Teen-Run Bakery Serves Vegetable-Based Desserts in a 'Food Desert' Community
Teens from North Minneapolis found a way to inspire children and adults in their area to eat healthy food by incorporating fresh vegetables into their desserts.
A group of young residents from Heritage Park, North Minneapolis knew that a lot of people in their community do not like to eat vegetables. That is why they opened up the Green Garden Bakery, where people can buy yummy desserts made with fresh and healthy ingredients that are normally hard to find in their area.
"The kids didn't really like vegetables, so that was the start of it to try and get them to eat their vegetables," 18-year-old Jacobi Simmons, one of the young workers of Green Garden Bakery, stated in an interview with NBC News.
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The teens, led by 17-year-old CEO Leensa Ahmed, started conceptualizing the idea to start a bakery in 2014 after they all met at a cooking class hosted by national community planning and development non-profit Urban Strategies at the community center. The group also learned about nutrition and gardening, which they also use in their business.
They initially started baking to raise money for a friend who got involved in a car accident but eventually presented the business plan in their class. This earned them a $10,000 grant to jump-start their business.
The bakery, which specializes in vegetable-based desserts like beet brownies, jalapeno chocolate chip cookies, lemon zucchini muffin, green tomato cake, and carrot pumpkin bread, was able to use fresh ingredients even if they live in an area that is considered as one of the "food deserts" in the country by the Department of Agriculture.
According to the American Nutrition Association website, the "food deserts" are places in the country that has little supply of fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthy food items due to lack of grocery stores, farmers' markets and other healthy food providers in impoverished areas.
The Green Garden Bakery was able to overcome the obstacle of having a limited supply of fresh ingredients by growing the vegetables in their own backyard.
Despite not having a physical store, the Green Garden Bakery was able to succeed by selling their healthy desserts through their website, in different festivals. and farmers' markets. They also cater to different types of parties as well.
