Olivier’s Candies is one of the oldest continuously operated businesses in Western Canada. We’ve witnessed the birth of the Province of Alberta, the Great Depression, two world wars and a couple of oil booms. Along the way, we’ve changed a bit – we’ve grown, we’ve moved and we’ve adapted to a changing market. But we’ve never lost sight of our purpose – to provide the finest confections possible to generations of loyal customers.

Photo Credit: Glenbow Archive

Today, Olivier's manufactures literally hundreds of candy and chocolate items under two distinct banners – Olivier's Traditional Candies and Chocolates, and Les Truffes au Chocolat -- our top quality chocolate made in the European tradition.

Our old fashioned products, like our giant candy canes and chocolate coated caramel, are still made by hand by our candy makers using the same recipes and techniques of the last century. Our hand-crafted European chocolates are made under the direction of Master Chocolatier Ralph Buchmuller and feature 43 varieties of hand-rolled truffles and a selection of molded chocolates made with the finest European ingredients.

Olivier's products can be found in grocery chains, convenience stores and independent retailers throughout Western Canada. We also operate three retail outlets in Calgary

Gaspard Olivier moved to Calgary in 1909 in the midst of the first of many economic booms that would strike this Western city. He established a bake shop in the heart of downtown and soon expanded his bakery offerings to include candy and ice cream. Known as “The Geisha”, the brightly decorated shop became a social gathering place for Calgary residents on a Saturday evening.

Gaspard sold the original shop in 1913, and soon opened another candy shop in Medicine Hat. By 1924 he was back in Calgary where he set up a candy factory and retail store just two blocks from his original location at 1005 1St. S.W.

For some 50 years Gaspard and his son Maurice(Bud) Olivier operated this Calgary landmark until 1971 when the business was sold to Allan and James Jensen. The Jensens were young candy makers from Salt Lake City, Utah who quickly found a home in Calgary and expanded the business in the midst of another economic boom generated by Alberta's burgeoning oil and gas sector. In 1971, Olivier's relocated to Inglewood, where for some 35 years generations of Calgarians wandered past the glass-fronted candy kitchen to watch candy-makers create barks and brittles and handmade candy canes which became the trademark of the company.

In 2002 the business was sold to the current owners, Rick Jeffrey and Wally Marcolin. Though the Inglewood factory had become something of a landmark, by 2006 it was too small to house the expanding business and the factory was moved to the Foothills Industrial area where all products are manufactured. There are also three retail outlets including one in Inglewood, one at Willow Park Village in the southwest of the City and one at Bankers Hall.

“The Inglewood factory was a unique operation” recalls Jeffrey. “It certainly had character, but as we expanded it became more and more difficult to operate in that space. We were carrying materials and finished products up and down three flights of stairs and trying to ship goods from a small door at the rear of the building. While we were reluctant to uproot a business that had flourished there for so long, we bit the bullet and made the move to Foothills.”

Today, Olivier's is a much more modern operation, but it still retains the old time flavor that was so much a part of the family tradition established in 1909. The candy canes are still made by hand, one at a time, and many of the recipes – the peanut brittle and caramel – that have been customer favorites for so long are still made with the original recipes. But as the business has expanded and consumer tastes have changed, Olivier's has kept pace.

Photo Credit: Glenbow Archive