Sweet Orders for Sugabranding.com

Back in 2007 Barry O’Dwyer founder of Sugabranding received a certificate for completing a workshop Entitled ‘International Business Strategy Workshop’ as part of the UK Trade & Investment’s Passport to Export.

‘I came away thinking that exporting was a complicated mission for those with deep pockets and was really for the big boys’ says O’Dwyer.’ How was I going to offer my niche service to companies abroad and where did I even start, it was a daunting task.

The following day I looked through various books that I had including one with the title ‘The Game of Business and How To Play It’.

I had met the author Paul Gorman at another workshop in Reigate Surrey a few weeks earlier and was intrigued how he made everything you wanted to achieve, possible. In a nutshell, only do what you are really interested in, make it unique, and forget all the rules and go for it. In the following few weeks, I contacted numerous commercial attaches at British embassies and was met with the usual off-putting and well-established bureaucratic procedures. My mistake was following the rules. Trying to explain my niche service of producing personalised sugar was met with a loud silence at the other end of the phone. I decided to go all out to let the world know what I offered by promoting my website. It paid off.

In addition to standard sugar packaging in sticks and sachets I also offer unique shapes including ‘house’ and ‘heart’ shaped sachets. No company in the UK offers personalised sugar cubes either and so I tracked down several companies in Europe that could offer both white and brown sugar cubes in single and double cube packs. Once uploaded on to my website I had no idea that savvy food and beverage personnel were looking for something to differentiate their offering from that of their competitors.

Babaji is a restaurant in Dubai offering amazing Turkish food. They ordered double white sugar cubes personalised with their logo. This was followed by orders from Design companies ordering for their restaurant clients in Los Angeles, and then Texas USA. Back in the UK we have now produced sugar cubes for three of Corbin & King’s iconic restaurants and are currently working on a sugar project destined for Scotland’s best-known hotel. A

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Theatre Royal in Drury Lane have just taken delivery of branded sugar cubes for ‘Cecil’s’ the themed bar based on Cecil Beaton the British Fashion, Portrait and war photographer. Images of those mentioned can be viewed on our website www.sugabranding.com. Luckily, I don’t need to be too concerned about exporting now as clients have been knocking on my door from Bahrain, Dubai, Ireland, France, Malta, Scotland and Sweden.

How businesses evolve has always interested O’Dwyer. I thought that when I started to personalise sugar, my market would just be hotels and restaurants. I had no idea this would then expand into conferences, theatre bars, exhibitions and recently top fashion houses. That said, I did touch on the subject in my book ‘The Supreme Sugar Service’ that I published in 2017 when I featured ‘From Jeans to Beans’. I had supplied sugar to Ralph Lauren in Paris and wanted to know more about why a fashion retailer had opened an in-store cafe. I discovered that (apart from Ralph Lauren being ahead of the game) product alone may not be enough; Since the emergence and success of online shopping the fashion brands have been getting creative in giving customers a reason to visit the traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Having a food and beverage offering gives the customer more dwell time in-store.

Fast forward to 2022 and I have just produced personalised sugar for fashion icon Anya Hindmarch and a top Italian brand both of whom have their own cafes. Both can be viewed on our website. Other fashion houses that now have opened cafes around the globe include Tiffany & Co. Dior, Chanel, Vivienne Westwood and Burberry.

It has always been my intention of staying with the business that we know so that we can concentrate on the personalised sugar offering and build it up to be the best it can be. Sometimes demanding clients can unknowingly help give you an edge. The Babaji image shown is unique in the UK. Not only is it unavailable from any UK sugar company but it can also be produced for the eco-conscious outlet without PE lining. PE (polyethylene) is the thin layer of plastic that forms part of 99.9% of all sachets and acts as a moisture barrier for hygienic packaging including most food grade material. One five-star hotel considering sugar cubes would only order from us if we could guarantee that the wrapper was 100% recyclable, compostable and biodegradable. A tall order!

Remembering the comments from Paul Gorman’s (The Game of Business and How to Play It) and his comment about making something unique made us dig deeper and we succeeded. At the time of writing (January 2022) no other UK sugar company currently offers sugar packaging without PE lining. We offer sugar sachets, sticks and sugar cubes without any PE lining. (Thanks Paul!)

Barry O’Dwyer
Sugabranding Founder