When Diane Sperduti was living in Los Angeles and her roommate offered her some store-bought almond rocca toffee from a plastic tub, it was, Sperduti said, “addicting.” A few years later, husband Joe offered her some English toffee that his Irish godmother made for his family and, that, Sperduti said, “was a game changer.” The homemade toffee, she said, blew the mass-produced stuff out of the water.
Although it took 35 years from that love-at-first-bite taste of English toffee until she took the plunge and launched her own business in 2017, Sperduti is now the Greenwich-based owner of Molly & Mags, an online candy store named for her two “incredibly sweet” daughters, Molly and Maggie.
Among other things and not necessarily in order, those intervening years saw her working as a stay-at-home mom, proprietor of a successful gift basket business, a child educator and Doodles, a professional clown.
Through all that time, she had been honing her candy and baking skills, giving homemade treats to family, friends and co-workers as gifts. But it was, she said, the constant support of her husband and those friends and family that gave her the confidence to start Molly & Mags.
There were plenty of obstacles, the biggest of which was learning to bake and make candy in her new commercial setting at the Cook & Bake Center in Mamaroneck, adjusting to the new space and learning the science of humidity control – vital in candy-making.
Since launching, her product line has expanded to include chocolate-covered pretzels, pizzelle (Italian waffle cookies) and mocha cappuccino fudge. Her current best sellers are Belgian chocolate-covered potato chips and cinnamon pecans, while during the holidays English toffee is the frontrunner. Belgian chocolate-covered pretzels, said Sperduti, do well year-round.
Other items like sweet and spicy almonds and Belgian chocolate apricots are not available online but exclusively at the regional fairs where Molly & Mags is an increasingly visible presence. (Most recently, the business participated in the Juneteenth celebration at the Greenwich Historical Society.)
Sperduti, who lives in Greenwich, offers free delivery to Greenwich and Stamford residents and ships everywhere else via the website.
While there are no immediate plans for a brick-and-mortar store, Sperduti seems busy enough right now – planning holiday offerings, working with corporate clients to fulfill their holiday needs, developing new recipes and booking vendor events for the fall, although she does admit to dreaming of a little candy store with its own kitchen. “Until then,” she added tantalizingly, “I’m happy to continue my sweet journey.”
For more, visit mollyandmags.com.
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