10/01/2026
Yesterday Was a Pretty Big Day.
In 2019, when Carson and I decided to start a little caramel company using a recipe that had been passed down from my great-grandmother, I really had no idea where it would go.
Carson was still in high school, just a few years away from college. I was 50 years old, had a full-time career, and wasn’t looking to raise a bunch of money from investors and suddenly become the next big candy company.
I just wanted to build something.
Slowly. Carefully. And on our own.
What I didn’t realize was how much of it I would eventually learn to do completely on my own, from the ground up.
A few years ago, I walked into Heinen’s headquarters carrying our caramels in our old packaging and sat down with Kim Heinen and one of her colleagues.
I told them our story.
There was something about it that resonated with Kim because Heinen’s itself began as a family business. And while we talked, I couldn’t help noticing that the two of them kept eating the caramels.
And eating them.
I swear they probably ate 12 apiece. 😂
That seemed like a pretty good sign.
But I wasn’t ready.
I didn’t yet have the manufacturing capability to support a grocery chain. I needed a co-manufacturer. I needed better packaging. And there was an entire consumer-products industry I knew absolutely nothing about.
So I started learning.
Manufacturing. Packaging. Logistics. Insurance. Invoicing. GS1 codes. Protecting a family recipe. Working with designers. Case packs. Distributors. Freight. Margins. Shelf life. Food regulations. Inventory.
And approximately 900 other things I didn’t even know existed when we started making caramels.
There were plenty of times I could have tried to move faster.
I didn’t want to.
I’ve watched businesses raise a pile of money, manufacture a mountain of product, get themselves onto as many shelves as possible—and disappear a year or two later.
I wanted to understand how to actually run this business.
And someday, if Carson wants it, I want to be able to teach him how to run it too.
So we kept building.
One step at a time.
And Heinen’s waited for us.
When we were finally ready this year, I thought perhaps our caramels would make it into three or five stores.
Instead, Heinen’s brought Carson’s Caramels into all of their stores—not just in Ohio, but in the Chicago area as well.
And yesterday, September 30, 2026, I stood inside the Heinen’s in Brecksville for my very first live sampling.
There I was in my Carson’s Caramels T-shirt, standing behind a little counter covered with bags of Sea Salt, Coffee and Orange caramels, handing out samples to strangers.
And I had one of those moments where you look around and think:
How did I get here?
Seven years ago this was a family recipe and an idea.
Yesterday I was standing inside a grocery store talking to customers about a product with my son’s name on the bag.
And then I met a boy who was probably in seventh grade.
He stopped at my table and told me about his small business. He’s doing 3-D printing and building it himself. We talked about what he was creating, and I tried to give him a little encouragement to keep going.
But the funny thing is, he gave some right back to me.
That’s the part of this journey I didn’t anticipate.
The people you meet along the way.
Of course I want the business to make money. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t. One of my dreams is eventually to leave my corporate job, stop working for someone else’s company and spend my days building something of my own.
But there’s something even bigger underneath that.
I want to wake up and sit down at my desk because I want to be there.
Because I’m building something I love.
Because it’s fun.
Because it brings me joy.
And because maybe something I build today becomes something my son carries forward tomorrow.
One thing I’ve learned—and something Gary Vaynerchuk has said for years—is that it’s never too late.
I started this at 50.
Yesterday I stood in a grocery store at 56 handing out samples of a product that started in our kitchen.
I have absolutely no idea how big Carson’s Caramels will become.
But I know I’m not finished building it.
And maybe someday, when somebody hears the word caramels, they’ll think of Carson’s.
For now, though?
I’m just incredibly grateful that yesterday happened.
One bag. One store. One customer. One step at a time.
