The unique story of the success of Piedmont Candy Company began over a hundred years ago. Edward F. Ebelein, born in Baltimore, Maryland to German immigrant parents began his career as an apprentice to candy makers at the age of 15.

After making a name for himself in candy circles, Edward moved to Lexington, North Carolina and acquired the equipment and brands of the old North Carolina Candy Company and renamed it Piedmont Candy Company.

Edward’s sons Edward, Jr. and Robert operated the plant with their mother after the passing of Edward, Sr. in 1945. By 1952 the small company was making about 2000 pounds of candy daily in their open copper kettles.

In 1987, at the age of 65, Robert Ebelein retired and sold the company to the Reid family from Denton, North Carolina. Doug Reid learned the business under Robert Ebelein’s guidance and continued enlarging and mechanizing the operation to meet the needs of his customers.

In 1993, Doug Reid was joined by his son, Chris who today is President of the rapidly growing company. The Piedmont Candy Company still uses the original recipe for its pure sugar candy, but today produces nearly 5000 pounds per hour. The company markets its pure sugar puffs and sticks to major retailers across the country. What began as a small “Ma and Pa” operation is now one of the largest and most successful manufacturers of pure sugar puffs and sticks in the U.S.