Updated: October 8, 2022
Sponsored by Cutter Chevrolet
8-year-old Kiara Kwok started Salty Sweet 808 during the pandemic as a way to keep busy while staying at home. She sells li hing lemon peel gummy snacks on Oahu and offers shipping to the neighbor islands and the mainland. She has even found a way to give back to the community through her new business.
Salty Sweet 808 offers typical flavors such as gummy bears, sour patch kids, sour worms, and gushers. In addition, Kwok has also come up with a unique flavor combination of strawberry and cola gummies that has been really popular with her customers. In the first month, she sold more than 600 bags of gummies with multiple repeat customers.
“I’ve been begging my parents to start a business, but they didn’t take me seriously,” Kwok begins. “I kept telling them that I didn’t want to wait until I’m an adult to make money and have a business!”
That’s when the 8-year-old took matters into her own hand and turned to Google to learn how to start her own business. She found a website that taught her how to write a business plan and the rest is history!
After starting her own business, Kwok has learned it takes a lot of hard work to keep things running.
“Before I could start selling gummies, we did a lot of research and tested out many different types of gummies and recipes,” she says. “My dad helped me figure out how much it costs to make the gummies and how much to sell them for. Even though it’s hard to have a business, I’m having fun and it’s keeping me busy during the pandemic.”
Kwok is currently doing distance learning at home, so she uses her recess and lunch breaks to go through her orders and label the product bags.
“I also include a thank you note with each order, so I get those ready as well,” Kwok adds. “After school, my parents help me make any orders that we have or if we have a big order on the weekend, I wake up really early around 6 a.m. to make the gummies with my parents before I have dance class.”
At the end of 2020, Kwok gave back to the community by donating some of her profits to the Salvation Army Angel Tree program. She was proud to be able to purchase toys for a little boy and a little girl.
“I really want to focus on families that need help and homeless people in Hawaii,” she says. “When I get older, I hope that I will be really successful so that I can build a place where homeless people can go to stay and be safe.”
To place your order or to find out more information, follow @saltysweet808 on Instagram.
The post Salty Sweet 808: 8-year-old entrepreneur starts new gummy snacks business appeared first on HI Now.
Original source: https://www.hinowdaily.com/salty-sweet-808-8-year-old-entrepreneur-starts-new-gummy-snacks-business/