Sweet Snacks is a new organization that sells baked goods, delivers them to customers, and donates 75% of the proceeds to those in need. A group of MHS juniors founded the organization to share their passion for baking.
Beginning in October, the organization has gone through two sales and sold different products in each sale. According to their Instagram page, @sweet.snk, their first cycle occurred around Halloween, and the founders baked Halloween-themed treats. They produced frosted cookies designed as eyes, ghosts, and pumpkins. They also baked cream puffs and sold them in several flavors. Their second season occurred around Thanksgiving, when they sold mochi muffins, meringues, and cream puffs, according to their Instagram page.
“[For the Halloween cycle] we donated to the California Wildfire Relief Fund,” junior co-founder Natalie Hoang said in a Zoom interview. “That money goes to helping people who are affected by the [California] wildfires … It was money to send care packages to people or rebuild homes and save wildlife.”
According to the group’s Instagram page, the students will donate the proceeds from the Thanksgiving cycle to the Academy of Travel & Tourism, which will help the academy create care packages for the homeless.
“We usually sit around on House Party (a video conferencing app) and discuss for a really long time about what we’re doing,” junior co-founder Samantha Fernando said in a Zoom interview. “We figure out what we want to make. We usually put a poll and see which organizations [people want us to donate to], and then we pick one, or [our] supporters pick one. [Then] we buy all the ingredients we need for baking. Whether we’re baking together, or baking separately and then coming together, we bake and then we package the day we’re delivering. We package the goods in cute little boxes with handmade cards.”
The founders wanted to give back to their community, junior co-founder Kyanh Tran said in a Zoom interview. They drew inspiration from other Instagram shops that sold baked goods during quarantine, she added.
“[Baking is] just something that we really like to do,” Hoang said. “I think everyone benefits because people love to eat baked goods. … So I think it’s a win-win situation.”
Starting the organization has not been without challenges. Due to the restrictions of the pandemic, it was difficult to convince her parents to let her make the deliveries, Tran said. The bakers needed to take safety precautions to ensure the bakers and the customers stay safe, she said.
At the same time, there have been rewarding moments. “One lady donated a lot to our organization,” Tran said. “Sam and Nat left cookies at her doorstep, because she had really cool Halloween decorations. And then, she donated to our organization. In general, I think just being able to give back to whatever organization we chose that season is really rewarding.”
