Flower power that’s
good enough to eat

By Diane Prokop
Times Staff Writer

The flowers so important to Kailey’s Candies’ Flower Power bars are sunflowers — sunflower seed kernels to be exact.
Kailey Kitsch, 14, and her dad Bill always enjoyed playing around in their Fox Chase kitchen, melting chocolate and mixing it with different foods, fruits and nuts.
One day two years ago, while wife Mari was at work, father and daughter decided to toss some sunflower seeds into the chocolate, and voila! — Flower Power candy bars were born.
The Kitsch family gave them to relatives and friends who all asked for more. The family then set out to learn all they could about the business of making and selling candy before taking the leap from their kitchen to satisfying the chocolate cravings of the masses.
They joined the Retail Confectioners Association and went to trade shows — which could be dangerously tempting, according to Mari Kitsch — to figure out the basics, pricing, and how to put it all together.
They not only investigated the business end of the candy industry but also held blind taste tests to get feedback on 20 chocolates. Kailey’s Candies currently offers the Flower Power bars in dark and milk chocolate.
All told, the family has invested about $6,000 so far.
"I would have blown a lot more if I didn’t do my homework," said Bill Kitsch, whose day job is in heating and air conditioning.
The homework continues as Kitsch searches for distributors and brokers and tries to enter upscale markets for the 2.25-ounce bar, whose suggested retail price is $2.
What makes the product stand out, Kitsch believes, is that it’s tasty and nutritious — free of trans fat and full of fiber, potassium and vitamin E, to name a few sunflower-seed benefits — and manufactured in the good ol’ USA.
The sunflower seeds are grown on Midwestern farms, the chocolate comes from Altoona, Pa., and the bar is produced in nearby Tyrone. Even the wrapper is printed in Pennsylvania.
"I hope people will place value in the fact that Kailey’s supports U.S. farmers and supply chains, and local manufacturing," Kitsch said.
At the moment, you can find Flower Power bars at Keller’s Market, 7964 Verree Road, near Rhawn Street. They’re also available by the case at kaileyscandies.com.
Kailey, a freshman at Bishop McDevitt High School in Montgomery County, thinks the name of the candy is kind of old-fashioned — so ’60s. Yet the Flower Power bars are catching on with her friends.
"My friend comes over every day and grabs a couple of bars," she said.
Another friend describes it as "a really weird taste but really good — a taste you can’t even explain." ••
Reporter Diane Prokop can be reached at 215-354-3036 or dprokop@phillynews.com