Darling Sweet came into existence when Frits van Ryneveld and Hentie van der Merwe met in September 2013 and decided to start a toffee factory in Darling; Hentie, with his passion for art and food, and Frits with his love for quality and design. Frits, who had been living in Darling for some years, was the first to come up with the idea. For him, it was obvious that Darling ought to produce the most delectable old fashioned handcrafted toffees seeing as one of its main ingredients, butter, is historically linked to the small town with its picturesque surroundings. The idea didn’t take long to inspire Hentie – artist, lecturer and trained chef – to start journeying into the centuries-old art of toffee making, tracking down long-forgotten toffee recipes and experimenting in their kitchen late into the night, while teaching art students about art and photography during the day. Today Darling Sweet employs 21 full-time and 11 part-time members of staff and produces toffee products in a 500m2 production facility in the stately Edwardian building on Long street that once housed Darling’s General Dealer business. Since Darling Sweet took occupation of this architectural landmark of Darling in January this year it has also become one of the town’s top tourist destinations.