Love marshmallows?
We thought so. You’ll
be excited to know that
240Sweet is taking the
world by storm offering
over 150 gourmet flavors
of marshmallow treats.
Yum!
240Sweet was a long time cooking.
Since the 1980’s these girls have been
hard at work! Chef Alexa Lemley and
sales exec Samantha Aulick are the third
generation of their family to operate the
family catering business. They began
working in the 1980′s, as teenagers, and
took over officially in 2006.
How did 240 Sweets develop into
the premier marshmallow maker?
As a thank you to their catering
customers, they gifted marshmallow
treats. The treats were unusual and
unexpected, and requests for more
marshmallow treats began to pour
in. Thus, hundreds of marshmallow
sweet-treat concoctions, also known
as ‘puffs’, were born!
These artistic lovelies not only
share their yummy puff creations
with the world, but provide insider
recipes and tips to their patrons
and potential customers alike.
Based in Columbus, Indiana, Alexa
and Samantha are reaching the far
corners of the state and the nation
by stamping their goodies with
a product seal of all-natural and
organic ingredients.
We got to ask 240Sweet a few
questions to give us some of their
best and most interesting secrets…
Urbanette Magazine:
240sweet is
a great name! What does the 240
represent?
Samantha Aulick:
240sweet is the
soft ball stage of beet sugar. We
boil the marshmallow mix to 240
degrees when we make them.
Urbanette:
When you think of
sweets or treats, one doesn’t
typically think of marshmallows.
How did ‘marshmallows’ of all things
become your choice of gift to your
catering clients?
Samantha:
We are the third
generation to operate the family
business. When Chef Alexa’s father
retired, we needed a way to show
people that our style was a little
different than his. We prefer a more
French/Asian style of flavors. We also
were hit hard with the recession.
Companies we had served for 40 years
were laying off people and canceling
their holiday parties. We had to do
something that would really make
us stand out from the crowd. So we
looked to Martha Stewart’s website for
ideas and found her recipe for vanilla
marshmallows.
We made the first batch and then
began experimenting with flavors like
Lemonade, Thai Chili, and such. We
dropped off menus for party platters
with baggies of marshmallows attached
to nail and hair salons in our area. We
figured: Who had discretionary income
and would benefit from conversation
starters? It worked. People ordered our
“new” style of foods and then began
asking to order marshmallows. We
gave them away for about a year!
Obviously, your
marshmallow concoctions differentiate
your business from your competitors
– what are other characteristics make
your business unique?
Samantha:
We use local, all-natural
and real foods in our marshmallows.
For example, we use real organic
strawberries in the Hoosier Strawberry
puffs–not flavoring. For the Hoosier
Strawberry, we also use dehydrated
strawberries in the powder on the
outside. That makes a big difference
in flavor. We often hear from people
who say things like “I don’t like
marshmallows” until they try ours.
Urbanette:
Why is your “made in US”
product stamp such an important
factor for your business?
Samantha:
We use as much Made in
America packaging as possible. It is
important to us to support American
businesses. All of our ribbons, labels,
and boxes are made domestically–
better for both the environment and
the economy. We even downcycle our
“Made in America” office paper–along
with other paper to use as packing
material.
