Ontario candy store run by husband and wife blowing up on TikTok and keeps selling out
A certain candy shop in Ontario has blown up on TikTok with over two million followers, and it's all run by a husband and wife team.
Tastely Box in Peterborough is a purveyor of all kinds of rare and imported candy and snacks, but they've become especially popular on social media for their videos of freeze-drying candy.
In them, you can see mallow-pops, gummies and all manner of candies getting freeze-dried into a styrofoam-like consistency just like novelty astronaut ice cream.
Tastely owner Polly Laneville stars in most of them, taking viewers through the process of freeze-drying the items and then also tasting them to see how they turned out. Along the way she takes you through the sensory elements of the candy from sight to touch and taste, squeezing each item between her fingers.
Laneville started up Tastely with her husband James in March 2021.
"My husband and I have always had a sweet tooth. As high school sweethearts, we have always wanted to start a business together," Polly Laneville tells blogTO.
"We made candy boxes for each other for date nights after our kids were born and my husband was really encouraging me on using that idea as a starting base for our business someday."
When lockdowns hit and getting candy became a little more difficult than popping to the corner store, Polly says they "decided it was a now or never situation and jumped in."
What started out in a 200-square-foot space has now grown to two locations, and they've had to update customers to expect longer processing times on orders due to overwhelmingly high demand. Shopping on their website, you'll see that many popular items are sold out.
Products at Tastely include rare Nerds Ropes, Chubby soda and candy from the UK and Mexico, for prices as low as a couple bucks. Their specialty freeze-dried candy isn't just for the videos, also: it's available to buy.
"We started blowing up on TikTok about 3 months into starting our business. We also blew up again recently with our freeze-dried experiment time videos. They have been super popular and people have fun watching them," says Laneville.
"Our most popular videos would be our freeze-dried experiment time videos. When people see us in public they will sometimes yell out at me, 'it's freeze-dry experiment time again!' Our most viral video hit 35 million views."
That video showed not only candy being freeze-dried, but also pickles.
"I honestly am not entirely sure what's made people so excited about our business. But from what people have told me, i.e. followers and friends, they enjoy my bubbly personality and honesty when it comes to what's good and what's not," says Laneville.
"A lot of people will just say something is good to try and sell it, where I am happy to let people know what I didn't or don't enjoy. I think that honesty is important to people."
They're hoping to level up on freeze-drying in the future with an industrial freeze dryer to up production.
"We also have a large event we will be hosting for the first time in the summer of 2023, but we aren't giving too many details on that just yet since we are still ironing out some important details," says Laneville.
Tastely Box
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