IT’SUGAR Sells Laughter. Also, Candy
By Lorrie Baumann
With over 100 stores scattered across 27 states, IT’SUGAR has become the largest specialty candy retailer in the world. Founded by Chief Executive Officer Jeff Rubin in June 2006 with a store in front of Caesar’s Palace Hotel, right on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the chain has just opened a new flagship store on the Las Vegas Strip, right across the street from the Bellagio Hotel’s famous fountains.
Like Las Vegas itself, IT’SUGAR shops are fantasies in which adults can recapture the fun of childhood while enjoying guilty pleasures spiced with a smidgeon of temptation. And like Las Vegas itself, they’re a world in which children are welcome, but they’re not the primary market for the thrills that are offered. “It’s a much more modern version of a traditional candy shop,” Rubin said. “We’re creating a theater to immerse you in the humor, in the fun experience of our store, so that you have a very entertaining time while you’re in our store.”
Like the new Las Vegas store, the other IT’SUGAR stores, which range from 2,000 to 7,000 square feet in size, are in places where people congregate when they’re looking for fun – mostly in resort areas or the kind of lifestyle centers that also include restaurants, bars and theaters. Their lively music and colorful art and fixtures draw in passers-by who wander in looking for fun and stay to buy candy that’s as much about humor as it is about sweetness. “We can obviously satisfy a sweet tooth, but more importantly, we were put on Earth to provide an irreverent escape from the mundane world,” Rubin said. “We have created a store that makes you laugh, smile and enjoy yourself…When you’ve finished dinner at one of the entertainment vendors, you get hit with music and these funny products. You find yourself walking out with something you didn’t even know you needed.”
Customers are met just inside the front door with stacked tiers holding bowl after bowl of pick-and-mix candy on island fixtures around the floor, and they’re lured farther inside by shelves stacked with giant boxes of Nerds; “Saturday Night Live” confections; limited edition flavors of Starburst chews; nearly two dozen flavors of gummy bears; marshmallow unicorn poop, giant gummy foods ranging from watermelon to eggs and bacon; Charleston Chews; Pop Rocks and Razzles they loved when they were kids; PEZ dispensers cuter than the ones that swallowed their allowance when they were kids; stuffed toys shaped like candies; t-shirts celebrating the joys of sugar; exclusive “Stranger Things” products from IT’SUGAR’s continuing partnership with Netflix; and funny greeting cards that might be tucked in with a 5-pound gummy bear for a birthday gift.
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“When anyone gets a gift that someone purchased from IT’SUGAR, it was given to them to make them laugh,” Rubin said. “IT’SUGAR is meant to elicit laughter.”
One of the best-selling items is Marshmallow Madness, a big cereal box filled with nothing but little square marshmallows. “We try to create products that are very funny and entertaining, versus a traditional confectionery retail store,” Rubin said. “Over half our sales come from exclusive, curated products.”
Another recent hit has been IT’SUGAR’s line of nine cocktail-flavored gummy bears called Beary Buzzed. The new line is non-alcoholic, but the fun cocktail flavors include Cosmopolitan, Gin & Tonic, Limoncello, Maple Bourbon and Margarita. They’re sold in custom fillable shakers, with a full shaker retailing for $9.99. “We just had to place an emergency re-order because they’re selling faster than we ever imagined,” Rubin said.
“We have our own box of gummy bear cereal. It’s part of an unbalanced diet,” he added. “It’s an unapologetic message that sugar delivers. IT’SUGAR sells sugar. It doesn’t hide from it. We’re providing an escape from all the rules of society that everybody must live by. IT’SUGAR kind of does that through its humor. Popular as gummy worms may be, they’re still outsold by the bears,” Rubin said. “Maybe it just has to do with tradition,” he speculated. “Although I will tell you we’ve come up with some interesting different shapes, but at the end of the day, bears are still what people gravitate to. When you say the word ‘gummy,’ you almost expect the word ‘bear’ to follow.”
Stop and Smell the Rosé at Augusta Food and Wine
By Greg Gonzales
Everyone likes to have “a guy,” whether it’s for car repair or some other service. In Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood, Augusta Food and Wine is a go-to place for wines. The shop is a laid-back kind of place, dog-friendly, where Owner Shane Martin might be found playing guitar next to his own pup, Bradley. The store, named for the first designated American Viticultural Area, has earned a reputation as a local destination for small-batch European wines and providing specialty foods to match. From a limited inventory of 100 to 125 wines, customers will find small-batch, esoteric wines and a constantly changing list.
