From the days of catapults in pockets and caterpillars in jars, Fudge Kitchen launches a nostalgic Tuck Shop selection of traditional sweet flavours, uncannily recreated in artisan fudge …

… amongst a cleverly curated and gorgeously repackaged range of nine themed, hand made gourmet butter fudge selections across three new lines, offering something for everyone …

all available from April 2019 and launching at:

Stand N3328, IFE, ExCel London, 17th– 20th March 2019

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As Fudge Kitchen prepares launch a raft of unique new products and beautiful new contemporary packaging at IFE, MD Sian Holt reflects on two very busy years for the premium confectioners, which mark a confident and contemporary FK coming of age.

“Fudge Kitchen is in the midst of a radical overhaul of our ranges and our packaging, which is very exciting”explains MD Sian Holt. “It started last year with a rebrand of our seven shops, our bags and of our e-commerce website; and continues this year with a beautiful repackaging of our brittles and caramels range and of our themed fudge selections, giving them a range and brand unity and a contemporary uplift.”

“The products and flavours across all our ranges have also been carefully curated”,she continues, “to offer a wider span of targets in design, price points and flavours.And represent our continued focus on innovation and on developing and initiating emerging trends, which includes the vintage one that refuses to go away.”

Across three sizes of nine, 15 and 24 piece selections, covering a total of nine themes that range from Boozy to Cream Tea to Best of British, there is a selection for everyone. Each premium box is packed with hand made, gourmet butter fudge, made in small batches by an artisan team using all-natural, gluten free ingredients; each piece individually hand decorated. And all three lines have been given an elegant rebrand by Let's Talk design studio, continuing FK's pretty new pastel palette, luxury foiled features and signature bronze, satin ribbon; here doubling as a pulley for an ingenious drawer reveal feature.

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Sharer selections …

A hopeful title (we can't see much sharing going on here), but each selection features 15 substantial squares of artisan fudge in five unique flavours, across a range of four iconic themes.

Availability:       www.fudgekitchen.co.uk from April plus selected stockists

weight:                  330g

RRP:                     £15

Tuck Shop Sharer …

Prepare to be transported back to the days of skipping ropes and half-mast socks, via five retro sweet flavours: Pear Drop, Parma Violet, Lemon Sherbet, Blackcurrant & Liquorice and Rhubarb & Custard, all perfectly reproduced in artisan fudge. Nostalgia in a contemporary box.

Salted Sharer …

The eternal winner of sweet and salt is given an FK upgrade with a selection of artisan salts combined with perfectly complementary gourmet butter fudges. Take your pick from enrobed Dark Chocolate with Rock Salt, Rich Chocolate with Chilli Salt, Maple with Smoked Salt, Butterscotch with Sea Salt or Caramel with Fleur de Sel.

Boozy Sharer ...

A confectionery cocktail cabinet of delights, comprising Great Taste Award-winning Juniper & Kefir Lime Dry Gin, Spiced Rum & Raisin, Espresso Martini, Whiskey Mac and Strawberry Vanilla Vodka & Black Pepper, featuring artisan tipples from Kentish micro-brewers, Nip from the Hip vodkas and Anno gins.

Traditional Sharer …

Five firm favourites, including two Great Taste Award winners in Sea Salted Caramel and Penuche Butterscotch, which are joined by Strawberry Jam & Clotted Cream, Chocolate Fruit & Nut and Traditional Toffee.

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Squares collections …

Nine pieces of artisan butter gourmet fudge across three ranges that celebrate tradition and Britishness (with the odd exotic, leftfield number thrown in to keep you on your toes).

Weight:                  190g 

RRP:                     £10

Availability:        www.fudgekitchen.co.uk from April plus selected stockists

Best of British collection …

A celebration of some of the recipes that put the Great in front of Britain. Make way for Cherry Bakewell, Apple Crumble, Clotted Cream, Traditional Vanilla, Chocolate Fruit & Nut, Stem Ginger, White Chocolate & Raspberry and Great Taste Award winners Double Chocolate and Butterscotch.

Tasting collection …

Bristling with awards, classic flavours and best sellers, this is a crowd-pleaser line-up of Clotted Cream, White Chocolate & Raspberry, Mocha and Chilli Chocolate, alongside Great Taste Award winners Sea Salted Caramel, Double Chocolate, Hazelnut Praline, Peanut Butter and Sticky Toffee Pudding.

