KP! Toffee (Karen’s Premium Gourmet English Toffee) is a small-batch confectionery in Sturtevant. Karen Peltier started the company using a family recipe to make English toffee as gifts for friends and relatives. While toffee begins with a base of two very common ingredients—butter and sugar—the art of candy making and perfecting the recipes can take years to master, and Peltier has managed to succeed.
Peltier built up the toffee business, eventually distributing her toffee and snacks through retail locations such as Outpost Natural Foods, Piggly Wiggly, Apple Holler, Layton Fruit Market and many others. Peltier later sold the company she started in 2007 to Illinois businessman Mike Clark, and they closed the deal this past March. As owner of a construction company, Clark was looking for another business venture and happened to see the listing for KP! Toffee on a business broker site. He hadn’t previously considered owning a candy company, but he thought it seemed like an interesting opportunity.
Peltier has stayed on to manage all sales accounts, quality control, product development and other business matters. “She had done such a great job of building the brand and the foundation of the business. She had the kitchen set up and procedures in place, and that’s what attracted me to a business that I never would have thought of buying,” Clark said.
KP’s rich, buttery toffee is not overly sweet, and it is available topped in either milk or dark chocolate with almonds and pecans. For those who enjoy toffee but avoid it because of its reputation on teeth, KP’s texture has a slight crunch but is not too hard. One can bite into a piece and feel it crumble easily and melt in the mouth. Toothpicks are not necessary, as this toffee will not stick to teeth and gums.
Clark said they developed a new key lime toffee this past spring, in which the toffee is coated with a key lime-flavored topping. “It’s like a key lime pie,” Clark said, and it’s become the second best seller, behind the milk chocolate variety. Fall in Wisconsin wouldn’t be complete without pumpkin-flavored treats, so Clark said KP! introduced a pumpkin-spiced chocolate-coated toffee that has also become very popular. The upcoming winter holidays will bring Peppermint Burst—toffee coated with white peppermint chocolate and candy cane sprinkles.
Other KP! products include Twist, a snack mixture consisting of thick pretzel chunks coated with toffee and chocolate, and Krunch, which is toffee-coated popcorn with salt and other seasonings. While not a main component of the business, KP! also offers custom orders and wedding favors.
Clark said KP! has just hired its 12th employee to help the company grow into expanding new markets such as Whole Foods Market in Milwaukee, Meijer and Bloomingdale’s in Chicago.
For more information, visit kptoffee.com.
