He hopes to one day open his own sweet store
A schoolboy has made £1,000 after setting up his own sweets business.
Luke Scotney, from Peterborough, has a severe nut allergy and struck upon the idea for his own business after struggling to find pick and mix he could eat.
The 11-year-old has always had an interest in business, and would often pitch ideas to his mum Michelle, most of which were creative but unrealistic,
That was until Luke shared a "genius" idea that stood out from the rest - sweets4mysweet.com, a website selling pick and mix that doesn't contain traces of nuts.
The idea has now grown into a business that sells sweets free from other allergens as well.
Michelle was committed to helping her son with the idea and together the pair learned how to build a website, ordered in stock and launched the business in December 2021.
And the money is rolling in.
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Luke started his free-from sweets business with his mum Michelle (SWNS)[/caption]
"I have a severe nut allergy, and it's been impossible to find pick n mix sweets that are safe to eat," Luke said.
"I pitched the idea to mum and we looked and couldn't find anyone doing something similar - so we launched the idea ourselves.
"We're currently on our third restock of sweets having sold out twice before.
"We've made about £1,000 - but we are on track to make more."
Michelle and Luke found two sweet wholesalers to order from and ordered 50 different types of sweets in 3kg packets each.
The sweets come packaged separately to avoid any allergy contamination and all are completely free from traces of nuts.
They keep their produce in a spare room at home and recently received top marks from Peterborough Council after an inspection on health and safety.
They managed to sell out their first order before Christmas for a profit of £500, before selling out again for another profit of £500.
They're currently halfway through shifting their third restock of sweets.
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The pair are currently halfway through shifting their latest batch of stock (SWNS)[/caption]
The pair are currently halfway through shifting their latest batch of stock (SWNS)[/caption]
"Luke's ideas up to this point had always been great - just a bit out there," Michelle explained.
"But the nut free pick and mix business was genius and, more importantly, very feasible.
"He's allergic to peanuts and tree nuts so he knows what it's like not to be able to have pick and mix. So I lent him the money and together we launched Sweets4mysweet.com.
"The expense of using a website builder was huge, so we did some research and built our own. It took about a month of trial and error - but when we found the format we wanted, we got it up and running in a day."
The mother and son are 50/50 partners, and the majority of the profit is currently being pumped back into the business and repaying Michelle for the start-up loan.
Luke plans to buy warehouse space in the future so he's able to order more stock and grow his business, employ staff and eventually open his own store.
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Luke hopes to one day open his own sweet shop (SWNS)[/caption]
Discussing the finances of the business, Luke explained: "Mum's in charge of the finances and I'm the creative one - although I'm learning all the time.
Luke hopes to one day open his own sweet shop (SWNS)[/caption]
Discussing the finances of the business, Luke explained: "Mum's in charge of the finances and I'm the creative one - although I'm learning all the time.
"75 percent of all profit goes back into the business, 12.5 percent goes in my savings and 12.5 percent goes to repaying my mum and dad for the loan.
"Obviously the money is great, but it's just as much about providing people with sweets which they can trust and enjoy.
"Me and Mum work great as a team and so far there's been no hiccups - but we're always prepared for the future.
"It doesn't matter I'm young now, I plan to expand this business right through to adulthood - I can't wait."
But the grind doesn't stop, and Michelle explained that Luke has chosen to put some of his money into silver - as a way of making more cash.
She said: "Luke invests in silver coins from a website, as they grow in value.
"Silver is starting to become a rare commodity. It's used in iPhones and in cars, so it's going up in value.
"The coins themselves weigh around an ounce and come in sets. They are are released constantly and differ in rarity."
