“History of Hafız Mustafa” for Hafız Mustafa Confectionaries from 1864 to the present

Candy maker Hafız Mustafa was founded by Hadji İsmail Hakkı Bey during the reign of Sultan Abdulaziz Khan in Bahçekapı, Istanbul in 1864, and then it was taken over by his son, Hafız Mustafa.

Hadji İsmail Hakkı Bey, one of the first producers of sugar-candy, first started making sugar candies with dibek stone at the basement floor of the shop. Hafız Mustafa was occupied with candy-making and confectionary during the period in which his father operated the shop and he was a volunteering muezzin in the Arpacılar Mosque at the same time.

It is well known that Hafız Mustafa is the first to have found and manufactured the salty pastry called pogaca. Hafız Mustafa won 11 medals in Europe in the areas of bakery and confectionery between the years 1926 and 1938. While increasing brand reliability at the national level, it also promoted Turkish products to the world and proved high brand recognition.

Cemil Bey, son of Hafız Mustafa, also continued with the same tradition and maintained the perception of reliable brand with the brand “Çikolat Cemil”. Sherbets, confectionaries and Turkish delights have a special place in the Ottoman cuisine.

The most famous confectionary in the palace is the Turkish delight (“lokum” in Turkish), known as “rahat-ı halkum” in the Ottoman dictionary, and meaning “that which relieves the throat” in Turkish. Sugar candy has a special meaning that symbolizes the dedication of janissaries to the palace in the Ottoman Empire.

As Hafız Mustafa Confectionaries, we make you experience the traces and deliciousness of history thanks to our 153-year history without losing our dedication to our traditional culture and values.
Our 153-year business has reached our day after many handovers, but our historic fabric has never changed. In our stores, we always place importance to keeping our historical structure alive through our walls decorated with tiles, wood-coated columns, as well as paintings and embellishments on the walls.

We have witnessed many historical and social changes in our history of 153 years. From 1864 to the present; we have experience and cultural heritage of over a century having witnessed the first tramways with horses, founding of the first city mail service, opening of Darü’l- Fünun-ı Osmani (the first university of the Ottoman Empire), many international conventions, proclamation of the 1 st and 2 nd Constitutionalist Periods, reigns of Sultan Abdülhamit II, Sultan Mehmet Reşat and Sultan Mehmet Vahdettin, occupation of Istanbul, Proclamation of the Republic and so on.

Our business was taken over by Hacı Avni Ongurlar and remained loyal to the ahi-order, a tradition coming from Hadji İsmail Hakkı Bey. He has brought our business to its present situation with his sons and showed that they will keep it alive for long years to come.

As Hafız Mustafa Confectionaries, we offer a wide range of products to our customers. We have a wide range of products, ranging from confectionaries to Turkish delights, from baklava to kadayif; and from pastries to milk puddings and cakes.

Raw materials we use in our products are 1 st grade and are produced with the hand labor of masters, experts in their fields. We use sugar cane instead of glucose, natural madders and natural fruit essences instead of colorants in our products. Zam-zam water is used in all of our products. We offer products for today’s tastes apart from our traditional products.

We protect our historical and cultural heritage and take care to offer services at the best quality to our customers and we place special importance to our customer’s satisfaction.

We will continue our activities at the national and international level maintaining the perception of reliable brand.