Eat the “art” right off the walls at this exhibition.
A Museum of Candy featuring edible candy murals, the world’s largest gummy bear and make-your-own-dessert stations is anticipated to open in the Flatiron district this summer.
From the team behind Sugar Factory, a chain of combination restaurant-and-sweet-shops known for their goblet-sized cocktails and highly Instagrammable treats, the 30,000-square-foot space at 656 Sixth Ave. will feature more than 15 interactive, candy-themed rooms, a dessert marketplace, a sit-down eatery and a café.
Visitors strolling through Willy Wonka’s factory come to life will find exhibits tracing the history of the candy industry from 1900 onward, installations like edible candy murals and a candy-adorned unicorn, and live musical performances, according to a press release. (But no oompa loompas, as far as we can tell.)
The attached 5,000-square-foot marketplace will host more than 20 vendors and confectioners offering dessert demonstrations and a broad selection of international candy sold by the pound. For those industrious folks looking to make their own sweets at home, the market will also sell bakeware, pastry-making and decorating tools and candy molds.
If you don’t ruin your appetite sampling all the goodies on display at the museum and in the bazaar, you’ll have two dining options: a grab-and-go counter at a 75-seat café offering coffee drinks and confections like Pop-Tarts, doughnuts and milkshakes; and a 150-seat restaurant — Sugar Factory’s third full-service spot in Manhattan — dishing out all the items on the typical Sugar Factory menu, like “Monster Burgers” and the signature 24-scoop King Kong Sundae.
Sugar Factory founder Charissa Davidovici says the idea for a candy museum came “from the imagination of my inquisitive children and my own personal dreams about a magical candy land.” She isn’t the first to bring those kinds of sugar-plum fairy fantasies to life in New York, home to a Museum of Ice Cream in the Meatpacking District in 2016 and a chocolate museum organized by the chocolatier Jacques Torres since last year.
The New York City location of the Museum of Candy will be the first of three, according to the release. An opening date and (golden?) ticket prices for this “world of pure imagination” have yet to be released.
