Hotlix Candy Store

Specialties

Hotlix specializes in lollipops & treats on the wild side! We’re world famous for adding insects to our handmade candy, such as scorpions, worms, crickets & ants. We also make insect snacks! Have you ever eaten a bug?

Our store sells many national & international brand name candies including old fashioned candy. We carry salt-​water taffy, Jordan almonds, malt balls, candy corn, cinnamon bears & many of the candies that you may have enjoyed as a child; Pop Rocks, wax lips, candy cigarettes.

We offer handmade chocolates, cotton candy, candy & caramel apples, caramel corn, chocolate-​dipped pretzels & jalapenos, locally grown chocolate-​dipped strawberries in season & chocolate-​dipped insects year round.

We make many specialty coffees & drinks. We sell Hotlix hats, sweatshirts, t-​shirts, tank tops, beanies, tote bags, mini-​totes, shot glasses, beer & coffee mugs, wine glasses & magnets. If you need a gift or souvenir, please think Hotlix.

History

Established in 1980.

Hotlix has owned the store for the past 30+ years. The store was built in 1950 & has been a candy store since then.

The Hotlix brand originated with our hot cinnamon sucker in the mid 1980’s as a Cal Poly-​San Luis Obispo Senior Project. We’ve expanded our line to include edible insect candy & snacks including scorpions, worms, crickets & ants.

Hotlix have been featured on the Food Channel, Animal Planet, History Channel’s Modern Marvels, National Geographic, Dateline, Jeopardy, To Tell the Truth, Let’s Make a Deal, The Arsenio Hall Show, Conan O’Brien, & in many magazines like Time, Playboy, Seventeen, Newsweek & in newspapers like San Francisco Chronicle, L.A. Life, Orlando Sun Times, Chicago Sun Times, The Palm Beach Post, books like Man Eating Bugs & highlighted on many radio programs. Hotlix have been featured in the catalogs of companies, such as FORBES & Kennedy’s in England & have been available at Universal Studios & the Smithsonian for years.

Thank you, Fans!

Meet the Business Owner

Larry P.

Business Owner

Larry came to San Luis Obispo county in 1964, served in the U.S. Navy on a submarine & worked in Monsanto’s research department before starting his own business. He had a successful history in the wholesale gift industry, in food service & in retail sales for over 50 years. He’s owned several restaurants & has been the owner of Hotlix from its inception.

He often gets the question, «Why eat bugs?» He replies, «Why Not?!» He found inspiration for putting insects in lollipops from the tequila with a worm while brainstorming ideas for new flavors of candy. He is also into insect eating, otherwise known as, ‘entomophagy’.

He is the company spokesperson to the media & has been featured on the Food Channel’s Unwrapped, National Geographic’s Taboo & been a guest on To Tell The Truth.

If Larry is not speaking on a radio show, he can be found experimenting with insects – from farming & harvesting to cooking & tasting various species.