Chocolate 2008

Outstanding Chocolate 2008: Brandini Toffee Brandini Toffee®

When La Quinta, Calif., schoolmates Leah Post and Brandon “Brandini” Weimer approached their parents for money for a class trip to Italy two years ago, they were handed a business lesson instead.

“We felt they should pay for half the trip themselves,” says Brad Weimer, Brandon’s father. Too young to get full-time jobs, the two freshmen decided to start their own venture—a toffee business created from a recipe from a Weimer family friend. “In six weeks we had the full trip paid for, plus spending money,” says Post, whose dad helped them set up a website where orders from family and friends came flooding in. Brandini Toffee® is now helping Post and Weimer save for college.

“We weren’t sure who was going to buy the toffee after we exhausted all of our friends and family,” says Brad Weimer. But, the young entrepreneurs continued to sell their product at local street fairs, producing it in a temporary space in the kitchen of a hotel that the elder Weimer manages. Then, Martha Stewart’s recipe director found them and put them on her television show. Soon, the two moved to their own 3,000-square-foot kitchen.

Made of butter, sugar, Guittard dark chocolate and roasted almonds, Brandini Toffee is smooth, not sticky. Best merchandised in a refrigerated chocolate section, Brandini Toffee is ideal for a hostess gift and has a shelf-life of three weeks refrigerated, six months frozen. The toffee comes in ¼-, 1- and 2-pound packages. The company also makes Brandini snacking bites and Brandini toppers, great for ice cream and baking. Suggested retail, $18/1-pound box; brandinitoffee.com.—Nicole Potenza Denis

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