Candy Kittens: The Complete UK Guide

For roughly two years, Candy Kittens was a sweet company that did not make any sweets. The name existed, the logo existed, tens of thousands of people followed it online and asked where they could buy it, and there was nothing to sell them. That is an unusual way to start a confectionery business, and it explains a good deal about how the brand behaves now.

This covers where it came from, the family connection almost nobody mentions, why the range turned vegan several years after launch rather than at the beginning, and what the flavours actually are.

A Sweet Company With No Sweets

Jamie Laing and Ed Williams started Candy Kittens in 2012. Laing was appearing on Made in Chelsea at the time and mentioned the idea on air before anything had been made, which meant millions of people heard the name of a company that did not yet have a product.

The pair have been candid since about what followed. They had around fifty thousand followers and a great deal of interest, and no idea how to make a sweet. Williams has described it plainly: they were a sweets company without any sweets for at least two years. What they could do was print things, so they sold T-shirts, pens and merchandise to keep the name alive while they worked out the rest.

The research method was equally unglamorous. They googled how to make sweets, which eventually led them to a confectionery trade fair in Germany. The first shop opened on the King's Road in London, and the brand moved into Selfridges after that. Building the audience before the product is now a fairly standard playbook; in 2012 it was mostly an accident.

The Family Connection Nobody Mentions

There is a detail in Laing's background that rarely comes up in coverage of the brand. His great-great-grandfather was Sir Alexander Grant, the man who created the McVitie's digestive biscuit in 1892.

So the founder of a modern gourmet sweet brand is five generations descended from the inventor of one of the most enduring products in British biscuit history. It is the kind of coincidence that sounds invented, and it is a reasonable answer to anyone who assumes the brand is purely a television spin-off. The interest in confectionery predates the reality show by more than a century.

Why the Range Went Vegan

Candy Kittens is now known as a vegan brand, and that is often assumed to have been the founding idea. It was not. By the company's own account the sweets turned vegan after years of product development, once the founders understood what was actually in most gummies.

Williams has described the realisation bluntly — that when they started they had no idea there was meat in sweets, and did not know what gelatine meant. Gelatine is made from animal collagen, and it is the standard setting agent in most gummy confectionery. Replacing it means reformulating the texture from scratch, because gelatine is what gives a gummy its particular chew, and plant-based alternatives behave differently.

Getting that texture right without gelatine is the technical achievement the brand is built on, and it is why the range positions itself against conventional gummies rather than alongside them. Candy Kittens became the first B Corp certified sweets brand in October 2022. As with any product, check the ingredient panel on the specific line for the full declaration.

The Flavours

The range is built around fruit flavours pitched at adults rather than children, which is the whole premise — the founders set out to make a sweet for grown-ups rather than a children's sweet in a smarter bag.

Eton Mess is the one people search for by name more than any other, and it is the clearest statement of the brand's intent: a dessert flavour, strawberry and cream, rather than a generic fruit. Sour Watermelon is the other standout and the sharpest thing in the range. Wild Strawberry is the straightest fruit flavour and the most conventional. Very Cherry and Lucky Cherry cover the cherry end, Wanderlust is the tropical mix, Loves is the heart-shaped format, and Shox Sour takes the sour side further.

Two pack sizes do most of the work: the 54g bag as an impulse and pocket format, and the 140g sharing bag. Availability moves with each delivery, so check the Candy Kittens brand page for the current range.

Why It Works in a Shop

Candy Kittens occupies a position most confectionery does not. It is priced and packaged as a premium product, aimed at adults, and sold on the strength of the brand rather than the format — which means it sits comfortably next to things it does not compete with.

Three things make it straightforward to sell. The brand recognition is already there, built over more than a decade of television and social media, so there is nothing to explain. The gelatine-free positioning answers a question a growing number of customers are asking before they buy. And the 140g sharing bag suits the sharing format that has taken over so much of the category, while the 54g sits naturally at the till.

It merchandises best alongside other premium and adult-facing lines rather than buried in a children's fixture, and it pairs well with the novelty and gifting end of a range. Browse the full candy range for what else sits alongside it.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are Candy Kittens? A British gourmet gummy brand, founded in 2012 and built around fruit flavours aimed at adults rather than children. The sweets are cat-shaped, come in 54g and 140g bags, and are made without gelatine. The brand started life on social media before it had a product at all — for roughly two years it existed as a name, a following and a range of T-shirts while the founders worked out how to make sweets.

Who makes Candy Kittens? The company was founded by Jamie Laing and Ed Williams in 2012 and is still run by them, from a London headquarters the team calls the Sweet Factory. Laing came to public attention on Made in Chelsea; Williams is the co-founder and chief executive. It is an independent British company rather than part of a larger confectionery group.

Are Candy Kittens vegan? The range is made without gelatine, which is the animal-derived setting agent used in most conventional gummies, and the brand is built on that positioning — it became the first B Corp certified sweets brand in October 2022. Notably this was not the founding formulation: the sweets were reformulated some years after launch, once the founders learned what gelatine was. As with any product, check the ingredient panel on the specific line rather than relying on a brand-level assumption.

What flavours do Candy Kittens come in? Eton Mess is the best known and the most searched — a strawberry and cream dessert flavour rather than a straight fruit. Alongside it the range runs to Sour Watermelon, Wild Strawberry, Very Cherry, Lucky Cherry, Wanderlust, Loves and Shox Sour. Flavours rotate and limited editions come and go, so the current list is best checked on the brand page.

Why are they called Candy Kittens? The sweets are cat-shaped, and the name came before the product did. Jamie Laing had wanted to open a fashion-forward sweet shop; Ed Williams suggested making a sweet specifically for adults instead. The name was already circulating publicly, through Laing's television appearances, well before there was anything in a bag to attach it to.

Where can you buy Candy Kittens wholesale in the UK? Sweet and Glory supplies the range wholesale from Manchester with no minimum order, in both the 54g impulse bag and the 140g sharing format, across the core flavours. Availability moves with each delivery, so the brand page is the best guide to what is currently in.

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