Gold award a sweet treat

KNYSNA NEWS - Small local treats and sweets maker, Treats by Us, received a prestigious award at the 2023 Aurora Taste Challenge.

A family business, Treats by Us was awarded a gold award for its millionaire's fudge.

Started by Doné Else in October 2018 as a means to earn additional income, it quickly grew into much more. Keira-Leigh (Kiki) Bartie soon became extremely interested in mom Doné's business, and since then the business dynamic has shifted.

"We now run the business with the help of Kiki and her sister Kendra with the intention of establishing it for Kiki as a career, since she cannot attend school and traditional teaching methods do not work for her," Doné says.

"Kiki suffers from severe, atypical, complex, drug-resistant petit-mal epilepsy. Basically, she can have a seizure every 20 seconds on a bad day."

Kiki's dream is to open a shop where she wants to employ other special-needs people. "It's wonderful hearing our fudge is the best, but we had no way of knowing if people were just being kind," Doné explains.

"We don't view negative feedback as criticism, we view it as an opportunity to learn and we try to instill that in our children as well. It was with this in mind that we decided to enter."

The Aurora International Taste Challenge (AITC) helps consumers purchase award-winning, expertly rated products with confidence.

"We had no expectation of being awarded anything, let alone achieving a gold award! It took four years to develop our fudge to where it is now, with many failed attempts that left us wondering: How on earth did this happen? But, it has paid off and we are incredibly proud of Kiki (16) and Kendra (14) for achieving this result," Doné says.

"Of course, being awarded gold will open new doors and help Treats by Us to eventually turn into the business that Kiki and Kendra dream of."

Kiki is over the moon. "I never thought this could happen and it's very special for me and Kendra to receive this award."

Keira-Leigh (Kiki) Bartie