If you ask Randy Bevan what processes and traditions have stayed the same in the 56 years Bevan’s Own Make has been delighting the Delaware Valley with handmade candies, he will tell you, “Everything.” In a time when the new, shiny next big thing lures many businesses, Randy Bevan is a small business owner who believes in “keeping the traditions alive,” he says.
Grandparents walk into the Media, PA store with their grandkids and order the same kinds of candies they enjoyed as kids. They will even see candies in the same shapes they enjoyed thirty, forty, or even fifty years ago because Randy uses the exact same candy molds his grandfather, Marty Bevan, used. He slices caramels with the same guillotine cutter and uses the same extruder for buttercream. Some of the candy-making machinery dates back to the 1920’s and 30’s, and most of it has been in use for at least thirty years, making Bevan’s a truly vintage candy shop.
And it’s not just the machinery that has stayed the same. Randy Bevan, who has run Bevan’s Own Make candies for seventeen years, employs the same processes Marty Bevan used when he began making candy in his home. This includes rolling Easter eggs by hand: all 6,000 that holiday demand requires! It also includes making mints one by one, by hand. And just as his grandfather created candy in small batches, Randy ensures quality by doing this too. He makes fudge in five pound batches!
The Bevan family immersed Randy Bevan in these high-quality traditions from a young age. As a kid, he would sweep up in the shop and help pack candy. They always needed an extra hand around the holidays. “It was fun,” he remembers. “I wouldn’t change a thing.” Now Randy’s son, a kindergartener, likes to sweep up. Another family member also lends a hand: Randy’s aunt, who has been helping in the store for 50 years and will turn 80 this May. Her specialty is making all the peanut clusters by hand.
Bevan’s has supplied Wolff’s Apple House with holiday candy for twenty years. This Valentine’s Day, Bevan’s is bringing us assorted boxes of the best-loved candies: vanilla buttercream, chocolate buttercream, coconut cream, peanut butter delight, caramel, sponge, mint and more. Whether these assorted boxes are a favorite tradition or the start of a new one, be sure to pick some up to delight your sweetheart this February.