Way back in 1916, the United States population was just under 100 million… Woodrow Wilson was President… the U.S. had not yet entered World War I… and Utah was celebrating only its 20th year as a state.

That was also the year the Glade-Strickley Candy Company began producing mostly chocolate confections, with founder James Vernon Glade at the helm.

The Glade-Strickley name is long gone, along with that Salt Lake location… and all the chocolate, for that matter.

The roots of Taffy Town stretch back more than a century. (Carl Fauver/City Journals)

But, Glade family ownership of what is now one of the top taffy producing companies in the world is still in place. Now, with a worldwide following Glade could have only dreamed about, Taffy Town is celebrating 110 years of tantalizing taste buds and summoning smiles, with Glade’s great grandson Jason Glade serving as president and CEO.

The company produces 6.5 million pounds of taffy each year. There are 60 pieces of taffy in a pound. Do the perhaps not-so-quick math: that’s 390 million taffy pieces annually – enough to give every man, woman and child in America a piece, with nearly 50 million left over.

Oh, and the 43,000-square-foot Taffy Town (taffytown.com) retail store and warehouse may be in West Jordan – but Jason Glade, wife Teresa, and their four kids have called Taylorsville home for more than a decade.

“We moved into Taylorsville in 2015… my dad retired as Taffy Town’s fourth president in 2016… and we opened our brand-new West Jordan location in 2017,” Jason Glade said. 

Taffy Town majority owner and CEO Jason Glade (C) operates the confectionery giant with his brother Derek (L) and cousin-by-marriage, Joe Adams (R). (Carl Fauver/City Journals)

“Since the move, I would say our business has grown by 4-times. We also watched two of our children graduate from Taylorsville High School. Our youngest attended THS for three years, but is now finishing up through an online program, while our fourth attended a different school.”

Jason and Teresa had never lived in Taylorsville until that 2015 move – but they grew up just beyond its borders. Jason Glade is a 1995 Kearns High graduate, while Teresa Glade received her West Jordan High School diploma in 1998.

“My family moved to West Jordan before my brother Derek entered his senior year of high school,” Jason said. “He and Teresa were classmates. That’s how I met her.”

Now 28 years later, Derek Glade is Taffy Town’s Chief Marketing Officer. He and Jason’s two younger brothers have pursued other career paths.

Taffy Town boxes and ships some 80 flavors of taffy around the world. (Carl Fauver/City Journals)

“I hired on with the company in 2001 to work on the night shift,” Derek Glade said. “I worked my way up and became CMO around the same time our dad retired as president and Jason took over. He and I own about 90% of Taffy Town, while a group of our employees owns the other 10%.”

Jason Glade’s great grandad James Vernon Glade was president for more than 40 years (1916-1957). James’ brother George was at the helm a short time (1957-1963)… followed by James’ son Dale (1963-1994)… and Dale’s son David (1994-2015). 

With Jason now the fourth-generation Glade company president, the obvious question is: Will there be a fifth-generation leader in the family?

“Jason and I have each had kids work at Taffy Town, so it’s certainly a possibility,” Derek Glade added. “There’s still lots of time to see if one of the kids wants to take over. But I can’t say we are absolutely certain yet the company will stay in the family.”

This massive Taffy Town warehouse contains nearly endless boxes of the sweets, bound for all corners of the globe. (Carl Fauver/City Journals)

In addition to the name change from Glade-Strickley Candy Company, to Glade Candy Company, to now Taffy Town, the other huge business change came in the mid-1990s.

“We got rid of our last piece of chocolate candy making equipment in 1996 when we went exclusively to taffy,” Jason Glade said. “My dad was president at the time, and sales of our high-end chocolate became hard as cheaper chocolate competed against us. But our taffy sales were starting to take off. Taffy had pretty much been a summer-only candy. But we decided to go year-round with it and focused on expanding our national market.”

Jason Glade says Taffy Town only sold 45 to 50 different flavors when he started with the company. Now they are up to 80 regulars, with new ones test marketed each month. In December, they tried out: boysenberry, French toast, pineapple upside down cake and sea salt caramel. Sales connections are made primarily through candy shows and conventions nationwide.

Even keeping track of going home time has a little whimsy for Taffy Town employees. (Carl Fauver/City Journals) 

The third high-ranking official atop Taffy Town is Chief Financial Officer Joe Adams. He’s Jason Glade’s wife Teresa’s cousin.

“I’ve been with Taffy Town since December 2014, when Jason and Derek reached out to me to discuss the position,” Adams said. “They didn’t really have an official CFO until then. It’s been a good job. It’s fun to work in an industry that people enjoy. Everyone loves talking about and eating candy.”

Adams reports Taffy Town employs about 75 people and virtually all of them are fulltime. The retail space at their West Jordan location – the one and only taffy store the company operates itself – generates less than 1% of their sales. 

About 10% of their taffy sales are online, direct to consumer. But the vast (89%) amount of sales are wholesale to retail store operators across the United States and abroad.

The one and only direct Taffy Town employee working outside their West Jordan site is a lone sales manager in Missouri.

Ironically, Taffy Town’s number one sales competitor in the entire world is, essentially, right next door. Salt Lake-based Sweet Candy Company also produces endless pounds and flavors of taffy.

Taffy Town packages and ships millions of pounds of taffy all across the globe each year. (Carl Fauver/City Journals)

“We bounce back and forth with Sweet year after year as the leading taffy producer in the world,” Jason Glade said. “In addition to our sales to retail outlets throughout this country, we also sell a lot of taffy in Canada. And we are gaining more sales traction in the United Kingdom, Denmark, South Korea and other places. We recently made our first shipment ever to Singapore.”

Soon after that 2017 opening of their West Jordan location, Jason Glade reports the pandemic put a dent in sales. But now Taffy Town continues to bounce back.

“I was confident our sales would grow in the new location, and they have,” Jason Glade concluded. “It makes me feel very blessed to have this responsibility to carry on our tradition. I put more pressure on myself when I first started as president. Then I learned pressure does not improve my work. Now I remind myself, candy should be enjoyable.”

It must be. Someone’s eating those 390 million pieces of taffy, in 80+ flavors, each year.

This massive Taffy Town store and warehouse is in West Jordan; but the majority owner and CEO, Jason Glade and his family, live in Taylorsville. (Carl Fauver/City Journals)