Tamalitoz, a Mexican candy brand, has been rapidly expanding to the U.S. The brand started at Sugarox Candy Studio, a modest candy store in Mexico City, making small-batch hard candy, and is owned and operated by husband and husband team Jack Bessudo and Declan Simmons.

Bessudo, who comes from Mexican heritage, wanted to create a line of candy inspired by Mexican candy, known for its sweet, spicy, and tangy flavors. Simmons, who is British, wanted something closer to “traditional” British or U.S. candy.

Tamalitoz, which include chili on the inside, fulfilled this niche—consumers reportedly get the sweet, fruity flavor of the candy first, and then hints of sour heat come through.

We recently touched base with Bessudo to talk about the brand’s origins and what’s next for the company.

Liz Parker Kuhn: Can you talk about the history of Tamalitoz? How did it get started, and with what SKUs? What products does it make today?

Jack Bessudo: This gets a little confusing for people, but once we explain our background, it makes sense. Before there was Tamalitoz, there was Sugarox Candy Studio, our candy boutique in Mexico City where we would make everything in-house. Everything was done using old school candy methods and in small batches. We would make two types of candy in the shop: one was hand-cut pieces of rock candy—little candy pieces with figures on them, like strawberries, lemons, limes, and watermelons. Rock candy is what they call this type of candy in the U.K. and in Australia and that is actually where the name Sugarox came from.

The other type of candy was made in a similar manner, but instead of hand-cutting the candy, we would feed it into a pillow-forming machine and it would make little pillow-shaped candies. These candy pillows were our best sellers. We [prided] ourselves in taking the best of the flavors of Mexico and make them with time-honored candy techniques that are popular in Europe and create a high-end European style candy with a Mexican twist. The most popular flavors were Watermelon, Tamarind, Chamoy, and Cucumber.

Images Courtesy of Tamalitoz

As we grew and then decided to expand Sugarox, we decided that the best way to do it was with our bestsellers, the candy pillows that everyone loved. We gave ourselves the task of coming up with a new brand for these candies, give them their own personality. I wanted to create a cool, high-end looking brand that was still unapologetically Mexican. We worked for days trying to come up with a name for the brand, and then one day, when we were making a batch of these candies in the shop. A customer who observed the process from beginning to end told us that the candies looked like “Tamalitos,” or tiny tamales. I had never thought of it, but once she mentioned it, I could not help but seeing them like tiny tamales. That's when Declan suggested that be the name of the new brand.

LPK: How has the company changed over time?

JB: When Sugarox opened it was a candy boutique, and at one point we had close to 15 Sugarox Candy Studio locations in Mexico. When Tamalitoz came on board, we decided that we would open Sugarox Candy Studio LLC in the U.S. as a distribution arm of our production in Mexico. As we started to grow, we realized that production capacity was going to be an issue. We tried to open a production site dedicated exclusively to make Tamalitoz, but even then we could not keep up with production. We were at this strange middle point, when we outgrew our production, but could not afford a minimum run required by a copacker.

It's a tough place to be in; the big co-packers don’t usually have a program where they can do a small run. We were extremely lucky. Not only did we find a co-packer that was willing to invest time in us, they were able to keep the artisanal aspect that is so important in what we do, but incorporate it into their system allowing us to produce with them in one day, what would have taken us weeks to produce. They have become an integral part of the Sugarox team, and we consider them family. We would not be where we are today without them. 

LPK: Tamalitoz is a Mexican candy—is it also sold in the U.S.?

JB: This is the sad part of this story—once COVID hit, we were forced to close our stores in Mexico. We thought it would be a temporary situation, but after having everyone on payroll for almost a year, we had to make the very difficult decision to permanently close the shops; the irony being that Tamalitoz was only available at the Sugarox shops, so once they closed, it was the end of Tamalitoz in Mexico. We still get messages from customers in Mexico asking when they will be able to buy Tamalitoz in Mexico again. The good news is we are working on this, and hopefully will make Tamalitoz to our paisanos Mexicanos early next year.

Images Courtesy of Tamalitoz

LPK: How did the name “ChewLows” come about?

JB: We were speaking with our co-packer, and she mentioned that they were developing a low-sugar chew in-house for one of their brands. She was the one that suggested we develop a low-sugar chew version of Tamalitoz. One day we sat with her, brainstorming different ideas for a name, and she said Low Chews, and I said no, and then she said ChewLows, and that was it. I could not stop laughing, saying how brilliant the name Chew Lows would be, understanding that “chulo” in Mexico is what you call a good looking guy. Chulo in other parts of Latin America also has connotations of cool or desirable. So, the name Tamalitoz ChewLows just seemed like the absolute perfect name for the brand.

LPK: How does the company market to people looking for a B4Y candy?

JB: We are proud of the fact that Tamalitoz is one of the only brands of Mexican-inspired candy that takes care in not including any artificial flavors or artificial food dyes in any of our products.

Images Courtesy of Tamalitoz

LPK: What’s next for the brand in late 2024 and early 2025?

JB: We are always working on something new. The most recent launch is going to be the new family-size pouch of [our] Chili Pops, and the newest flavor of our popcorn, Churros, and Chocolate Caliente, a churro- and Mexican hot chocolate-flavored popcorn. It is the first time we are expanding outside of the traditional fruit and chili flavor profile, but still very much on brand capturing the essence of this Mexican indulgence.

Read the Candy Industry version of this article here.