We are "retired" business executives who love entrepreneurship - and Airedales - and had this idea...
What if we back-pedalled away from retirement to create a company that could help Airedales in very real need of homes? And what if the company made the crunchiest, most delicious, right-sized milk chocolate-peanut butter bars on the planet? Wouldn't that be amazing?
So that's what we are doing. Want the backstory?
We both grew up in small business families: Melanie in central NY and Toby in the Pittsburgh area.
Melanie: My father was a builder and I grew up on construction sites. There were six girls in my family, but I was the one who has always loved building things, including an engine in my bedroom. Old-fashioned “hard work” was a core value at our house.Toby: My dad owned a couple of Isaly dairy stores and we all worked in them. Although I loved business from an early age and learned a lot about making customers happy, I was probably one of my dad’s worst employees.
So where did the idea for the toby bar come from?
Toby: Because I had access to a boatload of sweets at my dad's stores, I developed an early and lifelong fondness for crunchy peanut butter bars.
The idea of crafting my own bite-sized candy bar stayed with me for many years as I toiled in corporate vineyards in Philly, London and Cleveland.
Melanie: Toby’s crazy dream of creating a chocolate mini-bar took us to Ines Rehner, master chocolatier and founder of Sweet Designs, an iconic business in Lakewood, OH.
Toby and I brought our business experience and expertise to help Ines manage her continuing growth and great success with Sweet Designs. She, in turn, taught us the ins-and-outs of the chocolate business.
Toby: While we’re both well past traditional retirement age, we’re looking for yet another great adventure. To us, nothing is more fun or rewarding than starting something from nothing - creating jobs and giving back to the community. And the toby bar offers the perfect opportunity to do that.
Why Airedale Rescue?
Melanie: For more than two decades, we’ve had Airedales bringing us joy on a daily basis. Casey, our current furry friend, is the love of our lives. We selected Airedale Terrier Rescue & Adoption, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization (aire-rescue.org), to receive a portion of revenue from toby bar sales because that organization has done such a great job for us.
