Belfast-based Blackthorn Foods makes fudge for all

Many of us grumble when Christmas lights start to appear too early but for Blackthorn Foods co-founder Dorothy Bittles, it feels overdue. That's because the company has been preparing its handmade fudge for seasonal hampers since July and planning starts long before that.

“We’ve talking about it since March. Whenever I see Christmas decorations, I say ‘about time’,” she laughs.

Blackthorn is a small, family business that produces gourmet fudge the old-fashioned way, handmade in open pots. In addition to the three founders, there are six other employees.

Hampers now account for about one-fifth of turnover at the Belfast-based business Dorothy set up with her sisters Catherine and Jenny in 2004.

“It’s been a good year for us, especially with the hamper business. We rotate what we put in them and, with the hamper companies, you get your orders in from the start of July. It’s great for stock control and planning production,” says Bittles.

Blackthorn’s Melting Pot range of fudge is an artisan product so it commands a premium price, and Bittles says customers have been happy to pay it even when times turned tough.

“Although there was a recession, people were saying they couldn’t afford holidays, so sweet treats were a little indulgence. To be honest, we grew throughout the recession, because we started small and we still had a customer base to target,” she says.

During that time, sales grew 22 per cent per year on average. While consumer habits played a part, the company proactively took three decisions to ensure that its growth was sustained: it started to export, invested in automation and developed new product lines.

Blackthorn’s fudge was already stocked by the three largest speciality wholesalers in Britain and in Northern Ireland, so further growth inevitably meant exports. In May 2013, the company attended its first trade show in the Netherlands, with support from the trade agency Invest Northern Ireland.

“They were there to hold our hand. We went to the Netherlands with them and that opened the door. We thought, it’s not as daunting or as difficult as we expected,” Bittles says.

A first international order came about as a result and the company now exports to Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Spain, the United States and the UAE. Around a quarter of the company’s turnover comes from international markets.

Blackthorn has since attended other trade fairs. Last June, the company supported its American wholesaler at the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York, which is the largest speciality food trade event in North America. “At shows, we’re not just there to sell but to see what everyone else is doing, and get ideas from that,” says Bittles.

In May 2014, Blackthorn invested in two machines, a flow wrapper and label applicator. “There used to be eight of us sitting around a table wrapping by hand. Having machinery to do that was a turning point in enabling us to produce an awful lot more with less people and do it more cost-effectively,” Bittles says.

Blackthorn’s focus remains firmly on fudge. Touches such as adding new flavours or changing the wrapping can help to attract new customers to make up for any natural attrition. “You have to evolve to grow. We would be quite busy up to December when we do continental Christmas markets. Then in January, February and March, we are very quiet. That is when we would come in to work and come up with new products, new packaging, and we think about how we can do things differently,” Bittles says.

She is optimistic about the company’s newly launched non-dairy range of fudge which is free from gluten, soya and dairy. It will be a key focus for 2016 sales and Blackthorn is thinking about doing specific trade shows to promote the range, as it will open up doors with new distributors as well as new customers.

“We really think that’s going to be a growth area. There’s a lot of dairy-free chocolate but not a lot of dairy-free fudge. We’ve got quite a following of vegans and people with dairy intolerances,” Bittles says.

Blackthorn’s non-dairy range can be found alongside its traditional fudge in some Avoca stores in the Republic. This contract came about from taking part in the Elevate Programme, an initiative by InterTradeIreland to assist micro-businesses to develop cross-border sales.

Bittles mixes ambition for the company with an honest assessment about its achievements.

“There’s no such thing as a future-proof business. Passion and hard work get you a long way but there’s also luck, being at the right trade show or meeting the right people,” she says.

“We’re in this business because we’re all cursed with a sweet tooth; we all grew up making fudge. We’ll always be a micro company because of the nature of the product.

“We also balance making money with families and home lives. We want to make a nice living from it but we’re passionate about the product. I’m office-based and my sisters are in production. They’re never not going to be in production.

“It will always be us doing it, to make a living and to make a product that we’re consistently happy with the quality of, and that we enjoy selling.”