A few weeks ago I got in touch with The Treat Kitchen to learn more about who they are and what they do. After emailing backwards and forwards with Jodie, the Marketing Assistant, she invited me to the store to take some pictures and pick up some gifts to feature on the blog and tell you all what I thought!
If you have been into the city centre of Nottingham you will probably have walked past The Treat Kitchen, it is hard to miss and shame on you if you haven't been in or at least stopped in awe at the colourful displays of tastey treats in the windows. The Treat Kitchen is an independent sweet shop which opened in September 2014 after the owners, Jess and Martin Barnett, returned from living in Australia for 3 years following the birth of their son Max. Whilst in Australia Martin worked for the countries largest retail group as confectionary buyer and Jess worked for RMIT University. The Barnett family have two confectionary factories in Nottingham and are passionate about using traditional methods of production such as copper pans and hand crafting sweets using their original recipes.
As a love for sweet treats has been in the family since the 1890's, Martin and Jess felt that there was a gap in the market for a sweet shop selling high quality goods in a modern and attractive setting. If you think of the usual old fashioned sweet shop you picture a wooden looking room full of plastic containers and a man or woman at a till waiting to weigh them out and put them in a paper bag, right? Well, that is the complete opposite of this sweet shop! The Treat Kitchen has huge glass windows, pastel and light wood decor and beautifully displayed jars and pouches of colourful sweets. The walls are white and the shelves are white and this really does make the products stand out! Jess and Martin also wanted to be resourceful and help the environment at the same time as providing amazing treats - this is why all of their products come in pouches, jars and glass milk bottles so when you have finished eating the delicious contents you can reuse the packaging for whatever you like, a pen pot or a makeup brush jar or even for smoothies?! We have all seen the amazing Pinterest boards with re-used glass bottles and jars.
Now you may be thinking that the sweets aren't any different to what you find in your local Sainsbury's? You are mistaken! Every single sweet has been chosen to reflect the enchanting world of confectionary and the theatre that goes along with it. Supporting other local businesses The Treat Kitchen have traditional sweets with a twist. The hard boiled sweets and rock (including Nottingham Rock) is made at the Barnett families factory and all of the Gourmet Fudge is made in-store and comes in a mouthwatering variety of flavours. Fancy some chocolate? Well then why not try the locally made Gourmet Chocolate Pizza's made with the finest Belgian milk, dark and white chocolate? Or how about some hard boiled sweets resembling family favourites by Tilleys Sweets...Lemon Meringue Pie flavour or Banoffee Pie anyone? Making the windows and shelves colourful is made easy by the 36 different flavours of Jelly Beans available in pouches and bottles all with one flavour in - no more half eaten bags as you will like all of the Jelly Beans you buy! Finally, if you don't want to be completely unhealthy or have to watch your sugar intake The Treat Kitchen also stock Stockley's Sugar Free goods which use naturally occurring sugars so there is no compromise on taste! With 300 varieties of different treats you could easily spend all day filling you arms with months, ok weeks, of sweets for you and your family.
I was lucky enough to be given a sample of a few different products they stock including some traditional favourites. I am a big fan of Jelly Beans and as The Treat Kitchen supply The Jelly Bean Factory ones I knew they were going to be good. Raspberry Jam and Cinnamon (my ALL TIME favourite) were in my bag of goodies and they both were so good. I was also lucky to be able to try the Barnett family's Nottingham Rock which although tastey was lacking a little something, with a slight citrus sweet taste I had to keep reminding myself I was eating rock and not a plain hard boiled sweet. The Treat Kitchen have recently launched a range of Radioactive Sours - a delicious hard boiled sweet covered in malic acid which really makes you squirm for about 30 seconds. After the sour taste has gone you are left with a delightful sweet underneath - I received the Watermelon flavour and they were amazing! Sweetshop classics cannot be forgotten even in a modern environment therefore you are still able to buy your pink shrimps, fizzy cola bottles, chewy milk bottles, torpedo's or even aniseed balls. I got a pouch of foam bananas and although I am not a big fan of banana they really were delicious.
Finally, the big ending to this delicious roller coaster ride is the Gourmet Fudge! The Treat Kitchen have 30 flavours in their collection but rotate 12 flavours at a time on their amazing display which is right in front of you as you enter the store - it seriously grabs your attention before anything else. A small taster of Salted Caramel and Raspberry and White Chocolate was in my bag of treats and they were so creamy and moreish that I was disappointed when I had eaten them. The Salted Caramel was creamy but lacking salt however, the Raspberry and White Chocolate flavour was amazing it was the softest fudge I have eaten and truly tasted like I was eating chocolate not a bar of fudge.
Everything in The Treat Kitchen has been thought about down to the last detail and they even do themed ranges for holidays such as Father's Day and Valentines Day. A range of Strawberries and Cream flavoured goods were also on display for Wimbledon!
Thank you to everyone at The Treat Kitchen for gifting me with the lovely sweets - I will definitely be back!
For all of my readers you can get 10% off your online orders when you type in the promotional code 'ELLIE10' at the checkout.
This cannot be used instore but don't worry you will not miss out as the fudge cannot be purchased online so you get the added treat of being able to buy this in person rather than have it delivered.
The Treat Kitchen, 21-23 Wheeler Gate NG1 2NA Tel: (0115) 941 1661
Twitter: TreatKitchen
The Treat Kitchen, 21-23 Wheeler Gate NG1 2NA Tel: (0115) 941 1661
Twitter: TreatKitchen
I received gifts from The Treat Kitchen for review purposes however all views are my own
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