traditional candy makers

We’ve been making chocolate and confections the Rhéo Thompson way since 1969 with the same flawless recipes, tools and candy making techniques. We’ve refined a few things over the years and added new flavours, but we still make the bulk of our 152 products by hand, overseeing every process to deliver the ultimate candy and chocolate to you. As a Canadian family-owned-and-operated candy company our commitment to continuing the tradition of candy excellence is stronger than ever.

Sinclair's Pharmacy

1969

Rhéo Thompson completes his apprenticeship at Olin Brown Candies and begins making sweets in the basement of Sinclair Pharmacy. Relying essentially on used equipment – only the bare necessities such as a natural gas stove, a copper kettle and a thermometer – the candy was made in the evening and sold on Saturday mornings at the Stratford’s Farmer’s Market, in a booth rented for 50 cents.

1971

Rhéo Thompson’s moves candy production and opens our first retail store at 26 Brunswick Street, a block behind our current location.

1971

Also that same year,Rhéo Thompson Candies introduced a mouth-watering new chocolate called the Mint Smoothie®, which became their specialty, for which they became known world wide.

1989

1989

The business expands and we renovate the store at 26 Brunswick Street. We also move candy production. 

1997 image

1997

We renovate and move to a new location at 55 Albert Street. With the new space, we are able to move all candy production under one roof.

owners

2003

Marc Johnstone and Kristene Steed purchase the business and carry on the tradition. 

2013 image

2013

We expand the building to increase production and packaging space.