Sweet Thrills At
Kennywood
By Mary Ellen Kuhn
Candy is a big part of the fun at this old-fashioned
jewel of a theme park.
Southwestern Pennsylvania’s Kennywood Park may
not be among the nation’s best-known amusement parks, but —
much like the candy category itself — it’s hard to beat when it
comes to good, old-fashioned fun. Charm, too.
What Works at Kennywood
There’s a ready market for kid-friendly candy at
Kennywood. Last year’s top hits included Mega Warheads Sour Spray
Candy, Alien Glow Pops and Ghostly Glow Pops, all from Impact Confections;
K-9 Dog Bone Candy from KoKo’s Confectionery; and Brain Dips liquid
candy from Generation Foods, among others.
Items with a bit of a nostalgic or retro feel such as
Switzer licorice or Nikl Nips wax bottles also work well, adds Carol
Palangio, who purchases candy for Kennywood.
“Anything that lights up, anything that’s
different, and where’s there’s value,” — all of the
preceding have the potential to make it big with park patrons, she notes.
Situated 12 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, the
108-year-old amusement park boasts National Historic Landmark status,
family-friendly ticket prices, pavilions for picnicking, and clusters of
trees as old as the park itself. Kennywood also has its share of
mind-blowing, heart-stopping roller coasters and rides with names like
Phantom’s Revenge, the Thunderbolt, and the Pit Fall. Its unique
combination of thrills and ambiance has earned Kennywood recognition among
theme park aficionados nationwide. Editors at the online business and
travel information service Citysearch, for example, recently included
Kennywood on a list of the nation’s top amusement parks.
Candy — sold at venues including the 1,300
square-foot Kandy Kaleidoscope shop, the Parkside Café restaurant,
and at refreshment stands and snack carts — sweetens the Kennywood
experience for thousands of park patrons each year. Carol Palangio,
operations manager for Kennywood Park Refreshment Co., handles candy
purchasing for the amusement park and makes it her mission to add something
new and enticing to the assortment each year. Managing the category is one
of the most enjoyable parts of her job, she reports, despite the fact that
inventory control can be challenging and selling candy in
non-air-conditioned outlets requires some careful attention.
Monitoring the mix
It’s a given, for example, that the mix of candy
singles sold in the outdoor snack carts as well as the Parkside Café
(which is not air-conditioned) will change over the course of the
spring/summer season. Before it gets too hot, items such as Reese’s
Peanut Butter Cups, Kit Kat Bars and M&Ms work well, says Palangio, but
later in the season, it’s time to switch to Skittles, Starburst and
Swedish Fish.
Temperature is a consideration even within the Kandy
Kaleidoscope, which does have air conditioning. Thanks to an
“open-air curtain” at the store entrance, temperatures inside
the shop can rise on a sultry summer day, which means that stocking fragile
confections like truffles is not an option.
What the park does sell a lot of, though, is its
homemade fudge — made on the premises at the Kandy Kaleidoscope and
presented mainly in quarter-pound wedges priced at $2.50. Oversized coconut
clusters, turtles, peanut butter cups and the like priced at $2 per piece
are among the Kandy Kaleidoscope’s other top sellers. Also on the
list of Kennywood confectionery favorites are chocolate-covered cherries,
chocolate-dipped pretzel rods, chocolate-enrobed graham crackers and
caramel apples.
When people come to an amusement park, Palangio notes,
they’re often in an escapist frame of mind and ready for something a
bit more decadent than their everyday fare. Still, though, she notes that
in response to customer requests she’s added a modest selection of
sugar-free chocolate and hard candies. “It’s still not a big
business,” she says, “but the people who are looking for it are
disappointed if you don’t have it.”
Key suppliers of Kennywood’s chocolate goodies
include Asher’s Chocolates, Souderton, Pa., and Apple Cookie &
Chocolate Co. and Betsy Ann Chocolates, both Pittsburgh-based.
The candy shop also stocks a handful of candy
gift/souvenir items at moderate price points such as a white chocolate
version of Kennywood’s signature arrow-shaped sign surrounded with
milk chocolate and priced at $6. Overall, though, items priced at $2.50 and
under account for 95 percent of confectionery sales, Palangio estimates.
Serving up value
One of last year’s sweetest additions to the
Kandy Kaleidoscope was a dollar island located in the center of the store.
It features an assortment of items that Palangio describes as “fun,
colorful and value-oriented.”
“We didn’t want anyone to come into
the store and think it was too pricey,” she explains. The $1
offerings include candy necklaces, bags of sour gummy worms, edible bubbles
and numerous other novelty products — 25 different SKUs in all.
“It was a grand hit,” notes Palangio.
Like much of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions,
Southwestern Pennsylvania has lost jobs and population to the South and the
West, and the economic climate is less than robust in many communities.
Kennywood’s management is well aware of the need for value
positioning, reports Mike Henninger, director of foodservice and
great-grandson of the park’s co-founder.
Not only does the company charge less for admission
than other leading amusement parks, but it maintains plenty of picnic
pavilions for the convenience of its guests. “We’re one of the
few parks that still allow guests to bring refreshments into the
park,” says Henninger.
Planning for summer
Palangio’s job managing Kennywood’s candy
program starts each year in February when she evaluates potential additions
to the assortment and makes preliminary purchase decisions. Working through
brokers as well as dealing directly with candy vendors, she makes her
decisions and places orders by early April.
She’s always on the lookout for what might become
the season’s star confectionery performer. “Our philosophy is
that one new idea can make the difference,” she reflects. “Each
year before the season begins I always want to see anything new.
That’s the signal that I send to all the reps that I buy from:
don’t be afraid to show me anything new.”
Bringing in the right new items and keeping the product
mix varied are critical for successful candy sales at Kennywood, according
to Palangio. The key, she says, is to strike a balance between offering
enough variety and avoiding overkill. Too many choices can confuse shoppers
and slow their decision-making. That’s a mistake in a place where
everyone is eager to head off to the next attraction.
The seven best-selling flavors, for example, account
for about 85 percent of fudge sales, so Palangio elects to offer a total of
only eight or nine varieties — the best-sellers plus one or two
alternative flavors, just to keep it interesting. The total candy
assortment at Kennywood numbers about 200 SKUs, she estimates.
Besides adjusting the assortment as the temperature
climbs, Palangio also tweaks it slightly for the fall Fright Night events.
At that point, because there are more teens and young adults than kids in
the crowd, she opts for king-size candy bars vs. the standard size sold
earlier in the season. In addition, she notes that “when we hit
Fright Night, my goal is to have the dollar aisle down,” because that
too is kid-oriented.
After 30 years on the Kennywood team (she started
working part-time in high school), Palangio finds that she’s gotten
better at inventory management. It’s hard to forecast because weather
conditions can dramatically affect park traffic.
Nonetheless, she says modestly, “for the past 15
years, we haven’t had any returns.”
And last year, she was pleased about the fact that the
closing of the Kandy Kaleidoscope shop was timed almost perfectly —
just two days prior to the closing of the amusement park. “In my
opinion, that was a success,” she notes. nod
Facts
History: Founded in
1898 as a “trolley park”
Daily Visitors: 10,000 is the average
Claim to Fame: Proudly
bills itself as “America’s favorite traditional amusement
park.”