2009 – The year of the cookie

We’re nearly at the end of 2009 now, and all we can say is WOW.

What a fantastic year!

We can’t believe how far we’ve come in only 12 months.

But it didn’t start off that great, January 2009 was pretty bleak in the world of Sobo – we were freezing our chocolate chips off at Camden Market every Saturday and Sunday, dreaming of bigger things.   To top it off, we got burgled, and our laptop containing all of our fantastic recipes, ideas, hopes and dreams got taken from us…..

So we sat down with a good old fashioned pen and paper and started to work on how we could make things better at Sobo.  We decided that 2 market stalls weren’t quite enough to change the world of chocolate, and that not enough people were getting to find out just how good cookies and brownies could be.

Whilst still deciding on how we were going to expand, we were standing on a wet Saturday afternoon selling our wares at an Artisan Market at the Queen Victoria Pub, Uxbridge Road in Shepherds Bush.  (I’m not sure if this market still goes on, but I highly recommend the sausage rolls from the Pieminster if you’re there, and then to head in for some amazing food from inside the Pub).

A very nice family came to try our cookies, and we introduced ourself to the Dad, called Tim – who happens to run a number of cafes called Brew – (Borough Market and Northcote road are just 2 of his establishments) .  He asked if we could supply wholesale, and without thinking how we would deliver (we both have full time jobs) we said ‘of course’ and agreed to supply cookies the following week. 

A week later, we were introduced to a friend of Dom at the Farm Collective, who became our second customer. 

At this time, Ben came on full time to work for us, and started to deliver to an ever growing number of cafes – Ben doubling up as a salesman, driver and everything else a small company needs when the owners aren’t there full time.

Our customer list grew, as did our recognition.  Then in April we received a call from a lady who worked at a large department store called Selfridges.  We were convinced it was a wind-up, but we were invited to talk to them, and 3 months, lots of forms and lots of food testing later, we were on the shelves in Selfridges in the foodhall. 

Two very exciting food fairs later on, whilst still growing the cafe business, and we were in discussions with another large foodhall in London – to cut a long story short, we turned them down (crazy, it would seem, but probably one of the best decisions we’ve ever made) as what they wanted wasn’t quite what we wanted (very long story).

Then in September we met with Harvey Nichols – who wanted us on their shelves – and we wanted to be on their shelves! So we launched there just a few weeks ago and it’s going amazingly well!

A pretty good food fair in December and a nice Christmas party, and here we are.

We’re soooo proud to be where we are right now, to go from 2 market stalls to supplying about 35 cafes and two of the most prestigous department stores IN THE WORLD!

2010 is going to be even bigger for us – we have our online store launching in January, and lots more plans we’re finalising, as well as sorting out a big Fat Irish Wedding for ourselves! 

So a big thanks to everyone that has ever worked with us inside or outside Sobo, you should all know by now just how much we appreciate our legendary hard working Oompa Loompas (Ben, Elle, Soontara, Sam, Rita, and our supersubs Handy Henry and Ryan the Raconteur).

And also a big thank you to the following:

Bobby Rakich and Chris Dobson for being the most amazing design team in the world!  Louise for all the photos of our beautiful goodies.

Creative Orchestra for being such an amazing neighbour in the creative and kindness sense (and for putting up with Ben). 

Dave and Andy for being superstars for helping us move unit and and also helping out at events when we needed help.

Malcom and Jo at Vantage House  for being everything a small chocolate company needs.

And finally thanks to everyone who has ever bought a Sobo Chocolate, Cookie or Brownie – we love each and every one of you!

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Tagged as: brownies, chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, cookies