What began as a kitchen hobby in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, turned into a beloved delicacy for candy lovers across the U.S.
By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com
Tucked away on the western edge of Arkadelphia is a warehouse bustling quietly with activity. The office phone rings constantly as customers place order after order. In the adjacent kitchen, more than a dozen workers are busy — some stirring one of many small pots of nut-filled syrup, others stretching the heated mixture atop marble tables and breaking the cooled confection into pieces before packaging the final product into gallon-sized containers.
October officially marks candy season, and one of the town’s best-kept secrets lies within the walls of Juanita’s Candy Kitchen. For the next three months, the staff here will fill thousands of buckets of brittle, which will be shipped for wholesale and retail customers across the nation and Canada.
It all started 50 years ago, in 1974, when Juanita Smith began making brittle as gifts. The hobby soon expanded, as Smith worked from a shop next to her home at 12th and Walnut streets (now home to Second Baptist Church), then peddled her product from her car all across Arkansas.
“She’d just make a whole bunch of brittle, put it in her car and drive around to different towns,” said Wanda Branum, who for 10 years has managed the business.
Smith’s home and shop were both destroyed in the March 1997 tornado that ravaged a large swath of Arkadelphia. Later that month, ground was broken at the current site on Stephenwood Drive, and by the end of that year Juanita’s was back in business — just in time for the busy season. Though Smith died in 2001, her famous nut brittle and namesake confectionary lives on.
On Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, Juanita’s celebrated its 50th anniversary with an open house and ribbon cutting hosted by the Arkadelphia Area Chamber of Commerce.
At one time, Arkadelphia was home to three brittle companies, but Juanita’s has kept its heels dug into the very town where it all began, and put Arkadelphia on the map for candy lovers across the U.S. and beyond. A map in the retail space welcomes walk-in visitors to drop a pin on their hometown. There’s hardly space left for any future Arkansans or northeast Texans. Many of the 50 states, including Hawaii, are heavily dotted with pins from visiting customers.
What makes Juanita’s stand out from other brittle makers is the thickness at which the caramelized sugar mixture is spread. “We stretch ours thin,” said Branum. “That’s what has made our brittle famous.”
The operation of three full-time employees blossoms into a staff of nearly 20 workers come each August, before orders start rolling in for the holidays. It’s unknown exactly how many pounds of brittle is shipped each year from the kitchen, but it’s definitely a lot. Branum said she typically orders up to 35,000 buckets for peanut brittle — but that’s just for the 1.5-pound size and doesn’t include the pecan or cashew brittle; nor does it include the 3-pound buckets for each variety.
Since a change in ownership a decade ago, Juanita’s has added several varieties of fudge to its product lineup, which also includes chocolate-covered nut brittle and a new fan favorite, cinnamon pecan brittle.
Open six days a week throughout the year, Juanita’s has attracted countless Interstate 30 travelers over the years, and many longtime Arkadelphia residents are surprised when they discover that Juanita’s is more than confectionary. “We have people come in here and say they had no idea there was retail space,” Branum said.
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