Our History
Candy People was founded in Malmö in 1982 and has a background of curiosity of making innovative sweets for the consumers. From being a small local player to today having a secure position in both the national and the international market with over 100 employees. Candy People is a family business that has been inherited for generations and a strong family spirit permeates the entire company.
1982
Joanis Masudi Youssef buys a candy store in Malmö in South of Sweden and Candy People is founded. It is then the second pick and mix store in all of Skåne. After operating as a small candy store for a short period of time, the company began conducting wholesale operations and began slow but steady growth.
1990
Twelve years after its start in Malmö, Candy People's flagship store Sweet opens on Bankgatan in Lund. Sweet became extremely popular and remains THE stop for candy lovers and today, 28 years later, Sweet is still a favorite amongst visitors and locals alike which led to franchising opportunities.
1997
Candy People HQ is now moving into Agneslundsvägen in Malmö. In a worn-out room without air conditioning, the wholesale business is started to grow. Now Joanis's son Jacob, along with his friends, is also starting to help with the orders of sweets. Joanis Masudi Youssef's son Jacob Youssef takes over the CEO role after his father and starts expanding business. During this time, Candy People is entering the global market and is investing more in exports to supply the world with high quality Swedish candy.
2007 - 2011
Candy People has expanded rapidly in exports and now opens offices in Shanghai, Perth, Dubai and Dallas. This is to facilitate exports and to gain better cultural knowledge to adapt the supply to the market. Today we position ourselves as one of the leading distributors of Swedish sweets as you find our sweets on five continents.
2012
Candy People is growing. In 2012, Candy People moved their HQ to a new location in Malmo, where we conduct our wholesale business to this day. Here, the entire operation is powered by solar cells on the roof and all surplus energy goes directly to Malmö's electricity grid.
2014 - 2017
Candy People wins a number of different awards over the years, for example, we are named Entrepreneur of the Year in Malmö 2014, Entrepreneur of the Year in Skåne 2015 and Export Gasell of the Year 2017 of Dagens Industri. We are also expanding Candy People even more by inaugurating our Norway office in Trondheim and S-mark was awarded Product of the Year by the Press Office in 2016.
2019
With thirty-five years of experience in a constantly evolving industry, we understand the importance of being at the forefront. In 2019, Candy People AB launched its first product in the refreshment category, a chewing gum - ZINQ, chewing gum of the future that not only masks bad breath but in depth actually counteracts it with the help of Zinc. It became an instant hit with over 1 million bags sold within the first 6 months.
