Thursday, February 10, 2005

Got back from Chicago last night.



And returned from my one day visit to our parent headquarters at Tootsie Roll Industries.

Most the day was spent meeting department heads of the various candy groups, putting faces to names (and e-mails). We're preparing to get work from the Tootsie, Charms, Blo Pops, Sugar Babies, Dots, etc... groups. Let the onslaught of projects begin!

Perhaps the highlight of the day came when we toured the plant. Housed in a building that dates back before WW2 and, size-wise, is as large as the Sears Tower, if you laid the Sears Tower on the ground. 'Course if you could actually lay the Sears Tower on the ground....

Anyhow we walked most the length of the plant taking in the chocolate and candy aromas and getting extreme close-up looks of how they make Dots, Tootsie Rolls, Tootsie Pops and more. Also got to see a lot of the unique robots they've created especially for their products (which is a reason why I couldn't bring in a camera to take some up close shots.)

-BUT- I was able to "create" a image of the most impressive sight we saw. During the process of making Tootsie Rolls, it comes out as 3 foot long logs weighing in at between 8 - 10 pounds! We were told that they at one time tried making a limited edition of a 3 ft. Tootsie Roll log. I'm not sure why the idea was squashed, whether it was the cost, a freshness issue or shipping problem.

Personally, I'm thinking that it could have been a nasty weapon. "Man knocked unconscious by Tootsie Roll" would have been an embarrassing headline.

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