Exquisite Liquors: Mother of two Candice Hughes starts new business

"It is never easy, but never give up.”

These are the words of encouragement from entrepreneur Candice Hughes who ventured into a business that she had no idea about.

While she is no stranger to owning a business, the leap to produce a beverage line – Exquisite Liquors – was a chance worth taking.

Hughes, 39, is the owner of Exquisite Brands – a travel tour business – and also juggled the role of onsite coordinator and lecturer for the Pacific Lutheran University's Trinidad and Tobago summer semester programme until the covid19 pandemic struck in 2020.

Exquisite Brands was shut down because of the covid19 restrictions and her roles as coordinator and lecturer also came to a halt since schools and overseas travelling were stopped.

What to do? Hughes thought.

When she became jobless, Hughes said she thought that she would wait out the downturn. Months later, after applying for many jobs she was still without an income to support her two daughters, ages seven and 19.

“Exquisite Liquors was born out of the need and determination to persevere because I did not have a stream of income after completely losing my jobs.

“It was the inspiration out of desperation because I needed to take care of my children and survive.”

Hughes said she was disappointed by not being able to find a job through the normal channels but was able to turn a skill she took for granted into income.

“I’m educated so I thought I would apply to various companies for a job. My savings started depleting and I was heading towards a low point.

“Within my family I have always been the juice queen. I never really thought I would end up making liquors and thought it would be my job.”

Hughes said by October 2020 she was still not convinced that her idea of Exquisite Liquors would be a success.

She decided to make sorrel liquor – a fusion of rum and sorrel — entering the Christmas season and realised doing so was not just about mixing juice and rum.

“I did not know anything about mixology and I reached out for help. There is no shame in asking for help because collaboration can help your business.

“You start where you are at and as you go along you learn, you network, you ask for guidance and get help from people and then you tweak and make it you own.”

Exquisite Liquors has two flavours — sorrel and a rum punch flavoured with oranges, pineapple and lime, which are available in supermarkets. Sorrel Liquor and Back Yard Rum Punch are sold at 750 millilitres.

Hughes said the idea behind the products was to incorporate local flavours using local products.

“I connect with local farmers for my ingredients to make my rum punch, such as pineapple, orange and other local fruits and purchase my bottles from local manufacturers and rum too. It is all about supporting other local businesses.

“I believe I am helping the local economy by doing that. When I do that, I can truly show and signify that I am proudly representing TT and the products are all local and people are drawn to that.”

Exquisite Liquors was a risk, Hughes said, and made an investment from her savings to finance the process to get the product on the shelves of the supermarkets and other licences.

Apart for it being a physically exhausting process, it was also a mental and emotional drain, as most of her business operations took place at her home in Tunapuna, she said.

“There are a lot of check points and it can be challenging to get the product in supermarkets, but although costly it was a good investment. Each product needed to get different tests done based on the guidance from the Chemistry, Food and Drug Division.

“I had to change my mindset to take on a new business in a pandemic which was already stressful on its own. My children were now with me all the time and as a single parent I cannot afford to drop the ball on my responsibilities. The line between home and work became blurred at times.”

Hughes said being an entrepreneur at this time was the most challenging thing she has done.

She said the main marketing strategy was going to the farmers' market at Queen’s Park Savannah in Port of Spain on Saturdays to promote her product.

“I now have to learn about the new wave of marketing that is done through social media platforms and it has not been easy for me. There is so much I do not know like the importance of when to post or how many times too post.

“But the hard work has paid off and I have even learnt how to create my own website which will be launched by the end of August.

“There are many free tools online that can help with things like this, that I did not know about. I had to force myself to learn and make the sacrifice of less sleep.”

She said among her marketing strategies was offering free delivery, partnering with other entrepreneurs to create packages for sale and promotions with radio stations.

Hughes said while being a business owner was about survival and success, collaboration among businesses was critical at this time in the beverage sector’s recovery.

“As an entrepreneur, we do things in isolation and always look at others as competitors instead of people you can actually work with.

“We can build resilience as entrepreneurs by partnering together with people who are doing things that are unrelated to your product but acts as a complement to it. The point is to increase brand awareness.”

Hughes grew up in Sangre Grande and said her third liquor will be a tribute to the community did not give any details about the flavour but said it would be available by September.

She also has a line of jams that are not as popular as her liquors, but with the right marketing, she believes it can be a hit too.

“I hope that my business can grow so that it can create employment because my dream is to give back to my community by assisting single parents and at-risk youth and other who are willing to work honestly.”

Exquisite Liquors can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/exquisiteliquorstrinidad or on Instagram at exquisiteliquors.lmt.