Ukiah-based Joan’s English Toffee enjoying 30 years of sweet success

Ukiah native Joan Nelson has enjoyed sweet success for the past 30 years as the founder and owner of Joan’s English Toffee, her wholesale confectionery business.

She’d worked in several other industries — as a registered dental assistant at one time, and made a lucrative income providing facial treatments at an Elizabeth Arden salon on exclusive Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills — but needed to shift her focus after a divorce.

She had two children when she married again; her new husband, Doug Nelson, was a widowed father of three. They soon had a daughter together. With six children ages 8 and younger, and now living again in Ukiah, Joan Nelson wanted a profession where she also could be a stay-at-home mom.

Her thoughts turned to the tasty, “melt-in-your-mouth” English toffee of her childhood. Her mother was known for making the smooth, sweet, buttery confection adored by seemingly everyone.

“She made it during my whole childhood,” said Nelson, 69. “It was a big thing. Everyone loved it. There was not one person I knew who didn’t love it.”

Even as a teen, Nelson never interrupted her mother’s candy-making sessions. “She did it her way. I just ate it.” That trusted recipe is the lone variety offered by Joan’s English Toffee.

With the perfect mix of butter, granulated sugar and natural California whole almonds, it’s made “with love,” broken into irregular pieces perfect for nibbling, packaged in cellophane and placed in decorative tins. A bulk option also is available.

The gluten-free toffee is topped with dark chocolate and sliced toasted almonds; Nelson sources the nuts from growers in Colusa County.

“Everything that goes into that toffee is natural,” she said. “It’s unique. There’s no preservatives, no extenders, no emulsifiers.” Because of this, she explained, it needs to be refrigerated.

Oils from the almonds infuse the other ingredients with flavor, resulting in what Nelson’s packaging promises as “decidedly delicious” toffee. It sells for $17 for a half-pound tin or $30 for a 1¼-pound tin. The red tins feature a logo of a woman wearing a crown, designed after an acquaintance dubbed Nelson “the toffee queen.”

She runs the business from a commercial kitchen built by her father. Although her parents have passed away, each had a hand in her success. Her husband, a nurse, helps with production. It’s truly a cottage enterprise; the kitchen is steps away from the couple’s home on their 1-acre property in Ukiah.

While the Nelsons don’t have employees, they brought in a crew for a massive order distributed to Costco locations in Southern California, New Mexico and Arizona in 1997.

“That was a big check,” Nelson recalled. It also took about six weeks to fulfill the order. While it was rewarding sharing their toffee with so many customers, some of whom called to offer their praise, Nelson prefers working on a smaller scale.

“I tried the whole Costco thing. Yes, it worked. They loved it,” she said. “But I’ve never been big on making it a big business.”

Demand goes up and down with the seasons, with winter holidays especially popular. This past December the Nelsons produced 550 pounds of toffee; in February, Valentine’s Day customers purchased 94 pounds of the confection.

“I just go with the flow,” she said. “It is what it is.”

Mendocino Bounty, a downtown Ukiah gift shop specializing in locally produced goods, has been exclusively carrying Joan’s English Toffee from the start. Forks Ranch Market, which has been around since Nelson was a kid, recently began offering the sweet treat as well.

“Her toffee is truly delicious,” Mendocino Bounty owner Karen Record said in an email. “Joan uses only the best ingredients in her fabulous recipe, and because I sell so much, the toffee is always at its freshest.”

It pairs nicely with red wine; Nelson showcased her toffee during a special Valentine’s event at a Mendocino County winery. She’s also shared her toffee with firefighters battling area blazes, handing out the candy as a thank-you for their efforts.

She doesn’t advertise beyond her business page on Facebook, but does serve as an ambassador of sorts, giving tins of her toffee to airline and cruise ship staff whenever she travels. “It’s a karma thing,” she said.

Perhaps most noteworthy is the longstanding order from an oral surgeon in San Francisco. He provides 150 large tins of Joan’s English Toffee as Christmas gifts to dental offices that refer patients to his practice. “I personally deliver to his office,” Nelson said. “He found me through another dentist.”

That’s an endorsement for the quality of her toffee; it really does melt in your mouth, she said.

Although Nelson’s children now range from 31 to 40 — and she’s a grandmother of four with another on the way — when they were young she found time to attend a course designed to help the growth of small businesses. Presented by Mendocino County nonprofit West Company, the “Women as Entrepreneurs” class helped her develop a business plan and launch her new profession.

She hasn’t looked back. Through challenges and celebrations, Joan’s English Toffee has been a mainstay. “I never anticipate anything in life,” Nelson said. “It’s just one interesting turn in the road after another.”

And, she hasn’t gotten tired of toffee. She still enjoys producing batches of the old-fashioned candy with her husband and continues taste-testing to be sure each batch honors her mother’s tried-and-true recipe. “It’s always perfect,” she said.

After three decades as a confectioner, one thing is certain: “I will never change what I’m doing,” Nelson said. “I plan to do it as long as I can.”

For more information, call 707-972-5518, visit facebook.com/jetoffee or email jetoffee@pacific.net.