Date: November 22, 2016 | Story: Tiffany Adams | Photography: Rett Peek |
This husband-and-wife team shipped out more than six tons of melt-in-your-mouth toffee from their Heber Springs culinary shop last year—many of which made their way into stockings around the country
You started Lambrecht Gourmet with a single—rather delicious—recipe. Tell us a little about that. David: The Southern Pecan toffee was our first. We were given the recipe years ago by friends and tweaked it. I would make it and give it as a gift at the holidays. Today, we use mostly Belgian and some Venezuelan chocolate and other fine ingredients, which makes it unique.
How did you parlay this treat into a business? David: At the time, I was the general manager at The Red Apple Inn and the owners— who also own Aromatique—tried it and said we needed to start selling it locally. We started selling it at their store, Panache, in Heber Springs. A year or two later, she said we’ve got to take it to market. It was called The Red Apple Inn Toffee at that point. We kept growing and eventually went out on our own with the line and changed the name.
How did you come up with the moniker Lambrecht Gourmet? Nancy: Well, our last name, Smith, wasn’t too attractive! My maiden name is Lambright and the Belgian pronunciation is Lambrecht, which makes sense because we use Belgian chocolate.
You have evolved from that first Southern Pecan recipe. What other offerings do you have? Nancy: We have four other flavors now; Hoity Toity, which is a white chocolate and macadamia nut version; Karma, a rich butter toffee with roasted almond slivers and mocha and caramel chocolate; Fleur de Sel, which features dark chocolate and sea salt; and Molé, a pecan toffee with four types of chilies, sea salt, and dark chocolate. We also do Sweet and Spicy Glazed Pecans. We hand toss those, so some bites are a little bit sweeter and some a little bit hotter.
Where might folks find the toffee? David: Here in Arkansas, we’re sold in numerous gift shops and The Capital Hotel uses our toffee for their turn-down service. We also ship to 45 states and Canada. The Queen of England and her family have even tried our toffee. We got word that they loved it and even requested more!
Lambrecht Gourmet, Heber Springs, (501) 362-7514, lambrechtgourmet.com
