About Kissy

My name is Kristin, but when I was a baby, my grandmother gave me a nickname: Kissy.

It was a name she used when I was little, and as I got older, it naturally faded away. But it never really left me. Kissy was something I always connected with my grandmother — a little piece of her that stayed with me.

Years later, I found myself in my own kitchen, stirring caramel with music playing in the background. It reminded me of my grandmother's home when I was little. She always had records playing during the day instead of the television, and music seemed to fill the house.

There was something about that familiar combination of music, food, and home that brought me back to her.

My grandmother was a nurturing person. Even when life wasn't easy for her, she took care of the people she loved. She made sure there was food on the table, that her family was cared for, and that home felt like home.

She showed me that love doesn't always have to be something big or grand. Sometimes it's simply showing up, taking care of someone, and making sure they know they're loved.

A lot of that lives in me, too.

How the Crunchies Began

My grandmother and I never made caramel together, but food has always been one of the ways my family shows love. Cooking for someone, making something they enjoy, or simply making sure they're fed — those little acts of care have always meant something to me.

I've even heard stories that my great-great-grandfather owned a bakery. I never knew him or that bakery, but I love knowing that somewhere in my family's history, someone else was in a kitchen making food for other people, too.

In my own way, I found myself continuing that connection through the Crunchies.

Kissy's Caramel Crunchies grew from a family recipe that I've tested, adjusted, and made my own over time. The idea of turning them into something more began taking shape a couple of years ago, but it took a while before I was ready to really go for it.

When it came time to give them a name, one kept coming back to me.

Kissy.

It didn't feel like just a name for a business. It felt like a way to carry something meaningful forward into something that was becoming entirely my own.

Building Kissy's has required me to find a different kind of courage. Putting something I created — and a name that means so much to me — out into the world required me to step forward in a way that didn't always come naturally.

I didn't have a lifelong plan to start a business. I started in my forties, one step at a time, learning as I went and becoming more comfortable putting myself and my ideas out there. And I'm still learning.

Kissy's is still growing — and so am I.

Welcome to Crunchville

And as Kissy's grew, something else began to take shape alongside it: Crunchville.

Crunchville started with my real kitchen — the place where I make homemade caramel, pour it over warm puffs, gently stir until every piece is coated, and send them into the oven to become golden, crunchy perfection.

Somewhere along the way, I started imagining that familiar kitchen a little differently.

What if there were a little caramel magic hiding in all of this? What if the Crunchies had personalities of their own? What if, just beyond my kitchen, there was an entire world waiting to be discovered?

Those little “what ifs” slowly grew into Crunchville — the story world surrounding Kissy's Caramel Crunchies. It's filled with familiar pieces of my real kitchen and the Crunchies I make there, reimagined with a little more color, personality, and caramel magic.

It's where the Crunchies can come to life, where my kitchen can become the Golden Kitchen, and where there's always something new waiting just around the corner.

But Crunchville isn't meant to live only in stories or pictures. It's becoming part of the way I share Kissy's with you — through the characters and their stories, the little details you'll discover on the website, and the experience I'm creating when you visit my booth at a show. Even the bag of Crunchies you take home carries a little piece of that world with it.

Crunchville is still growing, just like Kissy's is. I don't know every place the story will eventually take us, and I think that's part of what makes creating it so much fun. What I do know is that no matter how big the world around the Crunchies becomes, I never want to lose sight of where it all began.

Because underneath all the color, characters, and caramel magic, the heart of Kissy's is still something very simple.

It's me.

In my kitchen.

Music playing.

Caramel stirring.

Making something I hope brings a little joy to someone else.

Welcome to Crunchville.

— Kissy

Meet the Crunchies