HANOVER — There are countless stories of businesses — large and small — whose humble beginnings were a room in the entrepreneur’s house such as the basement, garage or spare bedroom. Think Apple and Amazon.

But the kitchen likely trumps them all. From pickles and relishes, to jellies, jams, tomato sauce, and bread and baked goods, the list of successful businesses that were born on the family stove is a long one. Usually, the creations are made in small amount and shared with family and friends before a decision is made to seek a wider market.

Red Kite Candy had a similar start in 2009 and today has a production facility in Bradford, Vt., where it makes and ships candy across the country. They also have a retail location in downtown Hanover.

Elaine McCabe had been making candy — including caramels and toffee — from family recipes to ship to family and friends around the holidays for 20 years, said her husband Mike.

“She decided to turn her hobby into a business,” Mike McCabe said. “We started in the kitchen in our house in Thetford for a year then moved to the basement for two years.”

Having outgrown the space at home, the McCabes began making their candy in a larger location in Bradford for six more years and two years ago, moved their production facility to a space twice as big.

When they opened their Red Kite Candy store in Hanover in 2020, Mike McCabe said they sold ice cream to get people in the door when candy sales were slow during the summer months. But when about half of their customers began asking if they made their own ice cream, McCabe said they decided that was something they should do.

“That was something that was important to people,” McCabe said. This is their third year making ice cream, along with caramel and hot fudge sauces. “We signed our lease here in 2020 and have seen steady growth since then.”

Mike McCabe said they may have chosen an inopportune time to open the store in Hanover — just a couple of weeks before COVID-19 hit in March 2020 and everything was shut down — but their candy manufacturing more than compensated.

“We had a bit of a slow start but our online sales doubled that year,” McCabe said. “And now we have momentum and have started doing ice cream cakes.”

As for the name, McCabe said his wife came up with it because she used to fly kites with her late brother when they were kids.

“So it was named in his honor and their kite flying days in the ’70s,” McCabe said, explaining that the color was randomly chosen at the time but a photo sent later on by Elaine’s mother of her daughter flying a kite as a child, indeed showed the color to be red. The photo, enlarged, hangs on a wall in the store.

With COVID behind them, McCabe said their online business is strong and the Hanover store is also doing well with a lot of repeat customers who are familiar with Red Kite.

“We get new people. Some make a pilgrimage to the store,” he said. “It just keeps getting better and better.”

Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.