“I don't practice, but when I came out of law school, the company was experiencing a lot of growth. “I'm a licensed attorney today,” he said. Nelson joined the company as marketing director and general counsel. Upon Nelson’s graduation, Allan asked him to help, just for a little while. He enrolled in law school at Louisiana State University, with the goal of practicing law.
Nelson didn’t fully join Elmer’s ranks upon graduation, however. He earned a business degree from Tulane University, helping his family’s company with sales and marketing during this time.
Though he grew up around the business, Nelson joined the Elmer payroll as a teenager in 1983, doing everything from driving trucks and forklifts to working maintenance. We've expanded the company multiple times, and it's always been, ‘How can we help? What do we need to do?’” “It’s gotten more stringent, and you need to have the right facility to be able to run the organization you want to run…Tangipahoa has been part of the success, no doubt. “Everything, and certainly in the food industry, has evolved over the years from a regulatory standpoint,” he said. While he loves the city, Nelson said Tangipahoa Parish has been a helpful partner as the company has grown and transformed to meet modern food safety requirements. Nelson said a skyscraper now stands where the company’s old factory existed at Poydras and Magazine Streets in New Orleans. In the 1970s - facing dwindling space and aging facilities - the Nelsons opted to move Elmer Candy Corporation from New Orleans’ Central Business District to Ponchatoula, 50 miles northwest of the city in Tangipahoa Parish. After a period of dormancy, the candy company sold the CheeWees brand back to the Elmer family in the 1990s, and Elmer Fine Foods - a separate snack company - manufactures the product in New Orleans today. The Cheeto predecessor received the name CheeWees, thanks to a naming contest submission. The Elmer family also invented the corn curl around the Great Depression, adding cheese flavor to the product in the 1940s. It's something we do for about six weeks out of the year.” Most people in this area think that's all we do, and it’s a very small part of our business. “We still have to make it because if we didn't make it, we'd have crowds of people at our door,” Nelson said. Elmer still makes these Louisiana staples, which are especially popular around Easter. It's really a textbook situation.”Īmong the general-line products Elmer produced in the early days was Heavenly Hash, featuring milk chocolate, marshmallows and roasted almonds, and Gold Brick, a chocolate-covered pecan meltaway. “They made all of these different products, and you had that in other parts of the country with other companies. “If you went to any of the grocery stores or drugstores, the whole section was Elmer,” he said. Roy’s son and Robert’s father, Allan, joined the company in 1965.Īt the time, candy manufacturers made several types of confections for their geographical regions, and Elmer Candy Corporation had a strong foothold in the South, Nelson said. Roy Nelson, a Chicago native, had married a woman from New Orleans and worked with the Elmer family before buying the business. Nelson said many Elmers were with the company when his grandfather, Roy Nelson, purchased it in 1963. Around the turn of the century, the Miller name was dropped, and the business became known as Elmer Candy Corporation. Miller’s son-in-law ran the business, renaming it as the Miller-Elmer Candy Corporation. Miller had nine daughters, and one - Olivia - married Augustus Elmer.
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