Most are gone now, having been swallowed up or crowded off grocery shelves by national brands. The chances were good that much of the snack commodities folks consumed - beer, bread, cookies, candy, potato chips - were locally owned and manufactured nearby, even if the ingredients came from far-flung sources. That familiarity allowed locally based enterprises to compete with national brands without the advertising and promotional muscle. In the 1950s, Golden Nugget introduced two new bars that became favorites of kids and adults: Big Hunk and Look. Homegrown businesses could start out of a kitchen, garage or other space and grow to have a loyal customer base. Regional brands used to be a thing, mass-food wise in most regions of the United States. Robinson also served as president of the Redwood Empire Association, a business and promotional organization for the counties north of San Francisco. The two new brands were a success and Robinson was featured in “Profile of a candy man,” an article in the trade magazine Candy Industry in 1953 and was given the Kettle Award as Candy Industry Man of the Year in 1956. Under his leadership, Golden Nugget in the 1950s introduced two new bars that became favorites of kids and adults: Big Hunk and Look. Robinson and Olsen also worked on patented devices in the 1930s and it was Robinson who guided the company to greater success in the 1940s and ’50s. Robinson, a native of Kentucky who came to San Francisco in 1906 at age 14, was active in regional and national candy manufacturer trade groups, serving as vice president of the National Candy Association and the Confectioner’s Traffic Bureau. Other partners were Reed Robinson and Albert Baker.īaker, a San Francisco native and graduate of Lowell High, had a stake in Golden Nugget for 40 years. The company prospered even in the depths of the Great Depression and Golden Nugget increased its 1935 contribution to the Community Chest charity drive in San Francisco by 161 percent over the previous year. The brothers received several patents in the 1920s and ‘30s for candy-making machinery and packaging methods.

Partners in the company included Olsen’s younger brother, James, a mechanic at the factory. A 1936 ad for Quick Fudge Mix by Golden Nugget Sweets. Olsen, who was born in Denmark in 1895 and came to the United States in 1904, was president of Golden Nugget and the company made candy bars, packaged fudge (trademarked in 1923) and its own brand of four-minute fudge mix. The trademark, depicting “Circular drawing of juvenile miner holding nugget in left hand” was created by noted Bay Area artist and illustrator George Blake Lyle (1892-1940).

Latter day news accounts say it was founded in 1921, but a trademark was issued to Golden Nugget founder Andrew Olsen Jr. Golden Nugget itself is remembered by San Francisco old-timers, but the history of the company is tricky to trace. Golden Nugget Sweets produced candy bars at its factory on Market Street at Duboce Avenue for more than half a century and two of its brands, Big Hunk and Look bars, are still made today by the candymaker that bought the company in 1972.

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