Patrons seem to enjoy it, too, as Martin’s wine club continues to grow, as does the traffic for weekly tastings. Club members get a discount, and a monthly email that details that month’s wine selection ― the wine itself, the history of the region, the story of the family of farmers and recipes to help members properly pair their wines with food. “Most of our wines are pretty small production,” said Martin, adding that most of the bottles are from Europe. “I’ve got a small collection of some Santa Barbara wines, Oregon, a few Napa cabs. You gotta keep those up top because there’s always that guy who only drinks Napa cabs.
Martin says his clientele tend to be adventurous and willing to try eastern European wines from places like Serbia, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia. That, he said, might be due in part to how European wines go better with food. “European wines tend to be a little less punchy,” he said. “They’re a little more versatile when it comes to food. When I started bringing in wines, I brought in what I liked, and it worked. Then I started experimenting, putting some New World stuff on the shelf, and it didn’t move as much.”
Whatever inspires their interest in eastern Europe, Augusta’s clients include Millennials, from the mid-twenties and single, to the Gen-Xers their early forties and married with teenage kids ― new money types, said Martin, who like to spend a bit more to try something new and exciting. “They’re not really stuck in a box with what they drink. That’s one of the great things about this generation ― Millennials are my favorite to sell wine to because they are open to anything,” he said. “I feel like there’s an older generation where there wasn’t as much exposure to wine, and they only drink a certain style from a certain place, sometimes even one producer, and it’s very restrictive. So I love the younger audience right now.”
The shop’s location helps draw them in too, as it is literally across the street from the Brown Line stop in Lincoln Square, a route that comes straight from downtown Chicago. “People coming from downtown coming home from work, they can get off the train, come right across the street and come to grab a bottle of wine, maybe a cheese, and walk right home. That’s definitely a huge boon for our business,” said Martin.
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The strip of businesses Augusta operates in is strong on the shop small, shop local movement. And Martin lives close to the Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce, which puts on a wine stroll every spring and fall, in which the businesses of Lincoln Square are temporarily transformed into wine tasting destinations; the locals purchase tickets, get a route map, and wander around to taste all kinds of different wines. Martin said these types of festivals are common in the area, giving the neighborhood a cohesive, family feel. “It’s one of those neighborhoods where, you could stay in Lincoln Square and never have to go anywhere else.”
In addition to wine, Augusta’s offerings include small-batch foods from smaller distributors ― cheese, olives, anchovies, pates, terrines, salamis, prosciutto, crackers, baguettes, condiments, salts, beers, ice cream, local pies, spirits, specialty bitters, brandy cherries, obscure Bloody Mary mixes. If it’s quirky, new and pairs well with a wine, customers can probably find it at the store.
The shop also puts together cheeseboards and charcuterie boards, and also gift baskets ― and those gift baskets are huge for the holiday season, when some corporate clients will place orders by the hundred.
Martin said local events, gift baskets and the wine club are extremely important to the business’ revenue stream. “The gift baskets are huge, the wine club is guaranteed cash flow that I know is going to happen every month ― it’s always good to have that certainty, where you know money’s going to come in every month,” he said, adding that all the shops are doing their best to fight the demise of the neighborhood small businesses. “That’s always a challenge because when you have a neighborhood like this, the thing that made it great starts to get driven out. We’re small business, we’re week to week. It’s not easy to run a small business, especially in Chicago. It’s very expensive, so you really have to be on top of things. There are little businesses that go under all the time, and I definitely have a different reaction to that now than I did before I owned my own business. It’s heartbreaking ― now I know how much work goes into it, how hard it is, how much passion you have to have to even attempt to keep it afloat.”
“It’s picked up a lot lately. I’ve noticed a lot of new faces, and the wine club is growing a lot,” he continued. “Over the last few months, I think a lot more people have become aware of us. It’s going to be a good year.”
Made By True Finds Success With New Retail Front
By Greg Gonzales
Retailers know that the best way to prove a product is to let customers try it themselves. The people behind Made By True, the craft jerky brand, decided to try that themselves this year. They opened a storefront in their Bay Area office space this year, where the lobby was, so passersby can get a chance to try the product right there. Last year, Made By True launched its biltong snack, and its getting a lot of love.
