IT’SUGAR Secures $8M Revolver for Multichannel Growth

Candy is supposed to move quickly. The balance sheet has to buy it before the customer does. IT'SUGAR has secured an $8M senior secured revolving credit facility from Second Avenue Capital Partners, giving the specialty candy retailer additional working-capital liquidity as it operates more than 100 stores across the United States and Canada, sells online, and expands a recently launched wholesale business.

The transaction matters because those channels do not convert inventory into cash on the same schedule. A product sold at a store register or through e-commerce can be paid for at checkout. A larger wholesale order can require inventory purchases, fulfillment, and receivables before the cash returns. The candy is the same, but the financing job changes.

What IT'SUGAR Announced

SACP provided IT'SUGAR with an $8M senior secured revolving credit facility. The lender and company said the facility will support working-capital needs and provide incremental liquidity for growth. They did not disclose the interest rate, maturity, borrowing-base formula, covenants, fees, current draw, or detailed collateral package.

That distinction is important. An $8M revolver is borrowing capacity, not an $8M equity round, $8M of revenue, or confirmation that the entire commitment has been drawn. A revolving facility can generally be borrowed, repaid, and reused within its terms as working-capital needs change.

Ryan Nelson, CEO of IT'SUGAR, described the transaction as a new lending relationship chosen around merchandising, execution, and the company's broader strategic priorities. Andrew F. Prunier, SACP founding member and head of the portfolio team, said the financing provides flexibility to invest in productive inventory and strategic initiatives.

The Inventory Problem Behind Candy Retail

IT'SUGAR was founded by Jeff Rubin in 2006 and built its identity around retailtainment: oversized candy, licensed products, novelty, bulk assortments, and stores designed as experiences. BBX Sweet Holdings invested in the company in 2017, and BBX Capital's public filings say IT'SUGAR became wholly owned in August 2023.

The theater sits on top of a serious inventory system. Merchandise has to be ordered before customers arrive, distributed across locations, replenished around seasonality and trends, and priced against freight, labor, occupancy, and product costs. Licensed and novelty products add another layer because relevance can move faster than a traditional replenishment cycle.

That operating model makes liquidity practical rather than abstract. A retailer can have recognizable stores and strong products while still needing capital between supplier payment and customer collection. A revolver is designed for that moving gap, especially when the amount needed changes with inventory buys and channel mix.

Why Wholesale Changes the Cash Cycle

IT'SUGAR's current business spans stores and e-commerce, and the company says it recently launched wholesale to distribute branded and differentiated merchandise more broadly. Its official LinkedIn page has highlighted a partnership placing a curated IT'SUGAR assortment in nine CAMP locations.

Wholesale can extend reach without requiring every sale to pass through a company-operated store. It can also change the financial handoff. IT'SUGAR may need to commit to larger production or inventory runs, ship to a partner, record a receivable, and wait for payment terms rather than collecting from the consumer immediately.

The $8M facility gives IT'SUGAR a pool of debt capacity that can move with those needs. It does not establish that wholesale will outperform stores or e-commerce, and the announcement gives no channel revenue. It does show that the company's distribution strategy now has a financing relationship built for inventory and execution.

The Public Operating Context

The latest detailed public financial context predates this facility. BBX Capital's fiscal 2024 filing reported $117.4M of IT'SUGAR trade sales, down from $122.2M in 2023, while comparable-store sales fell 10.4%. BBX said lower consumer demand, higher costs, and uncertainty around sales volumes were affecting the business, and that BBX Sweet Holdings was implementing cost-saving measures.

Those figures should not be mistaken for current 2026 performance. They do explain why working-capital flexibility matters. Store growth can consume cash before a location matures, inventory has to be funded ahead of seasonal demand, and a new wholesale channel can add receivables to a business historically built around checkout transactions.

The filing also disclosed a prior Regions Bank revolving line that had been increased to $7M and extended to June 20, 2025. Neither IT'SUGAR nor SACP said whether the new facility replaces, refinances, or supplements any other arrangement, so the relationship between the facilities remains undisclosed.

Leadership and Lending Fit

Ryan Nelson was promoted to CEO after joining IT'SUGAR in 2023 and serving as president and vice president of retail. His background includes retail and direct-to-consumer leadership at Sugarfina, Godiva U.S., and KB Toys. That experience fits the immediate task: coordinate merchandising, pricing, channels, real estate, and partnerships while the financing supports inventory behind them.

SACP is a Schottenstein affiliate specializing in asset-based loans and structured financing for retail and consumer businesses. Its thesis is that merchants and operators can recognize value in inventory and other assets that a more generic capital provider may treat conservatively. In this transaction, that perspective connects directly to IT'SUGAR's product mix and channel expansion.

What the $8M Facility Signals

The transaction shows IT'SUGAR matching a flexible financing instrument to a business whose inventory needs can move by season, location, product trend, and channel. The company still has to buy accurately, protect margins, collect wholesale receivables, and turn distribution growth into durable cash flow.

The next evidence will come from execution rather than the commitment size: how quickly wholesale expands, whether stores and e-commerce hold their ground, and how product moves across the network without tying up more cash than the additional reach can justify. The revolver gives Ryan Nelson's team another operating lever while that merchandise keeps changing hands.