Sweets in the City goes vegan, after Sugar investment

Sweets in the City, known for its personalized ‘Letterbox Treats’ since 2010 and the fact that founder Sarah Lynn won the British version of The Apprentice in 2017 securing investment from the show’s host Lord Sugar, has launched ‘Duals’, a new vegan range.

"Sweets in the City offers people beautifully packaged sweets for all occasions, with stylish packaging and a delicious taste, but with the investment from Lord Sugar and our new partnership I wanted to create a truly unique range of vegan sweets that everyone could enjoy. The demand is there for quality product that does not compromise on taste, and that’s exactly what we created with our new range. I’m so excited to share our vegan sweets – and it doesn’t matter if you’re not vegan, they’re still just as delicious​,” she said.

The vegan range will include four different ‘dual’ flavours - Pineapple & Coconut, Mango & Passionfruit, Apple & Watermelon and Strawberry & Lemonade and are available in new 50g grab and go size packs from three top name UK stores - Waitrose, Holland & Barrett and WHSmith airport stores.

The sweet treats are both gluten free and vegan, alongside being made with natural colours and real fruit juice. They are also made with a gelatine-free pectin fruit flavoring. The pectin centres mean that they maintain a truly fruity and dual texture, said Lynn.

Lynn told Confectionery News: “Vegan recipes in confectionery are few and far between, so the Duals are quite innovative. The quality of the jellies, texture and flavor palette is something new. You have one flavor on the outer shell and when you bite into the pectin centre there is another flavor, which sounds straight forward, but actually it is quite difficult to develop and manufacture, and get it right​!”

In 2017, Lynn decided that her confectionery business was ready for huge growth and she applied to be a candidate on BBC One’s The Apprentice. Lynn walked away as one of two winners in a historic £500,000 ($625,000) 'double hiring'. This was the first time in 13 series of The Apprentice that Lord Sugar doubled his investment in the final, naming two Apprentice winners for 2017 and declaring Sarah a 'fantastic expert in her field'.

“It’s been a big project for us, to take the gelatin out, but keep a delicious taste as well as being more healthy has been something really important to us. I would like to think that if people do taste Duals they wouldn’t even know they were natural or taste less fun than other sweets on the market​,” said Lynn.