Quality Candy Company has a history spanning over a century, beginning in 1916 when Polish immigrants Joseph and Lottie Helminiak founded Quality Candy Shoppes in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as a candy and ice cream parlor. Facing sugar rationing during World War II, the family focused solely on confections. A later company, founded in 1986, is also named Quality Candy and is noted for producing Starlight Mints and for inventing the Spi-C-Mint by reusing the red and white scraps from the Starlight process, mixing them with cinnamon oil to create a new flavor hit.