The owner of a store know widely for its small batch fudge and nostalgic candy, is sweetening the pot.
Kristy Barto, owner of Nutmeg Fudge Co. in Torrington, will open Nutmeg Sweet Shoppe in late November at the Shops at Farmington Valley, the date to be announced upon completion.
The new shop will carry small batch fudge and all else that led to the popularity of the Torrington store, as well as artisanal chocolates, smoothies, boba tea, and crazy milkshakes.
“Our goal with The Nutmeg Sweet Shoppe is to create a place where anyone with a sweet tooth can find something to love,” Barto said. “I love being creative in the kitchen.”
Barto, who learned how to make fudge from her grandma as a child, turned it into a business during the pandemic when furloughed from a job as a hotel manager.
“Before I knew it I had a kitchen full of fudge and needed a commercial kitchen,” Barto said.
Eventually she opened the store at 20 East Main St. at a busy intersection in Torrington.
Barto enjoyed the hotel business because overall, “I love helping to please people.”
The fudge, sweet shop business takes the people pleasing to a new level.
Barto said she loves working “front of house” and seeing all the “smiles” on customer faces.
“The rewarding part is watching people taste what I create. The oohs and ahhs,” she said. “It’s like being a kid in a candy store.”
Elizabeth Ackerman, general manager at The Shops at Farmington Valley said the sweet shop is sure to become a “family favorite destination” and is a “perfect fit” for the shopping center.
“…We’re excited to see the joy it will bring to everyone who visits,” Ackerman said.
The Shops at Farmington Valley shopping center prides itself on having a wide variety of businesses that make it so people could spend the whole day there. That mix and ease of parking are what attracted Barto to the Canton shopping center.
“They’re hitting all the demographics with what they have here,” Barto said, noting she likes the mix of franchises and local business.
She said the center has everything and that a person with a child could go to, from Barnes and Noble for story hour or a nice restaurant for friends to have lunch in. Barto said she also like walkability in Canton.
The new 1,200-square-foot store will be done in pastels with sprinkle designs on the walls and lots of colorful candy sold by the pound.
In addition to the candies of today, they will carry nostalgic candy such as buttons, fireballs, Dad’s root beer barrels, Charleston cheese, coconut slices, and fruit slices.
They will carry 10 types of fudge and Barto gets creative in that area.
Through the years she’s come up with various creative recipes such as maple bourbon, passion fruit and caramel, and blueberry buckle.
Her best-selling fudge is the buckeye of peanut butter and chocolate.
It’s a family business, Barto said, noting she’s lucky to have the help of two daughters.
“They’ve grown with the business over the last few years, Barto said.
To celebrate the new store opening, The Nutmeg Fudge Company is launching an Instagram contest from November 11 to Nov. 30, where followers can vote on the new location’s signature
fudge.
The choices are
- Bear Tracks: milk chocolate fudge with Nutella and peanut butter fudge with caramel, topped with Kinder chocolate.
- Farmington Valley Trail Mix Fudge: Dark chocolate fudge with pretzels, mixed nuts, and dried cranberries.
The winning flavor will be featured at The Nutmeg Sweet Shoppe, and one voter will win a “Nutmeg Sweet Stocking Stuffer” gift basket. Follow them on Instagram or Facebook to vote.
