Jeavons Toffee – Vegan Home Kitchen to Major Supplier

‘People will love them!’

Growing up in Buckinghamshire, not many teenage boys spent their time making sweets, but Corin Jeavons was one of them. Rediscovering his mum’s recipe books on a visit to his parents’ home around six years ago, he decided to take a crack at the old recipes again as an adult, except this time adapting them to fit into his vegan lifestyle.

Trying to recreate the taste of home but without using any dairy is a tough task, and what started as a pastime became a mission to create the perfect toffee, and the beginning of something special. ‘We invited some friends over to try them out and they were shocked’ Lesley, Corin’s partner in both business and life, said excitedly, ‘If they hadn’t known where we stood on using animal products, they would have thought they were tricked into eating traditional toffee!’

As soon as they started exploring and creating these new recipes, they resulted in entire product lines of delicious treats. Many Jeavons creations are not aiming to ‘veganise’ high street brands, but rather aim to create new twists from their own chocolate and toffee factory of ideas.

‘Our brand is grown organically and started with genuine likes (from social media) and genuine customer,’ Corin explained, ‘Our products are every day and approachable for people who are not even vegan.’

A husband-and-wife team

Adapting and refining their process, Corin and Lesley changed from being freelance fashion photographer and fitness instructor respectively, into professional chocolatiers. With hard work, education, and determination from their Brighton kitchen, their reputation grew as did the quality of their product. ‘Going from a kitchen into a factory is a big step! We had to learn a lot very quickly. Corin is the creative, and I am the organiser, I feel that we complement each other,’ Lesley said.

Made in smaller batches than other major chocolate makers, Jeavons Toffee has ensured a consistent taste, invention, and consistency which does not compromise Jeavons’ vegan ethos, with their materials aiming to be sustainably sourced, and ensure fair profit to cocoa farmers. ‘When we first came to the factory, we thought if we were going to scale up it wouldn’t work as well as small-batch,’ Lesley said, ‘but we are chuffed that we were able to increase production without impact on the quality, and I feel we have improved as creators.’

Named after their affection for their cat Amelie, Jeavons’ signature chocolate ‘the Smootch‘, a soft toffee wrapped in dairy-free chocolate, was an immediate hit. With the outspring of support from the community, Jeavons Toffee gained the confidence to become a business, with the strength to overcome even the most unexpected hurdles of being an independent manufacturer.

‘When we started,’ Lesley said, ‘we advertised as dairy-free as we did not want to alienate potential customers, but now the market is more accepting of vegan products and we can see encouraging growth.’

When we asked Corin about the ethos behind their packaging, he said: ‘We use classical chocolate designs both in the packaging and the chocolate, because we’re not trying to recreate other manufacturers’ chocolates, but rather capture childlike feelings we had as kids. Some of the chocolates that we sell have been from the result of experimenting with new ideas, and simply asking ‘why not?’’.

As Jeavons Toffee’s production has solidified and progressed, its growing offer has proven to be incredibly popular regardless of naysayers, and has gained traction both online and across hundreds of small and independent businesses across the country.