Cream Tea collection …

Featuring hand blended teas from Kentish tea specialist Debonair Tea Company and some teatime all-time heroes, you can almost hear the clink of silver on porcelain. Will it be one lump or two of Persian Chai, Apple Crumble, Cherry Bakewell, Lemon Tart, Strawberry Jam & Clotted Cream, Chocolate Brownie, Earl Grey or Great Taste Award winners Sticky Toffee Pudding and Hazelnut Praline? 

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Signature selections…

A new addition to the FK confectionery canon, the Signature selection is packed with a super indulgent spread of 24 generous pieces of FK's most popular, award-winning and distinctly British flavours; and is available either in a Union flag-bearing or a classic bronze foiled, magnetised box; ready to target any celebration or consumer.

Amongst the 12 featured flavours doubled up within, are five prestigious Great Taste Award winners: Sea Salted Caramel, Double Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Butterscotch and Sticky Toffee Pudding. They are joined by Traditional Vanilla, Enrobed Dark Chocolate with Rock Salt, Café Mocha, Stem Ginger, Chocolate Fruit & Nut, Cherry Bakewell and White Chocolate & Raspberry; completing a comprehensive masterclass in artisan fudge-making.

Weight:                  525g 

RRP:                     £25

Availability:       www.fudgekitchen.co.uk from April plus selected stockists

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Editors' notes …

• Fudge Kitchen started as Jim Garrahy's Fudge Kitchen in Blackpool in 1983. In 1995, the company was bought by MD Sian Holt, who expanded into seven still thriving shops in Bath, York, Cambridge, Canterbury, Windsor, Edinburgh and Oxford, before steering the brand into a new, exciting wholesale phase of its life, with the development in 2012 of the Gourmet Butter Fudge range, which heralded the opening of their SALSA accredited production facility in Aylesham, Kent. Their 90+ products, across a menu of some 40 flavours, have racked up seventeen Great Taste Awards and include Drinking Fudge, Fudge Sauces, Gift Hampers, themed gift selections, Sliders, Sharing Squares, Fudge Making kits and the Delectables range of Brittles and Caramels. All are available online at www.fudgekitchen.co.uk and selected lines are available through over 200 stockists nationwide, including Selfridges, Waitrose, Harrods, Lakeland, Firebox, Fenwicks, Adnams and independent speciality stores. Fudge Kitchen also supply some of the UK's most luxurious hotels,WembleyStadium events and make exclusive and own label premium confectionery products for Selfridges, Harrods, Harvey Nichols Knightsbridge and Whittard's of Chelsea, amongst others. They export to up to 20 countries from France to the Falkland Islands. In 2018, they were invited to host a month long Christmas pop-up in the famous Fifth Floor Foodmarket in Harvey Nichols Knightsbridge.

Digital brochure: http://www.fudgekitchen.co.uk/files/FudgeKitchenCatalogue.pdf

• Fudge Kitchen supply their products direct, but also export through European distributors Bommel, in Holland (http://www.bommelsconserven.nl), Der Suesse Regenbogen, Karsten Ebert, Gross-u Einzelhandel (https://dersuesseregenbogen.de) and Piccadilly Purveyors of Fine Food in New Zealand (http://piccadilly.co.nz/).

• The boasty bit: Fudge Kitchen are proud to have received seventeen Great Taste Awards in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 for their Himalayan Salted Caramels, Honey & Ginger Caramels, Rich Chocolate & Orange Fudge, Penuche Fudge, Double Trouble Fudge, Peanut Butter Fudge, Sticky Toffee Pudding Gourmet Fudge, Hazelnut Heaven Gourmet Fudge, Sea Salted Caramel Fudge, Juniper & Kaffir Lime Dry Gin Fudge, Butterscotch Fudge Sauce, Stem Ginger Fudge Sauce, Almond Bark, Peanut Brittle, No Added Sugar Peanut Brittle and No Added Sugar Salted Caramels; and to have been named Ambient Manufacturing Company of the Year at the 2014/15 industry Oscars, the Food Manufacturing Excellence Awards. MD Sian Holt was awarded a Special Award for Leadership and Visionby Produced in Kent, has been appointed theKent Institute of Directors' Ambassador for Food & Drink, sits on the board of Produced in Kent and was listed in the Kent Business Power List of 40 most influential business leaders in Kent.

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weblinks …                                                             

w:  www.fudgekitchen.co.uk                                                 

f:  www.facebook.com/fudgekitchen                                    

tw: @fudgekitchen                                                              

blog: www.fudgeblog.co.uk                                                   

instagram: fudgekitchen_uk

linked in: sian-holt-6b71a02b

press enquiries …

Lisa Jones, Dandelion PR

e: lisa@dandelionpr.co.uk 

t: 07968 963456

tw: @dandylisa