Meet Kevin and Tania Merlos | Spicy Candy Experts

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kevin and Tania Merlos and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kevin and Tania, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
We never had intentions to start our own candy business. We wanted to make our own spicy candy because we tried different ones and didn’t like them, so we decided to experiment. Our recipes went through several rounds of trial and error until we found the right ingredients. My husband and I are a bit picky so we decided to have our family and friends try our final recipe. That led to more people trying our candy who then wanted to place orders. We were not expecting to start a business, but people placed orders so we decided to start our own business. People love our spicy candy and we want to share what we love with other people.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?

We take pride in how we make the spices that we use on our candy. Taste and appearance are two things that we believe go hand in hand. Many people believe you can just mix spices, put it on candy and call it a day. We take pride in understanding the texture and the taste of each candy. That’s what sets us apart since we created the perfect combination of spicy and sweet.

We are proud of the progress we have made in a short amount of time. We currently sell a few of our products at a local dulceria and we have plans to expand throughout DFW. We have customers in 10 states across the United States. A few states we have shipped to are New York, Illinois, California, Colorado and Hawaii. We never expected for our spicy candy to be such a hit so we are grateful for the progress we have made. It has not been an easy process. It’s common for us to have late nights trying to plan, prepare, and package our products. Regardless, we enjoy what we do and we love sharing our love for spicy candy with other people.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The list of places we like to check out is endless. If we had our best friends visit us then we would take them to eat tacos at different local food trucks, elotes at Fiesta Mart, pizza at Delucca and a night out at West 7th in Downtown Fort Worth. You can’t leave out Goldee’s BBQ in Kennedale, the #1 rated BBQ in the state of Texas. We love hanging out with our friends at Klyde Warren park and the ArtPark at Trinity Groves.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Our family deserves a shoutout for our success. They have given us feedback on how and where we can improve. You can always count on a family member to be brutally honest so without them I don’t think we could have created a perfect blend of spice in our candy. Our family members have been engaged in our business since day one and are always asking us how we are doing. Their excitement and encouragement motivates us to fight against challenges so we can continue to grow.

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