About Us

Ampersand Brands is a growing portfolio of beloved confectionery brands, including Hammond’s Candies, the iconic hand-crafted candy maker, and Lolli & Pops, a premium retail and gifting brand with a national presence. The company is backed by strong growth ambitions, combining innovation, brand storytelling, and operational excellence to expand its reach and solidify its position as a leading player in the U.S. confections industry.

Production Cook

Kitchen

Hammond's Candies

Key Responsibilities

• Achieves production operational objectives by contributing information and preparing and completing action plans; production, productivity, quality, customer-service, safety, security, and health standards.
• Controls costs by consulting with production team leaders; overseeing product portion size; evaluating and improving productivity; providing candy preparation personal expertise; evaluating time-saving production techniques; monitoring finished product.
• Improves quality and consistency following production records, following standardized production recipes; quality improvement; studying, evaluating, and re-designing processes; offering ideas to implement changes.
• Implements recipes and specifications by reviewing product specifications; applying established procedures and techniques.
• Maintains safe, secure, and healthy work environment by establishing, following, standards and procedures; complying with sanitation and federal, state, and local legal regulations; following food preparation, safety, and security plans.
• Maintains food ingredients, food preparation, and general supplies by evaluating the quality of ingredients; maintaining general supplies; storage requirements, and cost-controls.
• Maintains food preparation equipment by helping other staff in equipment use; following operating instructions; calling for repairs
• Contributes to kitchen and organization success by welcoming related, different, and new requests; helping others accomplish job results.

Qualifications

• One year or more of food manufacturing or industrial production facility (candy, snack, bakery, dairy, or similar).
• One year or more of experience in confectionery production or sugar cooking processes.
• Spoken and written English language proficiency
• Clean criminal history, valid SSN, valid ID.
• Maintain a work environment free of drugs and alcohol.
• Demonstrate responsibility and longevity in previous employment: punctuality, reliability and dependability.

Skills

• Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
• Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
• Managing one's own time and the time of others.
• Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
• Teaching others how to do something.
• Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

Why You’ll Love Working Here

• The chance to lead not one, but two iconic brands — with very different but equally lovable personalities.
• A small, scrappy team that punches above its weight.
• A culture rooted in thoughtfulness, creativity, and joy.