Where it all began
Our Story
We are a small family-owned business making the best all-natural, handcrafted caramel sauces and a SWEET NEW FUNDRAISER to share with you.
Experience Amazing
Welcome to Caramel Kitchen, home of SweetShots Fundraising! We are a family-owned business located just north of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, specializing in all-natural, handcrafted caramel sauces. As a self-proclaimed caramel lover, I (Stephanie) made my first batch of salted caramel sauce for my own personal use. I began sharing it with others and when request after request came in from friends and neighbors asking for my caramel sauce, my husband Brad encouraged me to start my own business.
Before this I was a stay at home mom and wanted to make sure our new business maintained a focus on my most important job, being a mom to my kids. The first jars I ever sold were under the name "Caramel For Kids" and the proceeds went to help ours and other families pay for Christian education.
Eventually, we changed our business name to Caramel Kitchen to serve a larger audience through events and retail locations. Our salted and bourbon caramel sauces have been the recipients of the Specialty Food Association’s Gold Sofi Award for “Best Dessert Topping” and we have been blessed to build a strong business with caramel sauces people love!
Caramel Kitchen got its start traveling the country doing markets and festivals and over the past seven years we have had the opportunity to meet some of the best artisan food crafters in the country. Not only are their products amazing but the owners are hardworking, American loving families who love kids like we do.
We recently came to a crossroads as to what direction we wanted to take our business, diluting our profits to big box commercial stores with lots of exposure or a completely new path. We opted for the road less traveled, and decided to give those funds instead to students and SweetShots was born as a fundraising branch of Caramel Kitchen. We shared our vision with some of these amazing small businesses and partnered to help students all over the nation raise the funds they need for the activities they love without the hassles of annual fundraising campaigns. By simply giving back to the students every time one of their supporters purchases off our website, we created a residual way for them to raise funds year after year. How sweet is that!
As we head down this new path for Caramel Kitchen and SweetShots, we know our stories are just beginning and are so excited to see where God leads our family businesses! Thank you for partnering with SweetShots to support the students in your life as they to continue to pursue the activities they love!
Enjoy!
Brad & Stephanie Hunter
just a hobby
Making 6 Jars at a Time
Before Caramel Kitchen was a thing, this is the amount of caramel sauce Stephanie made in each batch. She repeated the process over and over to produce the amount she needed for gifts and to fulfill orders.
The Early Days of Caramel Kitchen
Cooking on the Camp Stove
We thought we were really pumping out production when we had three pots going at once! We opened up all of the windows in our house, turned on the propane and stared stirring!
Caramel Kitchen Grows
Our Converted Garage Kitchen
We were so excited to reclaim our kitchen with the move of Caramel Kitchen to the new garage shop! This was our first copper kettle and it increased our yield from making 6 jars at a time to 20.
Our First Commercial Space
Silver Lake Mall in Coeur d'Alene
This was the outside of our shop located inside of the Silver Lake Mall in beautiful Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. From here we increased our production from 20 bottles per batch to 88. We remained hand crafted, small batch, with the same amazing flavor.
Post Covid
Here we grow again!
During the middle of Covid, we left the mall and finally have the space we need to meet the requests of our customers! Having been given the amazing opportunity to partner with Lopez Island Creamery in Anacortes, Washington we prayed long and hard whether or not to move our manufacturing facility out of North Idaho into Washington. The pros outweighed the cons and now we are in an FDA approved facility continuing to make you the best all natural, hand-crafted caramel sauces around! We do miss our homey storefront in Coeur d'Alene but have plans to open one up again in the future!
Our New Adventure
Providing the funds you need for the activities you love!
We are beyond excited to start this new journey for Caramel Kitchen. Although we are so grateful for the customers who have gotten us where we are today, we feel fundraising is the direction God placed on our hearts from the very beginning and we are now coming full circle. Everyone knows a student who needs to raise funds and continuing to buy the things you love while supporting them seems like a seamless transition!
