Posted by Sheryl Kirby in candy, indie food artisan on June 3, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Some of the best food businesses start up small, in a home kitchen and at the urging of friends. Confectionery is the most obvious of these “cook as you go” business plans. All it takes is for one person to share some treats made by a friend or family member and a new business idea is born.
Such was the case for Fionna Hanna of Alice's Pastryland, who created a chocolate-covered toffee studded with pretzels; a combination of salty crunch, smooth dark melting goodness and the lingering sweetness of English-style toffee. Hanna originally made a batch at home and shared it with friends. Encouraged, she donated some to a craft show last fall and continued to tweak her product until she was satisfied, taking chocolate-making classes at George Brown to perfect her technique and working on a certificate in Bakery Arts.
When asked how she came up with the combination, Hanna admits, “The toffee is a combination of some of my worst vices; chocolate covered pretzels and toffee. I thought, ‘they are good separate but maybe even better together?’ When I couldn’t stop eating it, I thought, ‘this stuff is pretty good.’”
And she's not just tooting her own horn. The toffee is light and full of buttery flavour, with just enough sweetness and salt to keep salt-cravers, chocoholics and sweet tooths equally happy.
Working part-time at her toffee-making, Hanna sells her product via an Etsy website, although most of her sales are through word of mouth. While the goods are not yet available on a retail level in Toronto, she is more than happy to deliver orders throughout the city, and the Etsy service allows her to accept both credit cards and PayPal.
The toffee is made by hand in either 3 or 6 pound batches. As the chocolate is hand-tempered, small batches can be time consuming and anything bigger is tough to stir as the toffee thickens.
Hanna is looking to expand the line with both toffee chips (great for garnish on ice cream or added to home baking projects like cookies, cakes or truffles) and a milk chocolate version of the current dark chocolate toffee.
The next step? To get her toffee into retail shops and to increase sales online. Hanna has created a blog to help promote her product and of course, anyone craving her delicious toffee can visit her Etsy website and order a bag for themselves.
The Dark Chocolate Pretzel Toffee is $10 (US) for a half-pound bag. Price includes shipping, although Hanna will deliver any order in the Toronto area on request.
Do you or someone you know run a small independent food business? Want to be featured on Taste T.O.? Drop us a line - our Indie Food Artisan column runs bi-weekly on Sundays.
