Lolly business a sweet gig for brothers

Two young boys from North Lakes have come up with a pretty sweet way to make some extra cash.

Brothers Liam, 13 and Owen, 11, are the faces of Get Sweet – a online company they founded to make and sell chocolate and lolly boxes for sweet tooths to munch on.

The idea to start the business came to Liam in 2021. His younger brother then jumped on board to help.

“I’m not old enough to have a job yet, so I decided to make a business because I wanted to make some money of my own,” Liam says.

“Everyone likes some treats, and me and my mates love chocolates and lollies, so I thought it would be a good idea to put them into boxes and sell them.

“The boxes are really popular, especially around the weekends and special occasions like birthdays, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.”

It’s coming up to a year since Get Sweet first started, and despite an ongoing pandemic, the boys’ business continues to thrive.

A lot of thought goes into making each box, as the boys personally choose what lollies go into them, and even spend time making them before heading off to school.

“With all of the boxes, they are around 400g each, so we try and keep them evenly weighted,” Owen explains.

“All of the boxed are afforded properly. We manage all the lollies and figure out how much they are each, and then add them up and evenly spread them out.”

A standard box of lollies is $25 and includes a mixture of classic chocolates and lollies such as Cadbury Milk Freddos, Milky Ways, Chupa Chups, Trolli Sour Snakes and Nerds, just to name a few.

There are also some lollies parents will remember from their own school days, such as Warheads, Ghost Drops, Super Tattoos and Bubblegum, and Rockets.

For Liam, his favourite treats are the Warheads and the chocolates, while Owen loves Ka-Bluey, Nerds and orange Ghost Drops because “they taste like mango”.

Delicious themes

The boys have a standard box of treats, but also love to create themed boxes.

They have just finished selling their Halloween-themed boxes and are turning their attention to Christmas.

Each Christmas box includes Candy Canes, Minties, chocolate elves, Raffaello, Kinder surprise bars, Skittles and more.

The boys have also created mini lolly bags which are proving to be a hit with parents ahead of birthday parties.

The party bags have a smaller selection of lollies and are priced at $5 each.

Below: A sample of the Christmas-themed chocolate and lolly box. 

Learning important life skills

Mum Kellie Stonadge says the business is teaching her sons valuable life skills that will serve them well in the future.

“This has definitely taught them a lot of important skills like researching, because they research what are the best lollies and chocolates to include, as well as time management and financial skills,” Kellie says.

“The boys are busy with school and sport, so time management and making the boxes before school or sport is very important.”

How to order

The boys take orders via their Facebook and Instagram page.

Pretty soon they will also develop a website, and are even looking at the possibility of posting the boxes to reach more customers.

At present, all their customers are locals who collect the boxes from their North Lakes home.

Below: In addition to making boxes, the boys have also started selling party bags.