Home » News » New London News » Kist Bottling offers candy

Kist Bottling offers candy

CN-NL-KistBottling1-190919 CN-NL-KistBottling2-190919
<
>
Reid Ramos, of the Dan Ramos family, approves of his ice cream at Kist Bottling Company’s newly added candy and ice cream parlor in New London. Neil Rhines photo

New London plant opens sweet shop

By Neil Rhines


Something sweet is in the air on East Cook Street in New London.

To be fair, this is hardly a secret.

Anyone driving past the historic New London Kist Bottling Company at 414 E. Cook Street will see customers lining up for fresh ice cream, soda and candies.

Sodas in 31 flavors, many kinds of fudge, and 11 flavors of ice cream in warm waffle cones – all made at the Kist plant in New London. These are some of the 22 products in the offering with plans to expand even more.

Business has been brisk at the newly restored plant, the oldest soda bottling operation in the state of Wisconsin. Built in 1872, the bottle works has never closed.

Owner operator Keith Wochinski said Wenzel and Helen Hamm operated the plant before moving to Minnesota where they eventually started Hamm’s Brewery.

Wochinski’s family took ownership of the bottling works in 1883. Keith recalls working there beside his father Adolf “Tony” Wochinski at the age of 8 years old.

Keith’s son Derek is now the fourth generation of Wochiskis to work the soda bottling business.

In the past two years and eight months, they’ve given the building a complete makeover. According to Wochinski it was “more than a facelift.”

Shop opens to acclaim

On Aug. 13, they opened Kist Candies and Ice Cream with seating for about 20 people.

Wochinski said adding the chocolate and candy treats is not his first foray into the world of confectioneries.

“I was making 700-1,000 pounds of candy every Christmas and just handing it out,” he said. “Everyone said I should do it professionally because it’s so [darn] good.”

And so he did.

Before building the addition and restoring the Kist plant, Wochinski operated Main Street Ice Cream Parlor and Eatery in downtown New London from 1991 to 2005.

Now his candies are once again, ‘the talk of the town.’

“I’m in the old school,” said Wochinski. “If it doesn’t pass my quality standards, we don’t do it.”

A recent trek to the shop by the Press Star found customers enjoying the fruits of the Wochinskis’ labors.

Many of the tables were already occupied, a number of people huddled around the ice cream counter, and a few others were perusing the fudge, while a couple others waited to pay for their treats, their money placed into an antique cash register from 1880.

Dan Ramos, who brought his family to the shop for some ice cream, said it was their first time there. Ramos’s son, Reid, did not have much to say about his dish of Superman ice cream, but if his grin and his blue teeth were any indication, he was clearly enjoying it.

Another first timer, Bev Krake came to look around. She left with some fudge and a smile.

Variety of candies

“I told our apprentice candy maker Julie (Besaw) that we’re going to have to start putting three legs on our turtles so they stop walking out the door so fast,” said Wochinski.

The turtle candies, made with a mix of homemade caramel and German, Swiss and Dutch chocolates, have been popular. A new line of candies made from white chocolate imported from one of three Mayan families in Mexico will probably go even faster, he said.

“Our peanut butter balls are just rolling out the door,” he said.

Other tasty morsels in the works, which Wochinski said he hopes to build into the product line soon, will include homemade truffles, crème filled candies, and salt-water taffies.

Another installation in the newly redone business is something Wochinski calls “Windows of History.” It features memorabilia and information not just from the Kist plant, but also from other local businesses in the area.

The tin ceilings came from Kopitzky’s [Denny’s] Supermarket, formerly across from the New London Public Library. The mirrors along the walls once stood behind the soda counter at Pichelmeyer’s Drug Store, which used to stand next to Bult’s Quality Bake Shop.

Even the windows are from the original plant.

Kist and Ting sodas, available only from the plant, will come in returnable bottles, he said.

Wochinski said they are planning a grand opening for mid-October.

Scroll to Top