Suga' Plum Sweets Finds Success in Crowdfunding to Create Specialty Confection Lines

SPRING HILL, Fla. - Dec. 2, 2014 - PRLog -- Suga' Plum Sweets, a specialty confectionery company based in Spring Hill, FL, is launching a Kickstarter crowdfunding initiative in order to fund research and development of sugar-free and gluten-free lines of fudge and other sweets. The new health-conscious lines will join Suga' Plum Sweets' current menu of specialty fudge, caramels, unique creative treats, and gifts.

In the two weeks since their Kickstarter campaign launched, Suga' Plum Sweets has raised 70% of their initial funding goal. "The support we've received has been incredible. I think it helps that our project rewards include our famous fudge, caramels, specialty confections, and also make great gifts with the holidays approaching. Our campaign backers are essentially purchasing their treats and gifts through Kickstarter, and we've sweetened the deal with Kickstarter-only rewards, like eRecipes and live and virtual culinary classes."

Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform used by individuals and businesses to raise capital for their projects. Rather than applying for loans, crowdfunding is based on the premise that many smaller investors will fund projects- in this case, choosing to purchase Suga' Plum Sweets product rewards- which provide the projects with operating capital. Founder Jennifer Tontini chose to pursue a crowdfunding approach because she feels that traditional business loans put immense pressure on small businesses to grow too quickly. "We've experienced amazing, organic growth resulting from word-of-mouth referrals, social media buzz, and selling at local farmers' markets over the past 3 years. We want to grow in the specialty foods market, but don't have a large budget for research and development. Crowdfunding seemed like the perfect solution since we could extend our reach to a larger audience, offer rewards nationally, and earmark those funds for R&D. If we had to rapidly expand our business to try to meet financial obligations such as a loan, I'd be concerned that we could be more focused on quantity than quality. We've gotten to where we are today by keeping our focus on the quality of our products, and have scaled the expansion of our operations accordingly. Why ruin a great recipe?"

Crowdfunding can be likened to a beach; One grain of sand individually doesn't amount to much, but many grains of sand working together make a beach. One Kickstarter backer choosing a $5 reward combined with tens or hundreds of other Kickstarter backers choosing a $5 reward (or $10, $20, $50, or more,) amounts to Suga' Plum Sweets raising enough capital to meet their stated goals of launching a sugar free and gluten free line, among other campaign objectives.

The campaign will be active through Monday, December 8th at noon. Suga' Plum Sweets Kickstarter campaign can be viewed at bit.ly/SPSKickStarter , or through their website at www.SugaPlumSweets.com.

About Suga' Plum Sweets:

Suga' Plum Sweets is named after founder Jennifer Rupe Tontini's grandmother, Suga' Plum. She bought Jenn her first cookbook, nursed Jenn's burned hands when she made her first pumpkin pies, and pretended to enjoy the first batch of eclairs that Jenn made from scratch. Grandma Suga' Plum instilled in Jenn a love of the sweeter things in life, teaching her at a young age that, "Life is short; Eat dessert first!"

The sweets company that carries Suga' Plum's name creates decadent delights that make the choice to eat dessert first an easy one. Jenn and Suga' Plum always look for the bright side, always eat dessert, and love to share their sunny outlooks with others, which led to the company motto, "Taste How Sweet Life Can Be!" TM

Media Contact:

Jennifer Tontini

(352) 507-8036

www.SugaPlumSweets.com.