Move over, Percy Pig, Ocado has a new favourite sweet treat. Gourmet vegan confectionary brand Tasty Mates has partnered with the online grocery giant to bring its incredible flavours to online shoppers, in its first move into a major UK stockist. And co-founders Joe Woolf and Nick Sunshine couldn’t be more proud of how far Tasty Mates has come.
Refreshingly, there’s no textbook recital of a profoundly epiphanic dream, or terrible sweet-related tale prior that motivated Joe and Nick to create Tasty Mates – these faux-narratives are now the ones we are accustomed to raising our eyebrows at. The brand’s story, Joe recalls, began with a car journey with friends that had been winding him up. The abstract road trip banter grew to a lengthy entertaining conversation on flavours representing the distinct personality traits they saw in each other, forming the humble heart and soul of the brand.
Having launched officially in 2021, the rate of growth has been impressive for Tasty Mates. Joe and Nick had until then aggressively employed their respective confectionary and marketing backgrounds to perfect the product. They had spent frequent sleepless nights over pots and pans with developers and beside whiteboards with planners, concocting ways to do it better than anyone else. What followed was arduous pitching, vast quantities of distributed samples, and handing out delicious bait wherever there might be potential for interest. And then, the orders avalanched in.
Joe tells us of one of the first large-scale orders they’d received just before Christmas Eve. Having exhausted most of their supply in sample distribution and fulfilling existing orders, it was several factors over what they could then physically produce. The festive period was spent recruiting, bribing, and enticing all friends, family, and acquaintances, operating 24/7 with all hands on deck to deliver what should have been impossible. WH Smith, and other keen watchers, were thrilled.
The raving reviews from consumers came soon after, many focussed on the texture of the gummies that was so vitally important to Joe. Having spent his drives back and forth from university snacking on packs of jelly babies, one of his focusses was to create Tasty Mates as that convenient snack but without the sticky, sugary residue and poor nutritional value. The real, non-artificial flavours were instantly adored, including the tricky Pear Crumble which had taken over 30 iterations to perfect. It had all paid off.
Tasty Mates wants to create ‘meaningful moments with mates’, using the story and personification of the characters it offers in its packs of human-shaped gummies. It compels consumers to relate to the brand and indeed Joe and Nick, and find joy in the create narratives as well as the flavours themselves.
There’s a real authenticity in the brand, understanding and mapping out its own space in the market with a proficiency and intelligence that makes it hard to believe it was only founded in 2021. There’s no major decisions driven by market competitors, or specific developments forced through for the sake of market parity. Joe’s experience-led enthusiasm and meticulous in-depth vision, much of which has already transpired, makes it clear that this passion project remains as such.
And luckily for Joe and Nick, the brand, and both its eager investors and fans alike, its uniqueness in this respect makes it a strongly commercially viable one – one that’s already proven its success. Before the end of the year, there’ll be a 5th core flavour, alongside seasonal limited-edition specials that the masterminds are already working on behind the scenes. And along with that, a significant new segment of sweet lovers with Tasty Mates firmly added to their weekly basket – ourselves included.
The delicious gourmet gummies are stocked in quality food outlets such as Holland & Barrett, WH Smith, Daylesford Farm, and The Vegan Kind Supermarket. Three Tasty Mates flavours (Pear Crumble, Very Berry and Salted Caramel) will be shoppable in single packets via Ocado from 8th August 2022, with 136g bags retailing at £2.49. No substitutes accepted!
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