Standing at a stove stirring a large pot of caramel last week, islander Hedy Anderson shared her journey from occasional candymaker to an entrepreneur set to purchase The Little House building, where she will offer commercial kitchen space to other islanders in the food trade.

Anderson is known to many as the force behind King Caramel, her line of of handmade and hand-wrapped caramels available at the farmers market and more than 20 stores on Vashon and in the Seattle area.

Now, thanks to longtime Little House owner Bettie Edwards and a late-night dream she had, Anderson has completed a quick transformation of the gift shop and created King Caramel Kitchens, a commercial kitchen space that will ultimately offer two kitchens and house her expanding business.

Anderson, who called Edwards a friend and mentor, said just weeks ago she was woken at 3 a.m. by a text from Edwards, saying, “I have a great idea. Come in and talk to me.”

The great idea, of course, was that she buy the building, and Anderson’s first response was an emphatic no.

But as the idea percolated, Anderson said, she changed her mind.

“Of course I need a kitchen anyway,” she said. “I would rather do that than pay to rent one.”

With that resolve, Anderson called in the health inspector to tell her exactly what she needed to do. Fortunately, Anderson said, the bones of a kitchen were there, complete with a gas line underneath the building. Now, just weeks after that late-night text from Edwards, a kitchen and sink room are up and running, and Anderson has plans to create another kitchen in the next phase of her work, and when both are completed, one will be gluten-free.

The kitchen passed inspection on Monday of this week, and Anderson has officially moved in.

“I cooked my first batch today,” she said. “It is just what I was hoping for.”

Already other business people have signed up to rent time there, and she said she plans to offer what she believes they will need. Based on how many hours a week they use the kitchen, for example, they will have access to dry storage and a refrigerator.

“I am trying to cater to all the things that I have run into problems with over the years,” she said.

Additionally, she said, she has learned a lot about the food industry in the past several years and she hopes to share some of that wisdom with those who rent from her.

“I hope I can be a resource for people,” she said. “I want this to be a good thing for everybody.”

Rentable kitchen space is said to be in high demand on Vashon, a place with many farmers and cottage businesses that can’t afford to invest in their own commercial kitchens. Chris Lueck, the owner of the former Express Cuisine, is offering that space as a commercial kitchen as well, but Anderson said she believes there is no competition between them, as his kitchen is a large, high-end space, and hers is more modest.

The creation of King Caramel Kitchens comes just as Anderson’s business is poised for substantial growth. In January, she will be an exhibitor at the West Coast’s largest specialty food and beverage trade show in San Francisco, and she is anticipating several new customers — so many that she said she may have to accept them in stages and train someone else to help her cook the caramels. So far Anderson has made every caramel since her first batch for sale at the Vashon Farmers Market some six years ago.

At that time, she had been working as a handbag designer and had a popular line called Hedy Handbags. But she was unhappy working in the fashion industry and was winding the business down when she made a batch of caramels for family and friends. Joanne Jewell, one of those friends and and the manager of the farmers market at the time, said she thought that the caramels would do well at the market.

At first, Anderson said, she had been reluctant to work in the food industry with all its requirements, but she set those feelings aside and started slowly, making caramels in a commercial kitchen at the Cohousing Common House and selling only at the farmers market, while homeschooling her two children. Then Edwards wanted to carry the sweet treats at The Little House, and her business expanded slowly from there. Quickly though, Anderson said, she learned that unlike the handbag buyers she had worked with, food and drink buyers were enjoyable to do business with.

“They like to eat, drink and laugh,” she said.

On Vashon, her caramels can now be found at Thriftway, Giraffe and The Country Store, which sells her whole line.

While some may think of caramels as the uniform, mass-produced Kraft squares from the candy aisle, Anderson’s caramels are a step apart. Online she carries six varieties: Classic, Roasted Pecan, Organic Agave, Fresh Ginger, Black Licorice and Sea Salt, the far and away favorite. For the farmers market, she gets creative and tries out additional batches, such as coffee, rocky road and turtle caramels.

Her busiest times are in the summer and December, when she sells a couple hundred pounds a week, over 4,000 individually wrapped caramels in a month’s time.

A small team helps her with packaging and other tasks, but so far, she is the only one staffing the stove, where she tests everything she makes.

“I sample every batch. I used to really like caramels, but it has definitely waned,” she said with a laugh.

By now, she said, she has dispatched her candy thermometer and knows when a batch is done just by the way it smells.

“Cooking caramels is tricky,” she said. “If it is raining, you have to adjust for that. If it is hot, you have to adjust for that. You have to consider the temperature and the humidity of the day.”

Looking ahead, Anderson said she will open her space for the island’s First Friday happenings, and she noted she intends to carry on Edwards’ tradition of being a supportive member of the island’s business community.

For her part, Edwards, who had her store on the market for some time, said she is pleased this transition is working out well for them both.

“She going to make it a winner. It’s going to be a fun, energetic, feel-good place,” she said. “It gives another young businesswoman a chance. I hope all her dreams come true.”