Sweet Treats!
There has recently been a new sweet addition to the SW19 community called Bebeto which has received an abundant amount of attention and a staggering number of customers over the past month, even with influencers such as Tom Clare and Casey O’Gorman (from this year’s winter Love Island) visiting for the special opening.
Bebeto was founded by the Kervan Gida family in 1998 and currently they export to over ninety countries with over two-thousand employed team members. They also own the soft candy brand Dexters and have offices across the UK, USA, Germany and Russia, with the UK office distributing a variety of candy to retail business such as Tesco and Morrisons.
In 2005, due to its rising popularity Kervan Gida began producing private label products, with the first cooperation being paired with the chewing gum brand Wrigley. In 2010 they partnered with TURQUALITY (an aspiring project focused on bringing quality Turkish concepts together initiated by the Turkish Government; whilst, in 2017, they became the biggest soft candy producer and exporter of Turkey.
One of Kervan Gida’s significant inputs into the world is their keen and devoted awareness surrounding sustainability. They plan to work alongside the Global Goals for Sustainable Development by reducing energy and water consumption as well as, setting a zero waste target. Within their community, some of the actions they are taking are: working towards higher rates of female employees, increasing the work done on education and improving efforts towards local suppliers through Innovation and Supplier Management. Moreover, with corporate governance they centre around creating a sustainability management structure, increasing partnerships with non-governmental organisations as well as developing a software system that will ensure tracking of the sustainability targets.
Bebeto is for everyone. They specialise in the production of Halal-certified gummy sweets, sweet liquorice and marshmallow products as well as producing treats that vegans can enjoy. The location of this shop is extremely convenient for many students as they can always have the delight of purchasing some candy during lunch or on their return home from school. Although, its main demographic is for younger years, one current WHS Year 12 student (Sophie Temple-Jones) mentioned that, “It seems like a great place for younger years and I would have loved to have a shop like this when I was younger. The interior is appealing and alluring, and the prices are very reasonable.”
Bebeto is one of the fastest growing confectionery businesses in the UK and they are growing more each day. The shop itself has attained a lot of popularity amongst the Wimbledon community, as well as outside. Therefore, I greatly implore a visit to the new sweet shop!