Ben began making his toffee over 30 years ago, but only as a treat for himself, his family, and his friends. At the time, he was living in Roswell, NM, and working for the Diamond A Cattle Company.
At Christmas, his wife asked him to whip up a few batches to sell at a church charity bazaar and it was a roaring success.
After they moved to Houston, she asked him to make a few batches for charity bazaar to raise funds for the Blue Bird Clinic (
http://www.bcm.tmc.edu/neurol/struct/blueb/blueb1.html), a pediatric neurology clinic in Houston. The entire supply sold within 15 minutes and people were clamoring for more.
Ben runs his confections operation out of his house in Houston. He chose to make toffee, he says, simply because it was hard for the ladies (at churches were he showed his wares) to make it themselves.
"The way we make it, itīs spread out on boards, then the boards are pressed together and flipped so both sides can be coated with chocolate and pecans, and because of the size, it was hard for the ladies to pick it up and flip it."
Once word spread that Ben was responsible for the candy, requests began to pour in, and he decided to begin selling it. And the popularity of his candy has resulted in increased sales and production beyond his wildest dreams. Ben has been growing his business slowly and steadily, but some excellent and unexpected promotional opportunities, such as the Food Network profile, have driven many new sales.
Although agribusiness consulting is a far cry from the cottage industry of toffee, Ben has found it easy to translate his management experience from the ranch to the kitchen
"Before the TV program, I had 1100 clients in my database, 900 of which had ordered in 2001. They ordered an average of 11 pounds. As a result of the TV program, I now have 2000 clients in my database, and 1100—85%-- have ordered. In 1989, I made 200 pounds of toffee. This year, Iīll make 20,000 pounds."
