The world of Bonboncoland stems from a personal passion, and suitably is run in a very personal way too, with Mandy – assisted by her husband and children – putting together the products.
“We’ve made all the tooling and everything we need to create these products ourselves – I haven’t asked for a penny from anybody – it’s all me hands, heart and head,” she explained.
Even features like the candy tree trunks, which are provided by artisans in the UK, are designed to Mandy’s specs.
Pictured: The volcano ‘event in a box’ – which Mandy said was one of the most popular over lockdown – sees red molten lava candy erupt over Milk Chocolate, popcorn, gummy snakes or smurfs, and apple grass.
Populated by weird and wonderful characters such as ‘Nelly the Pink Elephant’ chocolate tree, the ‘Just for Ewe Tree’, and little shrubberies made for smaller hands, the packs are sent in the post or hand delivered to addresses, alongside ‘munch while you make’ packs for those who just can’t wait to tuck in even before the creation is finished.
The shrub concept was first created after a charity asked if there was an activity both grandparents/parents and young children could do to bring them together in the aftermath of divorce.
Mandy’s business has been driven by a longstanding passion for chocolate craft on the island.
Before she set up Bonboncoland in 2016, she started out producing larger edible constructions that could weigh over 1kg, and feed a dinner party of 20.
She began displaying these creations to the wider public at exhibitions and events, at venues such as the Harbour Gallery and for groups like the Women’s Institute.
Pictured: A package of shrubs with gummy garden worms.
As she was doing this and taking in people’s excited responses, she had a moment of inspiration – people enjoyed the crafting and creation behind the chocolate.
“When people saw them… They said, ‘It must be such fun to be a chocolatier,’ and that was the lightbulb moment, because I realised they weren’t getting any of the fun,” she remarked.
She added: “I wanted a product that was ageless and genderless, I wanted a product that made people laugh and brought them together, I wanted people to have more fun than they currently do out of a box of chocolates.”
Thinking this could transfer to Britain, she made sure that people would get to customise both the look and the chocolate and sweets included in their creation, downloading the external pieces for their character and choosing their treats of choice to build it.
In 2016 the world of Bonboncoland was born, and Mandy shortly after registered her creations with the intellectual property office, which she formulated in her own facility on the side of her house, referring to it as her “lab.”
Coming up with a name for the world came naturally to her as well, having people excitedly exclaim how “bonkers” the creations were when they saw them.
”Coming from a French extraction, it’s a natural thing to be thinking ‘bonkers’… ‘bonbon’… ‘Bonbonco’,” she explained.
Appearing in people’s homes and at local events, Mandy began sharing the constructions with the Jersey public that year, showing islanders how they could put together their tasty treats into characters and landscapes.
Pictured: Bonbonco’s characters are a varied bunch.
Being “run off [her] feet” with these events, and having essentially run the business as a one-woman project with help from her family, she then wound down to spend the next three years talking with manufacturers in the UK to help her.
By November 2019, she had recruited and trained a chocolatier in the UK, who was producing the pots of chocolate and also the two demi-spheres of chocolate that make up the main construction of every tree – she also had guidance from a number of UK food professors and innovators who helped her along the way.
Starting up business again ahead of the first lockdown proved fortuitous, with families wanting to be able to do something together without leaving the house.
Among the family favourites during lockdown was the volcano, with many customers saying they loved the idea of doing “something crazy in the safety of our own home!”
Video: A demo of the blackberry and raspberry tree construction.
Though the pressures of life meant that her UK chocolatier eventually had to take a step back, Mandy has now restarted herself on the island, focusing on getting out to local events, as well as training up a new chocolatier who has volunteered to learn the Bonbonco ways.
“I don’t think anybody who’s gone through the pandemic hasn’t learnt something. It taught me I really, really miss being with the people, and showing them the crazy, and making up stuff with them,” she said.
Looking to the future, she says she would love to be able to train more people “become chocolatiers the Bonbonco way, because we have different techniques that don’t exist for others”.
She would also like to grow the events side of the business, “bringing people together and making them laugh, because there wasn’t a single person in an event that doesn’t just start chuckling.”
And Mandy’s ambitions don’t stop there.
Looking further into the future, she’d love to see Bonboncoland become a “bricks and mortar destination”, where people could come from across the island and the world to make and take their creations home, and is even thinking about creating an app for the characters too.
For now, however, the aim is spreading the fun and passion of being a chocolatier around the island.
“People do love it, and people need more fun now than ever… It is bonkers, and I love it and I’m proud.”