`MALLOW FELLOW PHOOEY ON FILMS; HE'S GOT A LIFE FILLED WITH SWEETS NOW.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

VAN NUYS - The day the Marshmallow King got himself canned was a good one indeed.

A couple of years ago, Peter Croyle toiled as a set maker in the movie business, working construction by day and making marshmallows for fun on the side. The hard hands he used to craft cabinets turned soft at night, whipping up airy batches of sugar for his friends and throwing in exotic flavors to tinge the treats with espresso and lemon.

What began as a hobby has since become a nearly full-time job pitting him against names like Kraft, See's and Godiva.

Walking across the set, he'd get 15 orders for the gooey snacks at a time. His home kitchen turned out 100 dozen a week, turning out trays of the sticky white desserts that taste like biting into a cloud.

``Hey, Marshmallow King! What ya got?'' he'd hear, heading from project to project. ``Mr. Marshmallow! Make some to send to my parents!''

And while this was ever so fun for Croyle, who started baking as a 6- year-old and spent his weekends making candy with his grandmother, his supervisor was less enthused. After attracting a crowd of customers on the set of ``Legally Blonde 2,'' the budding businessman got called aside.

``My boss saw how much time I was spending with the marshmallows and, uhh, well, I got fired,'' Croyle grinned sheepishly. ``I'm probably the only person in the world who lost a job over confection.''

Though he'd just been pink-slipped from the profession that he'd worked in for 20 years, Croyle decided to throw himself into his hobby. Grabbing construction jobs here and there, he rented some space from a caterer, set up a Web site and started cooking, hoping that his friends' enthusiasm would somehow turn into enterprise.

Eighty thousand bucks of investment later, the Marshmallow King had himself a company.

``I'd been telling him for years that he should do this,'' his wife Jennifer said. ``He said, no, if it became a job, it would ruin it for me. But when this happened, it was just destiny.''

Now she's using her skills honed as a corporate accountant to manage Pete's Gourmet Confections. The little business grew until Croyle had to take over a factory last year in Van Nuys. He got himself some employees, bought some real equipment, set up a Web site to sell the 'mallows across the country. Jennifer did the labels, while he learned to delegate the baking to a staff.

Business got so good, he expanded to sell s'mores kits and gourmet hot cocoa powder. The company recently landed the creations in Bristol Farms, bringing itself a steady presence in the 11-store gourmet chain. For a product that consists mainly of sugar and air, the treats can command a hefty premium, selling for between $12 and $50.

This year, he aims to be able to put aside the construction jobs he's worked on the side for the last few years and devote himself full time to the sweets' success.

``They're very good, definitely different from that Jet Puffed stuff you get at the grocery store,'' said Patti Posner, who owns the gourmet shop Chocolat in Northern California. ``There aren't that many people out there making gourmet marshmallows. He's got a good niche and he makes a nice product, so people keep coming back.''

On a busy day in the high season near Christmas, Croyle's got 25 people working his assembly line, cranking out 6,000 marshmallows per day. Though that sometimes translates into 22 hour workdays for the proprietor, he's enthusiastic about earning the crown of his marshmallow kingdom.

``In the movies, you build something, it shows for 30 seconds on camera, then they throw away what you spent months working on,'' he said. ``Here, people eat my marshmallows pretty quick, but when I'm building the company, it's something that lasts.''

Brent Hopkins, [phone]

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Peter Croyle shows off some of his marshmallow candy at Pete's Gourmet Confections, opened after he lost his job in construction.

(2 -- 3 -- color) Boxes of Pete's Gourmet candy, far left, await shipment. Sandra Garcia and her aunt, Alba Garcia, above, work on heart candy. At left, cans of the new hot cocoa mix line a shelf as the marshmallow maker seeks diversity.

(4 -- color) no caption (Candy)

John McCoy/Staff Photographer