Straight from Grandma’s Kitchen Two Fayetteville Brothers Base Their CandyMaking Startup On a Family Recipe t The Simkins brothers’ passion for candy making came from a favorite past time many children share–making holiday candy with grandma. Every year, the two brothers, Austin and Quinn, would make chocolate covered peanut butter treats with their grandma to give to neighbors for the holidays. Finally, in April 2017, they sat down with their parents and grandma to ask permission to turn the family candy recipe into the foundation of their business. Simkins Brothers’ Sweets, an Arkansas Made Gold Member, is a candy and treat company tucked right off College Avenue in Fayetteville. Raised in northwest Arkansas, Austin and Quinn received their degrees in Agriculture Business and Accounting and “When we are looking at making new products we think, ‘How can we come in and disrupt this category of food?’ We are doing that by using cricket flour in our chocolate and olive oil in our peanut butter.” –Austin Simpkins Finance from the University of Arkansas and jumped right into entrepreneurialism. “When we first started the business our family wasn’t really sure where it would go, but it has truly brought a lot of energy to the whole family,” said Quinn. “Most kids in their mid-20s don’t have such a deep connection to their families.” The brothers both agree they are innovative and challengedriven people. The candy industry is a challenging market to break into, so it was obviously the perfect fit for the Simkins. “My initial thoughts were ‘it is a nice idea, but could it really happen?’” said Alice Ann Simkins, the Simkins brothers’ grandma. “But the boys are so passionate about making this a growing business.” The star candy of their show is the Popper–a dark or milk chocolate covered peanut butter square. They started selling their product at farmer’s markets and online, but quickly expanded to supply local ARKANSAS GROWN 37
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