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Marshmallows went from an appearance on a Monifieth girl’s birthday list, to her parents’ successful side hustle, Phlump.

“We were an accident,” laughs Gemma Chapman, half of the husband and wife duo behind Phlump gourmet mallows.  “We were never meant to be a business.”

Now, the “accidental” business is a thriving marshmallow company, stocked in numerous shops locally and further afield.

Their unique product, and its delicious taste, means Phlump has gone from strength to strength – despite its surprising beginnings.

“Craig and I have a little girl named Summer, and last Christmas she had marshmallows and marshmallow fluff on her list,” said Gemma.

“Her birthday arrived in June and, again, it said lots of marshmallows.

“Craig said: ‘If she’s going to keep asking for marshmallows, I’m just going to learn how to make them.’

“And that’s where it started.  The first marshmallows were a catastrophe.

“That was basically a green light to Craig, he was like: ‘I am not letting this go, I am going to figure out how to do this.'”

Craig and Gemma then learned how to make marshmallows to fulfil their daughter’s wishlist.

This rapidly developed into Phlump, providing marshmallows for a handful of small businesses, and their orders have only grown since then.

They sell a range of flavours of the quirky tasty treat, many of which are suggested by Gemma’s team of marshmallow experts – her high school class.

“I teach at Monifieth High School and I got my class involved,” she says.  “And the kids get so excited about it.

“I run a marshmallow challenge and I get them all to come up with new flavours, and then Craig will pick one and we’ll take it in, they’ll try it and vote.”

Gemma uses halal gelatine so Muslim pupils in her class can be included in the fun.

“The kids will come up with the best weird and wacky flavours,” laughs Gemma.

Some of Phlump marshmallow flavours include cookies and cream, Baileys, mint chocolate, salted caramel, rhubarb crumble and many more.

So what is it like working with your significant other?

“We’re really, really lucky that we really like each other,” laughs Gemma.

“Craig has an amazing sense of humour.  So even when I’m getting tired, he makes it really funny.

“It will get to half 10 at night, and I think: “No one else is doing this, all my friends are in their bed reading a book, and I’m making marshmallows!”

Gemma and Craig have now launched Phlump’s online store – all while working their own full time jobs.

Though this means busy days and nights, especially during times of heaps of orders coming in, Gemma and Craig are proud of Phlump.

“I definitely have a lot of ‘pinch-me’ moments,” says Gemma.

“In four months, we were stocked in around 16 shops locally.

“Because we both work full-time, we don’t have marketing time.  I don’t have time to approach people, that was all people that came to us.

“We have just been wrapped up in kindness by the local community.