The Tab Visits: Roly’s Fudge Pantry

We visit the tasty addition to Exeter’s high street.

Roly's Fudge Pantry the tab the tab exeter

We’re sure you’ve all noticed the most recent and tastiest addition to Exeter’s High Street this term: Roly’s Fudge Pantry.

As well as sampling some of its wonderful produce, I had the enviable task of interviewing Dannee McGuire, a masters student in Exeter and employee at the brand new fudge shop.

Conor Byrne (CB): How’s everything going with Roly’s so far?

Danny McGuire (DM): Everything’s going well – it’s coming up to Christmas time so we’re especially busy this time of year and it’ll be busy till Christmas.

But Roly’s isn’t that well known because it’s quite hidden away, being down Queen Street.

CB: There’re lots of different flavours at Roly’s. Do the flavours change depending on time of year?

DM: We have lots of flavours. I think 15 in total!

These do change round at different times of the year – we have Christmas flavours like Christmas pudding, and in summer we have flavours for that too.

CB: As a franchise, Roly’s is doing really well. How’s it doing so far here and what made Exeter as a destination appeal?

DM: Well it’s really new in Exeter. It’s only been here for five weeks.

Fudge is very specific to Devon, though, as there’s at least nine or ten shops in the county.

We’ve wanted to come to Exeter for a while, but we needed the right shop.

We didn’t want it in the High Street because it’s busy and expensive.

CB: It’s really impressive how global Roly’s has become. 18 shops worldwide, right?

DM: Yeah, we have one shop in the USA but there’s more of an online focus there, and we also have one in Ireland.

There’s also been interest across the world: Germany, Holland – we’ve also had interest from Australia and even in Dubai!

That’s not Sarah.

CB: Fudge is really big at the Christmas market. Are you guys in competition with them at all?

DM: We were actually asked to be part of the market. Our fudge is different, though.

It’s handmade and it’s also a lot more crumbly.

It’s completely mad this time of year, especially with the online business.

It’s also busy at Easter and in the other holidays. January and February are a lot quieter after the Christmas rush.

CB: What sort of customers do you tend to get?

DM: It’s a real range. Fudge is a traditional product so lots of families.

People want something that tastes the way ‘Mum used to make it,’ a feeling of childhood.