About Us
Ginny's Fudge and Nuts is a family operated business. It all began sometime in the mid 1970's when Ginny would surprise her friends and neighbors with delicious chocolate treats. Ginny soon found there was a genuine desire for more of her chocolates, so a business was born.
Ginny's husband, Jack, transformed a spare bedroom into the first candy kitchen complete with cabinets, work tables, chocolate tempering equipment, molds, fillings, fondants, gold boxes and cellophane bags of all sizes. Something special had happened and now this "hobby" was taking another direction.
In those early years, Ginny sold her wares at "open house" type craft shows that were typical of that time. There were also special orders, Church Bazaars and School fundraising craft shows.
The family moved from Marietta, Georgia in 1984. Relocating to Cleveland, Georgia where Jack and Ginny opened a gift shop called Vee-Jay Creations. Vee-Jay Creations offered everything from greeting cards to gifts. Ginny was able to share her vision with others offering cake decorating and candy making supplies, she taught classes on both and encouraged a community to explore creativity.
Steve, the youngest of their 3 boys came into the business with them shortly after, opening North Georgia Blueprint in the rear of the store. Steve sold blueprint supplies, designed business cards and invitations, and ran a small copy business. Steve was very hands on with merchandising in the gift shop and realized he had a real knack for retail.
Celia wandered into Vee-Jay Creations sometime in 1985, she soon became a regular customer, coming in for cards, gifts and conversation. The short version of the story is that Steve and Celia soon began dating and were married in July 1986.
1986 brought about many changes, there was a marriage, a new business was opened; JAX yogurt, and things were looking good.
We opened JAX Yogurt and Deli II, in nearby Cornelia, Ga. in 1987, purchased our first fudge kettle and added yummy fudge to the other goodies we offered.
We sold the business in 1993 - but we kept the fudge kettle. We were going full time with our fudge and candies.
We sold fudge and candies at area markets, Cleveland, GA - Pendergrass , GA - Mountain City, GA - Athens, GA ... this was all well and good, but then in 1994 we experienced our first "arts and craft show". We were officially "Ginny's Fudge and Candies".
Mother's Day weekend 1994, found us at the Nicholson Daisy Festival, and the rest is history in the making.
We added the cinnamon roasted almonds and pecans to the mix in 1997. We've been Ginny's Fudge and Nuts since that time.
Virginia "Ginny" began all this by dabbling in chocolate all those years ago, this is why the business is named for our family Matriarch, and rightfully so.
When it comes to actually making the fudge, you might say that Steve is "Ginny" .. ha-ha .. he really is the man behind the kettle. Steve has a wonderful talent for making the fudge, there is a knowing involved in pouring fudge. If you have ever made, or attempted to make fudge you will understand this. Sometimes there is no candy thermometer in the world that will compare to what a learned person "knows" about timing and making the perfect batch of fudge. Steve really is the main man in the business. We have 3 fudge kettles now, and he can work all three at the same time without missing a beat .. that's spectacular!
Celia is a great support person in the kitchen. This involves ALOT of stirring and blending of flavors and carrying the trays into the cooling room. Celia is also the main nut around here, meaning that her main job is roasting those delicious cinnamon almonds and pecans.
You may only purchase these fine confections from our family directly, as we do not wholesale our fudge and candies and have no representatives in the field.
Look for us in your hometown participating in a Community Festival, Arts and Crafts Event, or Gift Show. You may check our EVENTS page for more information.
Below are a few pictures of our production process.