Premium sweet brand Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls are so big in Japan that the country is about to run out of the world famous sweets.
The Wigan-based company is now supplying an urgent order for 1,200 packets and 672 tins of traditional mint balls and 720 packets of sugar free mint balls after people fell in love with the iconic snacks.
An initial batch is being air freighted to Japan so they arrive as quickly as possible, with the rest being shipped over in the coming days.
The sweets will be used for British events being held for department stores and other high-end retail outlets across the country in September.
The order, from Tokyo-based importer and distributor Beau & Bon Ltd, follows on from an initial order for almost 6,000 tins and bags of traditional and sugar free Mint Balls last November to help meet the country’s demand for quality British products.
John Winnard MBE, Joint Managing Director of Uncle Joe’s, said: “British premium brands are very much in demand in Japan, especially when they have history and tradition.
“Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls fits that demand perfectly, along with things such as English tea, Cornish fudge and Welsh jam, and the fact that country has now run out of mint balls shows how popular they are, with hopefully more orders to follow.”
The initial deal was secured after Beau & Bon saw Uncle Joe’s products at The Summer Fancy Food Show, the largest specialty food industry event in North America, held in New York in June 2019.
Beau & Bon Ltd managing director Maeda Mitsuhiro signed the deal after visiting The Toffee Works, the Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls factory in Wigan.
He saw how the sweets were manufactured and met Joint Managing Directors Antony Winnard and John Winnard MBE, the great, great nephews of the company’s founder, William Santus.
Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls are made by William Santus and Co Ltd, a privately-owned traditional sweet company that was established in 1898. The ownership has been passed down through the family generations.
The Mint Balls are still manufactured using the same traditional methods as when Mrs Santus originally made the sweets in her kitchen in 1898.
The completely natural “secret recipe” has been passed down through the family generations. Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls contain no artificial additives or colours, they are GM free, gluten free and are suitable for the vegetarian/vegan market.
