Chapel Hill Toffee: A North Carolina-Made Family Tradition

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- ABC11 is highlighting all things North Carolina-made, including the sweet story behind Chapel Hill Toffee.

The popular treat began in the kitchen of Karen Graves, who perfected a secret family recipe in her Chapel Hill home. After years of sharing it with friends and family, Graves turned her hobby-and her children's favorite treat-into a home-based business.

Her first sales came through the former specialty food store A Southern Season, located in the heart of Chapel Hill.

Today, her son Mark runs the business alongside his wife and brother, Scott. The team continues to make handcrafted batches, though now on a much larger scale, of Chapel Hill Toffee and Griff's Coffee Toffee, the latter named in honor of their late father.

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You can now find Chapel Hill Toffee in stores across the state and the Southeast, including Whole Foods, The Fresh Market, select Harris Teeter locations, and other specialty retailers.

"I think the response we get from people after they've eaten it-it just makes you so proud and honored that they like it so much," said Karen Graves, founder of Chapel Hill Toffee. "It's really a wonderful feeling. It's a family recipe, but we've adjusted it to make it more scalable and give it a longer shelf life. That had to happen for quality control."

For the Graves family, it's still their grandmother's toffee-proudly North Carolina-made, and proudly committed to giving back. A portion of every box sold supports Dina's Dynasty Ovarian Cancer Fund.

"We donate to the UNC Lineberger Cancer Center," Graves said. "Our goal is to help with early detection. Ovarian cancer is a silent killer; you don't know you have it until it's too late. My mother died of ovarian cancer, and Mark's wife's mother did as well. This is just our way to give back to the community."

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