistics Technology: LMS optimizes the human supply chain

Benton, Jr., W.C. Purchasing and Supply Chain Management, Third
Edition, 2014

Kimmie Candy Company. Makers of chocolate rocks, chocolate sunflower seeds, and more.. (n.d.). Kimmie Candy Company. Makers of chocolatey rocks, chocolatey sunflower seeds, and more.. Retrieved June 12, 2014, from http://www.kimmiecandy.com/

Dutra, Joe. Phone Interview. 11 June 2014