The Charity Sweets Story
When he left his position on the board of directors, of what is now Virgin Media, Bob invested £60,000 to launch Sweet Causes Limited and to promote the Charity Sweets brand of confectionery. After many knock backs, recessions, sweat and tears, late nights and long weekends they have now a £3M per annum business employing 100 people and have to date donated over £500,000 to charity, his partner Sue, later joined the company on a full time in 2010 to take over all of the administration functions to the company.
Our Milestones...
October 2001 |
October 2001 Charity Sweets formed to offer local businesses a tasty snack and confectionery service, operating from hallway in our home and then from our garage. |
February 2002 |
Secure commercial participation agreement with Mencap to donate half our profits to the charity. |
April 2002 |
Move into first 1100 sq. ft. industrial unit in Aldridge. |
December 2002 |
Place our 1000th Charity Sweet box in and around the West Midlands. |
May 2006 |
Reach 10,000 customers and now operating in 20 areas. |
April 2010 |
Move into 3000 sq. ft. industrial unit. |
June 2010 |
Invest £80,000 in our first bagging production line and now have charity sweet boxes in 20,000 business employing 40 people. |
September 2010 |
Donations reach £200,000. |
June 2013 |
Move into purposed built 9000 sq. ft. manufacturing unit and acquire second bagging production line. |
July 2013 |
Sign agreement with second charity partner – Teenage Cancer Trust. |
Oct 2013 |
Form Hummingbird Confectionery Limited to produce both Charity Sweets and other non-charity related products, including contact packing services. |
Feb 2015 |
Number of Charity Sweet boxes passes 40,000 mark. |
May 2015 |
Reach 100 employees, including 80 Sales Collectors. |
June 2015 |
Launch third commercial partnership with The Children Air Ambulance. |
March 2016 |
Surpass the £500,000 figure of amount donated to our partnering charities. |
April 2016 |
Sign new 3 year agreement with Mencap. |
April 2016 |
Install Flow wrapper machine to enable the company to increase our product offering and creating employment for 2 more operators. |