Ella Riley’s Toffee Rolls and Kickstarter

It’s funny how serendipitous Social Networks can be. I’ve been on Twitter for something like five years. Thanks to friendships forged on Twitter I’ve met Becca, Ruby and other people. One of these other people is Freya of Ella Riley’s Sweets. Back in 2011, we got chatting on Twitter and I was sent some sweeties to test and review including a selection of Ella Riley’s Toffee Rolls. Our friendship continued and in the summer of 2012 when we were on holiday in Bristol, on the day we went to Cardiff I managed to convince the boys to visit Freya’s shop in Bridgend.

Why am I writing about this now?

Well, Freya and her husband are launching a Kickstarter project to extend their business. Their sweet shop Ella Riley’s is based on Nolton Street in Bridgend. It’s a proper old fashioned sweet shop with jars along the walls and you get them weighed out instead of a pre-sealed packet from the shelf but there’s certainly nothing old fashioned about this shop when it comes to using modern technology.

Steve and Freya are using the crowd funding website Kickstarter to raise the funds for the expansion of their business. They are looking to purchase a toffee boiler, a toffee table and a hard boiled sweet making machine.

I love supporting local and small businesses when possible (yes I know Bedford isn’t local to Bridgend!). Ella Riley’s currently stock their sweets in over 160 traditional sweet shops in the UK and export them to France, America and Canada.

So if you’re like me and have a sweet tooth please back their project, if you’re not able to financially back them please spread the word and help this little business grow into something big.

You can follow their progress on Facebook or Twitter. You can also visit their website here.

All images provided by Ella Riley’s Sweets.