L.A. Agent Kevin Krakower Is a Candy Connoisseur
by David Hay
October 2025
“Certified non-annoying.”
That’s how Kevin Krakower characterized his good-humored approach to client service when we spoke last month. But after experiencing his engaging, breezy personal style—which comes through when he calls you “brother,” like an old friend—I think he’s being too modest. As Douglas Elliman’s top rental real estate agent in Los Angeles, Krakower clearly has real charm, not simply the good sense to avoid being annoying.
“I’m 100% committed to my clients, but my business has to reflect the person that I am,” he says. “I try to make the process as enjoyable and easy as I can.”
I suspect that comes naturally for Krakower, given his pre-real estate career in entertainment. Under the handle Kevi Kev, he fronted the pop hip-hop band 1000 Clowns—their irresistibly good-natured and self-deprecating song “(Not the) Greatest Rapper” was featured in the classic Nickelodeon movie Good Burger—and penned the book Don’t Talk to Strangers as part of Scholastic’s HipKidHop series.
So, it was no surprise to learn about one of his lesser-known pursuits: that of candy connoisseur.
Krakower has always been crazy about candy—not only devouring it, but also exploring the history and lore of confections from around the world. Three years ago, he and his wife, Jenna, channeled this shared passion into Candy Club, a periodic series of dinner parties where friends and fellow aficionados gather to sample and score select candies.
Inspired by an idea the two first came up with during Covid, “Club nights” take place at members’ homes and begin with a well-prepared meal as prelude to the discussion, tasting, and rating of the selected confections. A typical agenda is one drawn up for last year’s pre-Christmas dinner, which a featured thematically appropriate array including Kit Kat Santas, M&M’s Holiday Mint, Reese’s Trees, and Junior Mints Peppermint Crunch.
The host or a designated guest is responsible for researching each particular candy’s history. YouTube videos about the various entrants are often shown. All of this leads up to the distribution and digestion of the starring sweets. Everyone then weighs in on each candy’s merits or demerits, as the case may be, fueling a discussion that is often furious, freewheeling, and always fun.
“There’s no holding back, but one guarantee is that laughter is the core ingredient,” Krakower tells me and hastens to add, “we’re not only looking for a favorite but also a candy that everyone ends up hating!”
I don’t doubt it for a second—when he recounts the Christmas-themed night, he can hardly keep from cracking up.
On that night, it was the Reese’s Trees that no one liked. In Krakower’s words: “The chocolate layer was thin and not as delicious as a standard Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup; the peanut butter inside was more gooey and not up to par with the original; and overall, it did not perform and tasted cheap.”
The big winner: the Santa Claus Kit Kat.
“Given that it was a different shape than the standard Kit Kat, the group overall was impressed that the taste, flavor, and crunch was not adversely effected,” Krakower recalls.
Honorable mentions went to the M&M’s Holiday Mint (“it did not have a fake flavor, and we were all surprised that they pulled it off”) and the Junior Mint Peppermint Crunch, which garnered this praise: “The Junior Mint people really came through with this holiday treat. It had the classic Junior Mint taste with an added mini crunch.”
Although the Candy Club held a “Halloween Extravaganza” last year, this year’s recent October meeting took an “Around the World” trip through candies from the U.S., UK, Germany, Romania, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.
“Each person picked a chocolate product of their choice from a country of their choice, and each of the chocolates competed against each other for a winner,” Krakower says before running down the winners and losers.
First Place: Original Kit Kat from Japan. “They were amazing, and the quality of chocolate was much better than the USA.”
Second Place: Peanut Slab from New Zealand. “Terrible name, but it tasted like a Mr. Goodbar times 10. Chocolate quality was incredible, and full-size peanuts throughout.”
The big loser was the Australian Nestle’s Crunch (“just terrible—the rice crispy pieces were soft and not crunchy”) and Pineapple Lumps from New Zealand (“just awful....”).
“It’s important for us all to let go,” he adds. “And here, no one cares whether there’s a difference of opinion regarding one candy bar versus another. It’s perhaps one of the few subjects left now where a difference of opinion doesn’t matter!”
David Hay is a well-known architectural writer and playwright. His stories have been featured in The New York Times, Dwell and New York.
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