Love Chick-O-Sticks? Thank This Candy Cook.

Working Life is a monthly column in which Texans talk about their jobs. Alfredo Sarmiento, who is fifty, works at Atkinson Candy Company, in Lufkin.I’m from the state of Zacatecas, in Mexico, but I moved to Lufkin with my sister as a teenager about 37 years ago. I never imagined myself working with candy, but a few years after I got to Texas, there was a job available at Atkinson Candy Company. I started in 1992 as a confectioner, and I’ve been working here ever since. I’ve loved every second of it.When I first started, the company was run by Joseph “Hody” Atkinson and Dr. Basil Atkinson—they were second-generation Atkinson owners—but now it’s Eric Atkinson, Basil’s son, who runs the business. The family has been making candy…

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