The quest for the perfect caramel leads to Maui Melts

Jamie Mata and her husband’s quest however, ended in disappointment. So, they decided to create their own. After experimenting with a few recipes, they found one that works. The recipe was so good that Mata struggled to fill requests for the candy.

“I was tired of hard caramel, we were driving to every candy store in a hundred-mile radius to find something different, but everything was hard. So, my husband and I set out to make our own recipe, and he did. Then we had an abundance of it, so he started to take it to work with him and his friends went crazy over them, for months they begged us for more, then he started to come home with a handful of money,” Mata said.

Mata next bagged the candy, put a $5 price tag on the bags, and personally delivered their confection to customers who requested them.

“I would drive a 200-mile radius dropping bags off for everybody. Then covid hit about a week later and the entire world shut down,” Mata said.

Relieved that she would not have to drive the caramels around due to the pandemic, she started to get emails and messages asking where she was, saying, “we want more.” Her customers said they were willing to pay in several ways and encouraged her to keep making her caramels. Things soon took off for her.

“We started advertising, and things just got crazy. In a time of uncertainty, when people could not see their family members, they started to have me drop off millions of bags for everybody. Blue was our staple color at the time, and everyone was waiting for these little blue bags on their doorstep,” Mata said.

Soon after, Mata started joining farmer’s markets and other events, and she decided she needed a production facility. However, she soon realized that the building she rented for her production facility had another significant advantage.

“Having a front door with some foot traffic is a major bonus for us,” Mata said, “People can come in and see how we do this because people are asking. Now it is my sister and me, we do everything. It keeps us on our toes, we now ship to every state, and four countries.”

After explaining that they ship to Australia, Afghanistan, China, and Turkey, she explained that a lady came in asking if the product would make it across the globe.

“This girl took some to Greece, and she asked if it would make it home. I said if you are home within seven days it will be fine,” Mata said.

Mata’s sister, Gina Pelletier, while working in the back of the back, stirring two bowls, using both hands, explained that she had quit her previous job to help her sister make the caramel.

“I was a dental assistant for 20 years,” Pelletier said. “Now I get to help my sister make caramel.”

Pelletier said they hired a person to help, but she could not keep up.

“She would only stir one bowl at a time, switching back and forth. I said, nope, you need both hands and keep it going,” Pelletier said.

Mata said inspiration of the theme came from the Hawaiian sea salt that she brought back while on vacation. She then started to add the sea salt on the caramels, and the business name came from there.

“A few batches into it, I said ‘Hey, let’s put some of this Hawaiian sea salt on it.’ so it became part of our staple. So we top everything with Hawaiian sea salt. All the flavors here come with caramels, so you always have the sweet with the salty,” Mata explained.

She is also thankful for the people in the community who kept encouraging her to keep going with the company.

“This business was built on a blessing,” Mata said, “People kept making us go and go, but now people are speaking about this caramel. It has been fun, and we are now a full bakery. We make a little bit of this and that, and we are about to hit the state and county fairs.”

Mata put her name on the list to sell candy at Mt. Angel’s Oktoberfest, which typically has a five-year waiting period. However, her caramels are so popular that she jumped the wait list and will have a vendor’s booth this year at the popular event.