After years of running a small restaurant, the Fritz family has started a new adventure with toffee.

A new brand of toffee that just hit the market has been 40 years in the making.

“My mom has been making all sorts of candies for 40 years now, and ever since her and Dad opened up the restaurant, they started offering their treats on a display stand over by the cash register,” James Fritz said. “Scores of people have been raving about our toffee for many years and we finally decided that now is the time to launch it for the whole world to savor.”

The Fritz family is from Ames, Iowa, and has a long history of making candies of a wide variety. The Country House Family Restaurant, an establishment which they have owned and operated for the last three decades in nearby Colo, has always offered an assortment of homemade treats.

“My parents and family have been running a restaurant basically in the middle of nowhere for many years, so now we want to try something new,” Fritz said. “My parents deserve the break and we want the world to taste and embrace our new brand of toffee.”

Fritz Toffee, a brand that bears the family name, is a new company and is run and operated by Fritz, his wife Molly and his two brothers. Fritz’s parents make the toffee and the entire family works together daily to package boxes and ship orders. The family spends five days a week making and packaging the toffee.

“You read about a lot of candies online that say they are handmade in small batches; we actually hand-make every batch and hand-package every single batch,” Fritz said. “If we don’t like a batch, we throw it out. If one for humidity reasons isn’t good, we throw it out.”

All their toffee is made by hand in Colo at the family restaurant with the following ingredients: milk chocolate, sugar, butter, almonds and pecans. The toffee is gluten-free and is not made with any preservatives.

“Our toffee is very unique and distinct compared to other brands on the market,” Fritz said. “What sets us apart from the rest is that our toffee has the most amazing texture and the right mixture of incredible flavors, and it doesn’t stick to your teeth.”

Frtiz’s grandma Sandy originally perfected the toffee and she eventually shared the recipe with the entire family.

“Everyone keeps telling us how much they love our toffee, and it is a huge hit among ‘sweet-tooth lovers’ locally and right across the United States,” Fritz said. “We recently hosted a booth at the Des Moines Holiday Boutique Show and toffee lovers welcomed us with open arms. So many people’s eyes lit up and they had huge smiles on their faces after taking a bite of our toffee.”

This new line of toffee costs $20 per 12 ounce box on the company’s website. The family also sells 3 ounce packages for $6 and 8 ounce boxes for $15 at events.

“The journey has been rather fun and it’s also been kinda stressful,” Fritz said. “We all work, so this is done on the side right now. Our family is extremely close, so there is no negative friction. It is fun; there isn’t anybody I would rather go into business with.”