My Buzz

Gavin and I (Jackie) have decided to retire from making Marshmallows and
Nougat at the end of this year; we will continue to operate MM Ingredients, but no longer make our delicious confectionary.
There are several reasons for this decision, and although we will miss our
frequent contact with the many friends that we have made over the 6 years that we have been trading, the time is now right.
We would like to spend more time with our family – 4 lovely Grandchildren help to keep us busy! The success of MM Ingredients, and Gavin's growing expertise as a gelatine specialist has resulted in that side of our business taking up more and more of our time – something has to give!
Although we had initially thought that we would keep going for another year,
when we saw the price increases in our ingredients, both recently and projected, we realised that we had to make a decision about the future price of our product.
We could either charge more for our confectionary, or compromise on the quality to keep the price point the same.
We rejected the second option –we had made the decision at the start of our business that we would only make a high quality product that we were proud of, and we didn't want to go down the route of using artificial flavours or making 'find-the-nut' nougat.
The first option, experience told us, was also something that we couldn't do, unless we aimed to sell in high end retail outlets; there is a limit to what the people who visit the festivals and events that we attend are willing to pay for confectionary,however good, especially when so many of these events also allow traders to sell mass produced confectionary, which is, understandably, much cheaper.
We didn't want to change track and start to build up a wholesale business, apart from the fact that direct contact with our customers is something we enjoy, making marshmallows and nougat is physically hard work and our backs and fingers wouldn't be able to cope with making wholesale quantities. So we have
decided that this year is our last trading year.
Thank you to everyone who has bought and enjoyed our products, given us good feedback, chatted to us at our stand and spread the word – we͛ve enjoyed meeting you.
If you want to order for Christmas, please do so early, as it gets closer to
Christmas, and we have fulfilled the orders that arrived in good time, our range will decrease, and when it's gone, it's gone!

My Bio

Dorset Honey Nougat and Gourmet Marshmallows -but Mellower!! That's us!

We started making our Marshmellows after our honeymoon to Provence, when we tasted their wonderful honey nougat and wanted to try to make something similar using local Dorset honey. On our return, Gavin started exploring sugar technology, and, after a brief foray into fudge making, he started having a go at making marshmallows. They turned out very well, and so we decided to try adding flavour, using real flavour ingredients...and Marshmellows were born.

Hence: Marshmallows - but mellower!!

After a couple of years Gavin once again started working on our nougat idea, and succeeded in making some great tasting products using Dorset Honey - result!

Along the way, we had tried to buy some of our more specialised ingredients in small quantities, and this was sometimes impossible; we realised that others might have the same problem, and so we set up www.mmingredients.co.uk to sell on some of our bulk bought supplies. This idea has now also started to grow and we are supplying products for activities from baking, to bait-making to special effects make-up production.

Our Dorset Honey Nougat sales are now on a par with, and sometimes over-take, our Gourmet Marshmallows sales. Sales leading up to Christmas were good, and now, especially after attending the fantastic #SBSevent2015, we know that our next major work is going to be on our website so that online ordering is easier from a mobile device.

My Business Tips

Listen to feedback about your products, and always be prepared to learn.

Your reputation is as good as the last item you sold, so keep it good.

Don't be afraid to change course - just because you've always done it, doesn't mean you always have to!

Follow us
Categories