We woke up on the morning of Tuesday, April 8th to an email with the subject line " Great news about your 2014 sofi Awards entry", and we knew our life as we know it, is going to change, perhaps dramatically over the next few months. To have the opportunity to be a contender for the trophy at the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City in June is beyond anything we could have hoped for, as we know what kind of boost it is going to give to a young startup like ours with a product that is essentially foreign to the majority of citizens of this great country.
Twelve months ago we were still struggling with trying to find the right packaging for our confections. We knew we were doing something that has probably never been done before, at least at a massive commercial scale, which is to package and sell a traditionally sugar-coated confection without the sugar coating. It took some really honest and sometimes brutal feedback from customers and relatives (Lin's mother), for our packaging to evolve to where it is today. It's still a work in progress.
It's been a roller coaster ride since we started marketing our Fruit Jewels to retailers third quarter last year. We have received so much support from our friends and family, the Maui business community, and most importantly, the customers who have come to our stall on Saturday mornings at the Upcountry Farmers Market in the Pukalani Long's Drugs parking lot, and at the various Maui fairs and festivals we've attended, to share their thoughts on our products and our efforts, and to give us their hard-earned dollars in exchange for our confections. We only wished we could spread the word faster about our products, and we wished more retailers would be willing to take a chance on carrying our products.
We are so grateful and overjoyed to be a finalist for the 2014 sofi Awards. It is the most significant industry recognition and validation for our efforts to date. We didn't have much expectations when we submitted our entries, and we will continue to plow along and focus on delivering the best of what our beloved island has to offer to the world.
Here is a nice write-up about us by Carla Tracy, Dining Editor of Maui News July 25, 2013
Starting July 26, 2013, a selection of our Maui Fruit Jewels will be available at the following stores on
Maui, Hawaii:
Kihei
1914 South Kihei Road (inside Kihei Kalama Village)
Kihei, Hawaii 96753
Phone: (808)874-6400
Hours: 10 am - 7:30 pm / open 7 days a week
Upcountry
Kula Marketplace (in Kula Upcountry)
15200 Haleakala Highway Rt. 377 (also known as Kekaulike Ave.)
Kula, Hawaii 96790
Phone: (808)878-2135
Hours: 7 am - 7 pm / open 7 days a week
After almost a year of developing pates de fruits using fresh fruits, vegetables, and wines, gathering customer feedback at local farmers markets, sourcing the right packaging, and then developing this e-commerce site, we are ready to launch our business. This is a very exciting and special milestone for us, having been on Maui since July last year, after leaving our beloved friends in Beijing and Shanghai, and The Fig Tree, our beautiful commercial kitchen. And so here we are, 10 months of product development culminating in these 1"x1" fruit jewels. Hello, world!
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