Turtles brand candy were developed by Johnson’s Candy Company (which became DeMet’s Candy Company in 1923) in 1918, after a salesman came into the commissary’s dipping room and showed a candy to one of the dippers, who pointed out that the candy looked like a turtle.n 1923, the stores dropped the Johnson name and assumed the name DeMet's, passing along the trademark. Nestle owned the brand in the USA for a time, but sold it to Brynwood Partners ' DeMet's Candy Company in 2007. In 2013, Brynwood sold the company to Yıldız Holding.