Cotton candy is a staple treat at carnivals, circuses, amusement parks, picnics, parades and sporting events. The cotton candy has traditionally been made by spinning sugar from a distribution head which contained molten sugar. The high speed centrifugal stringing of the sugar resulted in a fluffy mass of "cotton" candy against the walls of the pan which surrounded the head. The cotton candy was collected by precoating with sugar and then twirling within the mass of sugar a paper holder of conical shape commonly. Vendors typically served one customer at a time, and with a flourish in keeping with the festive nature of this candy.
Eventually, the number of persons to be served, and the availability of adequately protective packaging resulted in mass manufacture of cotton candy in central locations and the distribution thereof to various locales and events.
The methods of manufacture, however, did not change with the location of manufacture, except possibly to eliminate the personal fluorishing touches. In factories having multiple cotton candy making machines, workers stand at their machines by the hour and individually craft each cone of cotton candy. In addition to the high labor cost inherent in this procedure, it is difficult to set and maintain portion control, and thus cost control, since each operator is different and over the course of a shift, the operator can vary in how much or how little candy is wrapped on each holder. Additionally, the shape can vary. Thus the disadvantages of one-to one production of cotton candy remain, and the psychological benefits to the customer are lost as well.