Joseph Dutra was born in 1952, the grandson of Portuguese immigrant farmers who settled in the Sacramento, California area in the late 1800's. He was raised on the family farm and as a young man moved on to become an honors graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, earning a Bachelor's Degree in Plant and Soil Science.

In 1975, after earning his degree, Dutra returned to the Sacramento area and began farming with his brother. This continued until 1983, whereas Dutra took on the role of Senior Agronomist for The HADCO Project in Hail, Saudi Arabia. At that time, The HADCO Project was one of the largest wheat farming operations in the world outside of the United States.

Despite his success as an international agri-businessman, Dutra found his personal life heading the opposite direction. With the stresses of international business taking toll on his marriage, he ultimately found himself divorced with two young children in his primary care. At his lowest moment, Dutra was without both a car and money or a job. Yet that's when his entrepreneurial spirit came alive-he decided to take some risks and turned it all around, both professionally and personally-creating his own American Success Story.

In 1987, Dutra helped launched Westec Inc, an agricultural consulting business educating South American farmers on successfully growing tomato crops (primarily in Brazil ). Westec expanded its operations in 1992 to include a Brazilian seed business and several years later further expanded by selling seed in both Russia and Moldavia. In1998 Westec also began selling hybrid corn seed in Saudi Arabia. Dutra, who had begun his international agri-business career in Saudi Arabia, had now come full circle. (Today, Dutra continues to operate Westec, Inc. a major supplier of forage and hybrid corn seed into Saudi Arabia . In 2009, the Company opened its first seed business agency in Cairo, Egypt.)

In 2000, guided by his entrepreneurial spirit, Dutra established Kimmie Candy Company, a candy business based in his hometown of Sacramento. By 2003, Kimmie Candy was on its way, with its Choco Rocks winning the prestigious "Product of the Year" award at the annual Candy Grammies held in Long Beach.

With the goal of creating more American jobs, in 2004 Dutra relocated himself and the previously-offshore Korean manufacturing operation of Kimmie Candy to Reno, Nevada. By 2007, he had purchased an industrial building and converted it to what is now Kimmie Candy's state-of-the art candy production facility. By 2008, Kimmie Candy Company of Reno was in full operation. By 2009, the Company had experienced global expansion with not only coast-to-coast sales in the United States but also Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, and the Middle East.

Today, Kimmie Candy proudly states, "Made in America" on every package. Since opening the Reno factory in 2007, the Company has grown from seven to 25 employees. Even during 2010's challenging economic times, Kimmie Candy still grew by 40 percent; Dutra remains determined to continue creating jobs and opportunity in the USA so that like him, others can also know The American Dream.

Dutra has been happily married to wife Marina for 15 years and has two grown children, John and Kathryn, both whom work alongside him as they look forward to becoming The Next Generation of Kimmie Candy.

Kimmie Candy Vision & Ethos: To create unique, delicious, high-quality products for demanding, loyal customers. We believe you can taste the hard work, the care and commitment to the highest standards. We are a living testament to the fact that anyone with a vision, persistence and a bit of luck can live the American dream.