President
Adams & Brooks, Inc.
Los Angeles

Although John Brooks Sr. had worked as a shipping clerk in a candy factory, a truck driver for a candy company and as demo candy maker at Disneyland, his first job after graduating from Pomona College wasn’t confectionery. Rather, with a masters of science in biology, Brooks opted to work as a bio-technician with Northrop Space Laboratories.

But the allure of participating in the family business, which was founded by his father and partner Paul Adams in 1932, brought Brooks back to confectionery three years later. He joined forces with his father at Adams & Brooks in 1964, involving himself in all aspects of production, sales and finance for the next 10 years.

In 1974, Brooks purchased a 50% interest in the company. Upon the death of his father in 1975, he took over as president of the company. In 1990, he established a candy manufacturing company in Mexico, eventually incorporating it as a subsidiary in 2006.

Active in the Western Candy Conference since 1976, he was its chairman in 1978 and received the group’s Distinguished Service Award in 2001. He has been a member of the National Confectioners Association (NCA) board of directors since 1978 and has served twice as the its vice president.

Click here for a video essay about John Brooks, Sr. and his 2010 Kettle Award.

Brooks was inducted into the NCSA Candy Hall of Fame in 2008. He acknowledges that what he learned from his father and co-founder had the most significant influence on his career, and he remains dedicated to continuing the Adams & Brooks tradition of producing distinctive, unique, quality candy.

Two of his three children, Cynthia Brooks Hoban and John Jr., are active in the family business, serving as vice presidents at the company.