About Us

Golden Grove Candy Co. History

The next logical step for the continuing growth of Swinson Farms was to begin adding value to its crops. In late 2007, Lee Swinson acquired the Mt. Olive Candy Company, a small company that had been in business for more than 30 years. This company had built a strong reputation for delicious, old fashioned, handmade candy. The candy was distributed locally to convenience stores, hardware stores, and barbers. The candy company was always open to the public for everyone to see how the candy was made. The candy was cooked in copper kettles and then poured onto marble cooling tables which are believed to be more than fifty years old.

Golden Grove Candy Co. Today

Wanting to keep the same value and tradition as the Mt. Olive Candy Company, Lee moved the tables and copper kettles into a new and more modernized facility that was completed in October 2008; Golden Grove Candy Co. was born. With the new facility also came new packaging that allows for wider distribution. The new wrapper that features a modern look, also increases the shelf life to over one year from the time of production.

Today the Golden Grove Candy Company has the capability of producing over 8,000 candy bars per day with plans to expand production to more than 70,000 bars per day. This expansion will allow more of the peanuts grown on the family farm to be made into delicious candy bars that can be enjoyed by more people in a broader area.

In the future, Golden Grove Candy Co. hopes to introduce more products to the market with the same values as the Carolina Crisp Peanut Bar. All products made by the company will share the same all natural benefits and will not include any preservatives.

Golden Grove Peanut Division

After almost two years of making the Carolina Crisp Peanut Bar, Lee realized how much he really enjoyed that side of the business. He also realized that in order to sustain the family farm he need to add value to his entire crop of peanuts. With those two factors in mind, the Golden Grove Peanut Division was born.

With the help of his dad, Vic Swinson, and long time friend Jart Hudson, they bought on old textile mill that had closed three years earlier. The building worked out perfectly. The origianl building that Lee built for the candy was quickly becoming too small, and he was considering building a larger plant next to it so that he could expand. This new facility was large enough for both operations and then some. They went to work immediately on the building; and after several months of renovations, they were finally ready for business.

The expansion consisted of a shelling plant to produce the seed for the next crop year, a new roaster, and a new packaging line. The products added were: Salted In-Shell Peanuts, Roasted In-Shell Peanuts, and Raw In-Shell Peanuts.

With production capacities at over 2,000 pounds per hour, this would give Lee the ability to add value to his entire peanut crop.