Being able to say your job is to make candy sounds crazy. But for the Dockrat brothers, it's their business, and their journey into confectionery is just as wild. Suleiman, Muhammad and Abu Bakr never thought that they would find themselves the owners of Yummy's Custom CandyMaker of handmade, customizable rock candies, lollipops, taffy and ribbons.
“I'm the youngest of three brothers,” says Suleiman Dockrat. “We run Yimmi's Custom Candy together, but how it came to be is really crazy.”
Dockrat shared that he initially studied and qualified as a teacher, eventually adopting it as a career in 2019. On the other hand, his brothers, Muhammad and Abu Bakr, were already entrepreneurs. “My brothers had a takeaway shop in Dubai Center in Mackenzie Park. It was a small samosa shop. But due to unexpected circumstances, the business started failing; Dubai Center opened another branch in Boksburg, so our anchor store started getting quieter by the day.”
It was 2015 when Muhammad got the idea of making candy. “It became a passion project. He learned through YouTube, but of course, was never shown the ins and outs of candy making.” Dockrat shared that his brother learned the hard way: He boiled a batch of syrup in his kitchen and poured it on the table. “His first mistake? He had a wooden table. Imagine pouring 150 degrees Celsius of sugar on a wooden table. He burned his entire table and had to literally cut candy off the table!”
Samusa's shop remained Muhammad and Abu Bakr's main source of income, the passion project continuing. However, in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, Muhammad invested his savings in simple machinery and his time in candy making, while Abubakr remained to help the takeaway shop. Soon after, Muhammad invited Suleiman to join him in candy manufacturing, “I accepted,” Dockret reported. “We learned everything together through guesswork and trial and error.”
entry into entrepreneurship
It is clear that entrepreneurship was never the main goal. “It just happened. Neither of us had any experience in being entrepreneurs until we became something. You could say it's a recent development for us. To this day, I still learn new things in the business world,” he explains. Be it customer service, creating a seamless digital ecosystem or learning smart ways to streamline operations, the brothers believe that entrepreneurship means constant learning and working hard to achieve their goals.
“We are the type of people who are extremely practical. If something needs to be done, I will personally learn how to do it. We are novices in this, but our idea exceeds our abilities and encourages us to continuously learn.
“I truly believe that to be successful nowadays, it is not enough to learn just one skill. You need to be skilled in many things – especially as a business owner.”
Dockrat explained that he had no history making candy. This seems to contradict what he usually tells people: If you have no knowledge of a field, don't pursue it.
“Entrepreneurship is about always being able to learn. Never be so arrogant that you stop learning. Be humble enough to talk to anyone. And you will never stop growing.”
you need some good skills
Dockrat explains that candy making is a science.
It's not just the design that's important. In fact, what you see social media There is a minimum amount of knowledge required to make candy. What you need to know depends on your knowledge of temperatures, machinery, and ingredients.
“When we started, we had no idea about the importance of temperature control. This is the room you are working in, as well as the actual temperature required for your candy. You have to make sure your room is cool (about 20 degrees Celsius) and you have an accurate thermometer. Another important requirement is humidity control.
“Machinery should be serviced regularly. Fortunately, we are very handy, and we service our machinery ourselves.”
As for content, Dockrat emphasizes that having the right content is not enough; You have to understand why these materials are used. “Study them. If you know what they are, you'll understand how to use them.”
Learning to manipulate candy is another skill that can't be explained. He believes it is a matter of trial and error. “You have to get the feel of the candy. Brainstorming a design is simple. Executing it is not. But after years of making it, the details become part of your everyday. You even forget how these simple skills helped create a masterpiece.”
business at hand
Yummy's Custom Candies offers an exclusive, handmade product to a range of customers. In fact, their products are ideal for:
- Reception areas, waiting areas for corporates, doctors, dealerships etc.
- Complimentary candy for businesses to send with their orders
- Boardroom or Conference Masala
- Restaurants that give candy with their bill
- product launch
- hinders the organization of events
“There are so many applications. Think about it: It's attractive enough that people will eat sweets with your branding on them. And they're tasty enough to make your company memorable. It's honestly perfect for any branding.
“Plus, there's a lot more. What about weddings? Baby showers? Personal use?” Dockrat's enthusiasm for his business is evident.
“We started with handmade rock candies. And we still make primarily hard-boiled candies. However, we've found different ways to make them. In the beginning, it was only handmade candy. Every letter and every design was made by hand. But that leaves you with limitations. And even though it's a premium artisan product. Unfortunately, not everyone cares,” he candidly notes.
Looking at an example of why they expanded their product range, he uses the example of a company logo for branded orders. “A logo can be so complex that it would be impossible to create by hand. So what do we do? That's where printed candy comes into the picture. What if we could make a sweet completely plain, but we could print your exact logo on the face of the candy? We print on the actual sweet and leave the packaging completely transparent. It's so much more unique.”
The Dockrat brothers have added another product option to their custom candy range. “We can now also make custom lollipops. And it's not your typical swirly lollipops (which we also do), it's custom-printed lollipops where your logo is on the inside of the lollipop with a glass finish to give you a beautiful result.”
He said that they are constantly looking to expand their range. “At the moment, we're dipping into chocolate a little bit. I believe it will be a game-changer, but the process is completely different and requires more time to get it right, hopefully we will.
Finally, Dockrat says you don't have to have a sweet tooth to become a candy maker. “You just have to be sweet,” he smiles.