Kiama Sweet Company owner Jennifer James is preparing to take her confectionary business on the road for the first time. Well, at least as far as the Kiama Winter Festival.

Her business is nearing its one-year anniversary in July 2023, so we caught up with Jennifer to discuss how the past 12 months have been.

 “It’s been great, it’s been really well received by the community,” Jennifer told The Bugle.

The idea for Kiama Sweet Company actually came from Jennifer’s brother, who has run a similar business in regional Victoria for around 20 years.

“My brother has a store called the Echuca Heritage Sweet Store on the border of NSW. It’s much bigger than here but it’s still pretty much the same store.

“I wanted to replicate what he’s done here, so with his assistance, I opened it and tweaked it a little bit more because the clients are a bit different.”

Jennifer says the main difference between her Kiama clients is the frequent visits from Sydneysiders who are harder to impress. She says she’s landed on the winning formula to keep locals and tourists happy though.

 “What I wanted to do was really create something that wasn’t just a lolly store. We’ve got a range of Dutch Licorice, European Chocolate, a range of beautiful cordials from Beechworth in Victoria’s high country, so just something a bit different,” says Jennifer.

“Being a sweet company, we try to go into everything that’s sweet, although the Dutch licorice is pretty salty. We also have a range of gifts that go with those chocolates like tins filled with yummy things.”

Jennifer also prides herself on bringing snacks not just from around the world, but around Australia, to Kiama as well, including fudge from Adelaide, chocolate from Victoria, and all the American imports a kid in a candy store dreams of.

Despite being a sweet-focused business, the proliferation of online food challenges involving spicy snacks has led Jennifer to diversify her supply into products attempting to innovate in the confectionery market.

“We’ve found that spicy has come around in recent years. So, there’s spicy Tarkis and that sort of thing, but there’s a Mexican range with sweet and spicy, so we have lollipops that are watermelon and mango with a chilli dipping powder.

 As for why Jennifer chose Kiama to locate her business? She says the choice was easy.

“Spending the last 30 years in Sydney, I had always been coming to Kiama because I have a friend that lives nearby. I had left Sydney [after COVID lockdowns] and didn’t really want to go back into that space.

“I was really looking for that relaxed, beautiful town with good tourism and I don’t think you can get better than Kiama. It’s just a divine place to be.”

The Kiama Sweet Company is on Terralong Street, near the Collins Street roundabout.