As the Vineyard prepares to lose its most beloved candy maker when Chilmark Chocolates closes for good in December, two of the shop’s former employees are planning to open a new small-batch chocolatier with money raised largely from the Island community.

Chilmark sisters Allison and Sarah Flanders have been campaigning on the Kickstarter crowd-funding website, where this week they hurtled past their Salt Rock Chocolate Co.’s initial capital goal of $12,000. As of Thursday morning, Salt Rock Chocolate had received nearly $15,000 in pledges—up from about $9,000 less than 24 hours earlier—with 10 days to go until the Kickstarter campaign ends Nov. 11.

“One person shared it on the Islanders Talk Facebook page and it just exploded, I’m so thrilled,” said Allison Flanders by phone from Philadelphia, where she is preparing to move back to the Vineyard next month. Her sister, who has worked for years at Chilmark Chocolates, is here already.

Meeting the Kickstarter goal means Salt Rock Chocolate Co. can keep all donations pledged through the site, where 150 backers have already committed from $5 to $1,000 apiece to help build a commercial kitchen for the new company.

“We chose Kickstarter because we wanted to feel like we earned the money,” by rewarding backers with chocolates from the new kitchen, Ms. Flanders said.

Unlike Chilmark Chocolates, Salt Rock will not have its own storefront, at least in 2020.

“We couldn’t find the real estate for it,” Ms. Flanders said. “As we grow and establish ourselves, hopefully we’ll establish a storefront as well.”

In the mean time, Salt Rock Chocolate will offer online ordering, pickup and delivery, she said. A website should be up and running by the end of this year, and Ms. Flanders said they should be producing chocolate before the beginning of the busy summer season.

Other possible outlets in 2020 include a farmers’ market booth and pop-ups within Island retailers.

Salt Rock Chocolate’s staff will also start small, with just one employee working for the sisters in the company’s first year, Ms. Flanders said.

As for the name: “It’s the way that I always imagined the Island growing up—a big salt rock in the middle of the Atlantic,” Ms. Flanders said. “Hopefully we can make a chocolate that encompasses that visual as well,” she added.

To make a pledge, visit bit.ly/saltrockchocolate.