A mother-and-daughter small business out of Fort Saskatchewan could soon be making waves in Hollywood, as their handcrafted lollipops are given out at the 2019 Grammy Awards.
Sumptuous Lollies was created in 2018 by Mercedes and Kerry McKinlay; the business’s 24-carat gold rose sparkling wine lollipops will be included in gifts bags for presenters and performers at the music industry’s biggest night.
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The pair reached out to the awards show on a whim and was surprised to hear back from them right away.
“I was thinking we’ll never hear from them… but yeah, they responded the same day. I couldn’t believe it. I had to read it like three or four times,” said Kerry McKinlay.
The idea for the lollipop business came to the duo after Mercedes, a NAIT culinary arts student, wanted a “pretty” lollipop.
“We thought, we’re craft people. Let’s try to figure it out and see what we can do,” Kerry said.
“There’s nothing like this around for adults basically. That’s what we wanted to make them for, so we just started playing around to see what we could come up with.”
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The pair started by giving lollipops to friends and family and soon word of mouth spread; the pair work on their products, supply lollipops for weddings and create corporate packages on top of Mercedes’s schooling and Kerry’s full-time job.
“I come up with the flavours usually. My mom has come up with some but usually that’s kinda my thing because at school we experiment with different flavours,” Mercedes said.
Watch below: A Fort Saskatchewan mother-daughter duo is making waves in Hollywood. Sumptuous Lollies will be given away in the gift bags at the Grammy Awards on Sunday. Mercedes McKinlay and Kerry McKinlay join the morning news to talk more about it.
The company has more than 100 flavours, and the order from the Grammys, consisting of 165 packages with two lollipops each, is their biggest yet.
“It was like, oh, that’s pretty big,” Mercedes said.
“That’s really cool because it gets your name out there and just to show your work. This is like artwork in a sense.”
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Kerry said the experience could open new markets for the small business.
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“It could open every door. Who knows… it could open up opportunities to send to big parties in the States for celebrities. The opportunities are really endless,” she said.
“I’m a little freak out but I’m excited to see where it’ll take us.”
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