Podcast: Bryana Ganong And The Chocolate Factory
Bryana Ganong, CEO and president of St. Stephen’s storied candy and chocolate company, has worked there since she was a teenager on the “peppermint line” one summer.
Part of the fifth generation of family members to operate the business that’s nearly 150 years old and now employs around 300 people, Mark Leger chats with Bryana about the innovations and expansions at a company that remains an important player in the province’s economy.
As the labour force has grown, immigration has become more important, with people from 12 countries around the world now working for the company. As well as making its own branded products, still so much a part of Maritime culture, it also makes products for other global chocolate and candy companies.
And, of course, they also talk about what it’s like to work for a chocolate company and have a birthday on Valentine’s Day.
Bryana runs the kind of company that makes people happy. The job of continuing to build and improve upon a much-loved brand is hard, but she tries to keep it in perspective. “Every once in a while, I’ll have a bad day and I’m kind of cranky when I come home and my husband will say, did you forget that you make candy?’ “
Listen to the conversation with Bryan in the player above, or on your preferred podcast platform.