Kennedy’s New Sweet Treat
By Isabella Canale
COVID-19 has given us a lot of sour lemons, but one student has been able to make something
really sweet out of it! Angelina Hernandez, a senior at John F. Kennedy High School, started her
sweet treats business during quarantine. Despite Angie’s Sweet Treats’s new business status,
Angelina started learning how to bake as a child. While looking for a way to work from home
and keep herself and family safe during the pandemic, she had the idea to start her own
business this summer since she’s always had a passion for baking.
Angelina quickly recognized the risks of catering to new customers and starting a new
company, but she made sure to have COVID-friendly regulations in place, before starting her
career. To ensure her and the customer’s safety, Angelina makes sure her customers are
always wearing masks when picking up their orders. In addition, she always sanitizes and
cleans her area and utensils when working. By taking classes, testing new recipes, and having
family recipes to consult, Angelina has learned how to make all her treats so she can work by
herself. Most of her family recipes are her aunts’ recipes, who are all great cooks and one of
them has their own business, as well. Angelina has gained a lot of useful tips for her baking and
for starting and running a business from her aunt.
Social media plays a huge role in growing her business as her customers use it to share
her treats and she uses it to post completed orders. You can find Angelina advertising on
Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram. Her Instagram page (@angiessweettreatss) is filled with
pictures of her work, including tres leches cake, flan, chocoflan, decorated number cakes
(picture shown), and cupcakes. In addition to pictures, you can also find instructions on how to
order, pricing, as well as her menu. Angelina not only uses social media as a way to promote
her own business, but also as a way to get new ideas for items. Apps like Pinterest and TikTok
fuel her imagination and sweet creativity. Although school sometimes negatively affects other
students’ work, Angelina says her enterprise is actually growing since school started because
most of her customers are people from Kennedy. Her first customers were her close friends,
and she says the growing support still amazes her and she’s still so surprised by how many
customers she has now considering she just started this summer. Orders can take up to four
hours of work, but thankfully, she’s been able to manage her classwork and homework while
also completing all orders perfectly.
Baking isn’t “as easy as cake” however, Angelina admits she “was surprised by how
much math goes into preparing and baking”, explaining that she needs to calculate the cost of
all the ingredients, how long it will take, and if any extra decorations are needed. Her love for
baking has only grown since she started Angie’s Sweet Treats, and Angelina plans to continue
her business long term and continue to grow her menu. Titans make sure to check out her
Instagram page (@angiessweettreatss) and all other social media for all your sweet cravings!