Iconic brand enjoys sweet taste of success
Mention Wigan anywhere around the world and you’re soon likely to be talking about three things – its famous rugby league team, the town’s iconic pier and Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls.
The iconic sweets are made by William Santus and Co – a privately-owned traditional sweet company that was established in 1898. Ownership has been passed down through the family generations.
Each year 33 million mint balls are made in the same original way created when William Santus’ wife Ellen started boiling up sugar in the kitchen of her Victorian terrace home.
And today the sweets, sold in familiar red tins featuring a friendly-faced man in top hat and tails, are recognised around the globe – from Japan to the USA and beyond.
Current managing directors John Winnard, 62, and his brother Antony, 60, are William Santus’s great-great nephews. Today the company employs 25 people and has a turnover of £1.2million.
Earlier this year Prince Charles paid a visit to The Toffee Works in Wigan where production of the sweets was moved to exactly 100 years ago.
These days it’s not just mint balls, the company produce flavoured sweets using rhubarb and ginger, sugar free ones and a variety of other treats. There’s even been a special limited addition Uncle Joe’s Gin.
And the firm has just signed a major $64,000 to supply sweets to USA – that’s around 576,000 sweets – so Uncle Joe’s is taking on Uncle Sam.
The $64,000 dollar deal to supply tins of Wildberry Gin, Rhubarb & Ginger Gin, Apple Cider and Dark Rum flavoured sweets shaped like the iconic mint balls, is with Cost Plus World Market, which has 257 outlets across America.
The deal with the California-based company was completed after Uncle Joe’s attended The Summer Fancy Food Show, the largest specialty food industry event in North America, held in New York this summer.
John Winnard, joint managing director of Uncle Joe’s, says: “The business has always been in the family and that has many benefits.
“The core knowledge and experience is always there, as even when family members retire they are always on hand as a source of advice.
“As brothers, Antony and I see a lot of each other outside the business and are in constant touch, so we can move the business forward in lots of ways even when we are out of the work environment.
“The challenges come when family relationships take a back seat to work and you start to think you’ve got to discuss work every time you are together.”
“Neither of us have plans to leave the business any time soon but we have started to plan for what happens when we do retire.
“We have a very good team around us who aren’t all family members but keeping the tradition alive and passing the business down through the family is still very much an option.”
