After 141 years in business, iconic Texas candy maker Lammes Candies is closing its doors, marking the end of a longtime source of pralines, Longhorns, and holiday traditions for generations of Texans.
Owners of the Austin-based business cited “changing market conditions and the long-term sustainability of our operations” as the reason behind the decision, according to a letter posted at the Round Rock store, which closed April 24.
The company is famous for its Texas Chewie Pecan Pralines, introduced in 1892 using pecans gathered from trees along the Colorado River, along with its famous Longhorns — caramel, pecan, and chocolate candies similar to turtles.
Although the brand is most closely associated with Austin, where it maintained its production facilities and retail stores, the pralines and other candies are widely available at spots like Spec's, Walmart, and Central Market throughout Dallas-Fort Worth.
The Lammes shutter comes on the heels of another surprising candy closure: Dallas-based Kate Weiser Chocolate, which announced its departure and closed all stores, including those in Fort Worth and Grapevine, earlier this month.
Lammes traces its roots to 1878, when William Wirt Lamme arrived in Austin from St. Louis and opened the Red Front Candy Factory at 721 Congress Ave. That founding date had to be revised because Lamme lost that original business in a poker game. Either date, Lammes is still Austin's longest operating family-owned business.
“He lost the business in a poker game in the spring of 1885, so his son came down from Ohio, paid the gambling debt, regained the business, and it has been family-owned and operated since 1885 right here in Austin, Texas,” co-owner Bryan Teich said in a company video posted on YouTube in 2015.
The iconic lamb sign outside Lammes Candies’ Airport Boulevard flagship has become one of Austin’s most recognizable vintage storefront markers.Lammes Candies/Instagram
The business was later renamed Lammes Candies and moved to 919 Congress Ave., eventually expanding to locations all over Austin and the suburbs.
Lammes has said it introduced the first soda fountain in the Southwest and Austin’s first neon sign with its lamb logo, according to the company video.
Deep employee loyalty became part of the company’s identity. In the same company video, owners said much of the management staff had worked there for 20 to 35 years and noted one employee had been with the company for 76 years.
That employee was Mildred Hamilton Walston, an Austin native who began working at Lammes in 1941 and stayed for more than 75 years. In her 2019 obituary, her family said she considered Lammes “a second family.”
