UCLA alumna Rosie O’Neill and her now-fiance Josh Resnick went to an outdoor screening of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” on their third date.
Afterward, they fantasized about creating a candy store for adults. When the two realized that no such shop existed near them, they launched the website for Sugarfina, a gourmet confections boutique. The flagship store located in Beverly Hills followed after, as well as additional locations in San Francisco, Glendale and Costa Mesa.
The couple traveled to countries such as Morocco, Greece and Sweden, among others, to taste test local sweets as a hobby before opening their own shop. At the same time, business on the website took off and they realized they could make a living out of their passion.
“(After the site’s launch), things took off really fast, so we quit our jobs,” said O’Neill, who attended UCLA as an undergraduate and received her master’s in business administration from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
O’Neill said the shop’s aesthetic, which features neatly packaged boxes and jars of brightly colored sweets sitting atop gleaming white tabletops, is purposely distinct from other candy stores in the area. She added that while most candy stores cater to kids, Sugarfina took a different approach by aiming for a higher-end, gourmet market.
“There are no shovels and plastic bags here,” O’Neill said. “We wanted to create something that was much more elegant and special. Everything (in the store) is packaged so that you can give them as a gift to someone else or to yourself.”
O’Neill said that not only is the store’s design different, but so are its contents. Lit by hanging chandeliers, the candy is made from foreign ingredients and includes vegan and antioxidant-filled options. Resnick said the positive response they immediately received from people outside their circle of family and friends, as well as, in the media reassured them that Sugarfina would be a success.
“Are people going to like the candy as much as we did?” Resnick said. “You don’t know until you know. Really quickly we discovered that people were loving what we presented to them and there’s nothing more satisfying than that.”
Though there were initial worries about launching the site and store, the positive outcome quickly surpassed fear, Resnick said.
“When you’re dropping everything with the goal of traveling the world to find new candy and start a business with the love of your life, there’s a mix of anxiety and excitement involved,” he said.
Resnick said his largest concern when developing the brand stemmed from a lack of experience in this industry.
“I had never opened retail stores before,” Resnick said. “With all the logisitics of bringing products in from around the world, there were a lot of things I didn’t know. I had to learn so much so fast and play a lot of catch up.”
The moment he knew the shop was going to be a lasting business venture was when he began to see what he calls, “Sugarfina in the wild,” or in the homes of strangers who aren’t personally associated with them.
“We quickly broke out of family and friends – complete strangers were buying and loving it,” Resnick said.”We walked into a friend of a friend’s party and there was a box of Sugarfina on the counter and a stash of Sugarfina in the pantry.”
O’Neill said her background in communication studies and marketing helped prepare her to run the company. Before pursuing Sugarfina, O’Neill worked at Mattel for seven years and helped further the Barbie brand.
“I learned a lot about consumer behavior,” O’Neill said. “The classes I took in communication taught me about what makes people tick and how they think. When you’re creating a business, the value of (public relation) can be really huge.”
More Sugarfina stores will be opening in Atlanta, Dallas and New York by the end of the year, O’Neill said.