We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shayna Reutter. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shayna below.

Shayna, appreciate you joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

There is a local bakery and the owner/baker is the sweetest gentleman and he always refers to his customers “Mi Amor”. We enjoy his bakery and visiting with him that we wanted a name that best represents the love we have for making candy and making peoples day. I am Italian so we added a E at the end and the sticker I designed is very fitting to me so it all came together perfectly.

Shayna, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Funny story, During the beginning of covid I decided to leave the dental industry and became my dream..a stay at home dog mom. It was wonderful and I loved it until I was told I no longer can be a stay at home dog mom. I wanted an easy job and scooped ice cream and helped with making chocolates. The company sold and they needed someone to make caramels and so I volunteered because I always wanted try it. I loved doing it and worked for the new owner of the candy shop making caramels. One year I broke both arms (each arm 6 months apart) so Lenny my partner had to become my arms. During that time we talked about starting a company and then followed through with how we wanted to do it, I talked to my boss and she was 100% supportive of it. We had so many great bakeries and people who started their business that helped us along the way of getting all our licenses. I know I wanted to do direct to consumer and wholesale and my mom I like to say pimped us out to businesses that we now sell to.

We currently make/sell caramels but eventually will do dye free gummy candy and toffee. I have struggled with food allergies and finding candy or treats that I could have, so I wanted to make a candy that is safe for others. Everything we do is with gluten free products and always labeled so it’s easy to read.

What makes me most proud is that the man who was the original owner of the candy shop made the best caramels and I wanted to do him proud and make caramels that people travel for. I tell my partner that caramel speaks to me and lets me know what it needs!

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Ive met my partner Lenny during an annual float trip in eastern Washington. After a summer of hanging it and learning about each other he couldn’t resist not loving me! We love going to Disney parks, hockey games, traveling and our sweet dog coco.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I will admit I am at the in-between age where I know technically but still not an expert on it. I would talk to other businesses and they gave me pointers and ways that worked best for them. I luckily had so many wonderful family and friends that liked and shared our page and we are so grateful for them. Advice I can give is post consistently and where you may think it’s cringe, other people enjoy watching.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @miamorecc
• Facebook: Mi Amore Candy Company
• Other: [email protected]