The idea behind the storefront, explained Partner James Evans, is to let people try the jerky before buying in stores, and to spread the word about their products. Sales are great at the store so far, he said, and it also serves as an education tool. The opening attracted more than 150 people to the store, where they sampled the brand’s craft jerkies, its unique take on trail mix and its newest product, biltong.
“Biltong is ingrained in the culture in South Africa. You can’t really compare it to anything here in the States,” said Evans. “There’s always biltong served ― there’s a joke that babies teethe on biltong there. It’s that important.”
The air-dried meat snack is still relatively unknown in the U.S. It differs from jerky because it air dries in a big, long strip, a cut from the round of the cow. In South Africa, it’s sometimes sold in thicker slices, but Made By True’s New Jersey facility shaves it into smaller pieces, which is how most people eat it. The result is a tender meat that’s easy to chew and bite off.
It comes in three flavors: Cape Town Classic, Little Bit of Spice and A Savory Adventure.
As noted on the back of each package, Made By True biltong contains 16 grams of protein per ounce and a low sodium count at 200 milligrams per serving. That’s because it doesn’t require as much salt to preserve as jerky, and vinegar helps preserve it as well, though the vinegar doesn’t overpower other flavors. These health benefits attract the health-conscious, active crowd that seeks out high-protein snacks.
The Center for Generational Kinetics estimated that 89 percent of Millennials consumed one or more better-for-you snacks in the past week, and Nielsen’s Vice President of Consumer Insights Jorday Rost said meat snacks are a fast-growing category, in large part because Americans are trying to get more protein in their diets in what they perceive as a more natural vehicle than powders and bars. According to Fona International’s September report on meat snacks, 20 percent of women reported eating meat snacks, as brands in this category have begun successfully marketing to women.
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Made By True is one of those companies. Its six flavors of jerky appeal to a wide audience, said Evans, including women ― and older women. “My mom, for instance, this [Blackberry Merlot] is her favorite flavor,” said Evans. “She’s 70, she plays golf three days a week, and she brings our jerky to her women’s golf group and they all love it.”
In addition to Blackberry Merlot, flavors include The Old Fashioned: Honey Bourbon Brisket, The Sinsa: Korean BBQ, The OG: Original Peppered, The Sweet Heat: Thai Chili Mango and The Mountie: Maple Glazed Pepper. Older audiences are likely to enjoy the biltong and The Mountie, as the meat isn’t tough like a lot of jerky.
Along with its jerkies, Made By True offers a mix snack called Trail Remix. It’s a combination of jerky and trail mix, separated by a seal that keeps the meat fresh and peels apart when snackers want to mix them up. It comes in three flavors: All About That Baste turkey jerky mix, Don’t Go Bacon My Heart uncured bacon jerky mix and Carne Diem peppered beef jerky mix.
Made By True’s offerings haven’t always been so extensive, though its three partners decided together that they didn’t want to be just another jerky company, said Evans. The trio ― Evans, who was a mutual fund wholesaler, Jess Thomas, who was a third-generation cattle rancher and Kevin Hix, a former accountant ― quit their jobs in 2015 to start selling the jerky they’d been making together as friends.
They had friends in the Bay Area’s tech industry, and the company got its start selling to companies like Facebook, Twitter and Uber, where employees are provided free snacks – one of those snacks being Made By True jerkies.
Evans said the Trail Remix was the brand’s first step outside of jerky, but biltong was their pet project. “We had heard about biltong ― for like, two, three years, people were telling us about it, they had gone to South Africa,” he said. “But we didn’t know how to make it; nobody was making it here in the States, so what we did is, we took a trip, all three of us, to South Africa last summer. We spent about three weeks there, in Johannesburg, Kimberly ― which is kind of in the middle of the bush, but there were some cattle ranches there we went to ― and then finally Cape Town.”
Introduced by their South African investment partner, 1K1V, they met with 20 different biltong manufacturers, from small mom-and-pop operations to massive manufacturing facilities, in addition to spice blend companies and cattle ranches.
From those beginnings, Made By True has seen success in the U.S. market, now available in 2,500 stores, and as of late January, Sprouts markets. Through the retail shop, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and word of mouth, Evans said he expects the company to go even further this year.
