Candy Company Yet Another Way to Give Back for ASOD Alumna

Jenny Citineni, DDS, ‘10, has her hands full. She’s a full-time pediatric dentist at her dental practice, Smile First Dental, owner of two businesses, a wife and mom to two girls. But even with a lot on her plate, Citineni wouldn’t have it any other way, since she’s following her passions and doing work she believes in.

Citineni, a UNC Adams School of Dentistry alumna and double Tarheel, got her first taste of service when she was an undergrad at Carolina. Her parents were pushing her toward medicine as a career, but while pursuing a pre-med curriculum, she was inspired to start a nonprofit to help address hunger and nutrition through student entrepreneurship, which was later incorporated as Nourish International. Her work with the nonprofit led her to pursue an Americorps Public Allies placement at TROSA, a residential program for people with substance abuse disorders, and it was there she met Grant Service, DDS, a pediatric dentist in Durham, North Carolina.

Jenny Citineni, DDS, ‘10

“He gave me my introduction to dentistry,” Citineni said. “I shadowed him at his office to see if we could form a dental clinic for TROSA, and I saw the ins and outs of dentistry from a clinic owner and doctor. I fell in love with it.”

She applied and was accepted to dental schools across the country, but Citineni had done her undergrad at UNC, her family was in the area and she felt like Carolina was the best fit for her. During dental school, she fell in love with children’s dentistry and landed a job as the health department’s children’s dental clinic director in Lexington, North Carolina, after she graduated. In this position, she first got the idea for a new business, Tom & Jenny’s Candy.

“When I was in Lexington, I would see patients coming back with more and more tooth decay,” she said. “They would come with ‘Mountain Dew’ or ‘sweet tea mouths.’ The decay was so bad that I could guess the child’s drink of choice.”

Citineni knew that cutting down on sugar would help her patients, but she also saw the benefits for her family and other families who enjoyed sweet treats, yet needed a better option for health reasons.

“My husband [Tom Thekkekandam] and I love sweets, and we’d never tried any of the sugar-free treats out there. They were so artificial tasting and we said to each other ‘Let’s try to make something better. In dental school, I had heard about [natural sugar alternative] xylitol,” she said, “and that was my starting point for creating my own sweets.”

That was easier said than done, and the couple — with no culinary background — started experimenting in their kitchen, making different candies with various alternative sweetener blends.

“We didn’t have much success at first,” she said. “Our candies didn’t look or taste right at first.”

The couple started researching techniques, talking with food scientists and even a chemist in their family, and eventually came up with a caramel recipe that tasted great without the sugar.

“Tom emailed a large number of pastry experts in New York, where we lived at the time,” Citineni said. “Michael Laiskonis, a James Beard awarded pastry chef really liked the idea, and the two connected. Together, Tom and Chef Laiskonis worked to perfect that recipe even more. That’s how the classic caramel and chocolate caramel flavors were born.”

Jenny Citineni, DDS, ‘10, and husband Tom Thekkekandam worked hard to create a sugar-free caramel that buyers would crave.

The business has grown and evolved since the early days in their home kitchen, and with the popularity of low-carb and keto diets, the demand for their candies has increased. Today, Tom & Jenny’s are in the top three best selling caramels on Amazon and they also sell on their own site, tomandjennys.com.

“We had this thought that people think sugar-free doesn’t taste good, but what if we can make something good enough that they crave it? If we can get it to that level, you’re changing the way people think about the [sugar-free] industry and the way they snack,” she said.

Her passion for her dental practice and her business stay intertwined, and Citineni said she and Tom are always looking for new products to add to the candy line, including chocolates and hard candies.

“I have so many passions that drive me,” she said. “I love my staff, and I want to provide an amazing home for my work family. I love my patients. I get to enjoy all the clever and funny things they say and do daily! Children are my greatest joy. I’m passionate about what I do, and have a longing for what’s next to create in this world.