East Coast Kids Bakery logo: the letters ECKB painted on an orange rock East Coast Kids Bakery
Closed for now. Gone to college.

Thank you for two years of baking with us in North Carolina.

Past bakes: @eastcoastkidsbakery New food projects: @ginnyshares

A brother and sister bakery, Singapore to North Carolina

East Coast Kids Bakery

We started East Coast Kids Bakery in a Singapore lockdown in 2020. In 2023 we moved to North Carolina and kept baking. By the end we were selling about 650 items a week through four channels, and the business was profitable.

We closed in spring 2025 because college beckons. Huge thanks to all our customers, suppliers and partners, and especially to Mama and Papa and family for supporting us. We really couldn't have done this without you.

Caroline and AJ

A teenage boy takes a mobile payment at a farmers market stall while a girl packs a paper bag. White tents stand behind them.
  • ~650items a week at the peak
  • 4sales channels: online, farmers market, Durham Co-op, UNC café
  • 2countries: Singapore and the USA
  • 2 yearsof trading in North Carolina

How it happened

From leaflets in mailboxes to a campus café

  1. 2020Singapore

    A lockdown project

    Singapore was in a COVID lockdown, and only supermarkets were allowed to open for business. We wanted to get out of the house and help our neighbours buy baked goods. We learned to bake at the kitchen table, drew a leaflet and put it in mailboxes. Orders came through a small website. We got 20 orders for our first run!

    Seen from above, a boy grates spice into an orange bowl while a woman melts butter in a pan on a glass kitchen table covered in baking ingredients.
    Learning to bake at home in Singapore.
    A hand-drawn leaflet reading ECKB SG, East Coast Kids' Bakery, announcing a bake sale to raise funds for a rescue dog named Mochi.
    Our first leaflet. It announced a bake sale for our rescue dog, Mochi.
  2. SingaporeHome delivery

    Delivered by bike, with a card

    We delivered every order by bike around our neighbourhood. Each order came with a hand-drawn card.

    A boy in a bike helmet and face mask holds out a small card to a black iron gate during a delivery.
    Handing over a delivery in Singapore, keeping two metres of social distance.
    Thirteen hand-drawn cards, each with a different golden dog and the words East Coast Kids Bakery, Thanks for your support, Enjoy.
    The hand-drawn thank-you cards, with an inspirational quote on the back.
  3. 2023North Carolina

    Starting again in the USA

    We moved to the USA in 2023 and started again, online first. We kept the hand-drawn cards and the bike deliveries.

    A rider in a helmet cycles past a house with white dogwood blossoms on a sunny street.
    Delivering by bike in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
    A hand-lettered thank-you card with four colourful hand-drawn hens. It thanks the customer for supporting ECKB.
    A thank-you card for an online customer, from our Easter bake drop.
  4. 2023–2025North Carolina

    A commercial kitchen

    We moved from home baking to a commercial kitchen. We learned to incorporate a business in the USA and what filing taxes meant. We also bought a Hobart mixer and used it for the first time. Days were long: school, homework, baking, repeat.

    A boy in a blue apron mixes a dark paste in a green bowl beside steel convection ovens. A girl rolls out dough behind him.
    Baking in the commercial kitchen.
    Two people in aprons prepare food at a steel counter next to a rack of baking trays and a tall convection oven.
    Prep time.
  5. 2023–2025North Carolina

    Markets, a co-op and a campus café

    We sold at farmers markets. We also supplied the Durham Co-op and Meantime Coffee, the café at UNC-Chapel Hill. Online, farmers market, co-op and café made four channels. At the peak we sold about 650 items a week.

    A farmers market stall under a white tent with a yellow gingham tablecloth, baked goods in plastic tubs and a chalkboard sign.
    Our farmers market stall.
    A black chalkboard sign reading East Coast Kids Bakery with a menu that includes Singapore potato curry puff, focaccia and cookies.
    The menu mixed Singapore, Japanese and American flavours.
  6. Spring 2025North Carolina

    Closed for school

    We hung our aprons up in spring 2025. We are now in college in different corners of the world. Mama and Papa have moved to Hong Kong. We may open again. Never say never.

What we learned

Running a real business in high school

01

Baking and menu choices

We learned to bake, then learned what to bake. We decided to bake delicious foods that are familiar and comforting, and yet new and exciting. We tested East and West flavours: ube focaccia, black sesame white chocolate cookies, strawberry cream and matcha cookies.

02

Cost accounting and margins

We learned cost accounting and profit margins. Each item had to cover its ingredients, its packaging, rental costs and our time. We also had to pay off the cost of the equipment we bought.

03

Working in a commercial kitchen

We learned the equipment, the routines and the pace. Mise en place is crucial. The Hobart mixer was the biggest purchase, but it also saved us the most time.

04

Selling

We learned to talk about our baked goods even when we were still sleepy on a Saturday morning. We set up Square payments. We learned to give change in US dollars and coins at the market.

05

Partnering with local brands

For special occasions like Mother's Day and Father's Day, we made joint goodie bags with local makers. This was the most fun, because we got to be creative.

06

What did not scale

Handwritten cards and bike delivery worked in our dense Singapore neighbourhood. They did not scale in Chapel Hill, which is much less dense.

A girl and a boy sit at a wooden table writing and decorating cards with coloured pencils. Fresh cookies sit on a rack nearby.

From the kitchen

What we baked

Savoury and sweet, East and West. Scroll sideways for more.

Two flaky spiral-edged curry puffs and two sausage buns topped with black sesame seeds on a grey plate.
Singapore curry puffs and sausage buns.
A tray of purple ube focaccia dough topped with shredded cheddar, bacon and chopped green onion, before baking.
Ube focaccia, ready to bake.
Round cookies covered in rainbow sprinkles on baking paper.
Sprinkle cookies.
Blueberry muffins with sugar-crusted tops in red paper cases on a cream plate.
Blueberry muffins.
A cookie with swirls of purple and pale yellow dough on a small cream dish.
A purple and vanilla swirl cookie.
Golden brioche tarts filled with broccoli, mushrooms and crumbled feta.
Broccoli, feta and mushroom brioche tarts.
Three golden bagels topped with grated cheese on baking paper.
Japanese-style bagels with curry.
A tray of glossy hot dog buns topped with black sesame seeds.
Eastern-style hot dog buns.
Two bags of granola with cranberries and nuts, sealed with orange Handmade stickers, next to a kraft paper gift bag.
Granola, a special Christmas item. We made it with organic maple syrup from Vermont.

Collaborations

Working with local makers

We paired our bakes with products from North Carolina makers.

A bowl of ham and cheese muffins in front of a kraft gift bag with a pink bow and a pack of Lady Edison country ham.

Lady Edison

Ham and cheese muffins, paired with Lady Edison country ham.

An Eastern-style hot dog bun on a plate beside a gift box with a Happy Papa's Day 2024 card and a can of Haw River Farmhouse Ales Odds and Ends IPA.

Haw River Farmhouse Ales

Father's Day 2024: an Eastern-style hot dog bun paired with a Haw River beer.

A large chocolate chip cookie on a blue and white plate in front of a kraft gift bag with a Happy Papa's Day 2024 card and a bottle of Honeygirl Meadery Strawbanero mead.

Honeygirl Meadery

Father's Day 2024: a monster cookie (6 oz / 170 g) paired with Strawbanero mead.

Giving back

Charity bakes and press

A girl gives a thumbs up beside a table stacked with brown paper bags of baked goods at Ronald McDonald House.

Ronald McDonald House

We donated bags of baked goods to Ronald McDonald House, for families with seriously ill or injured children receiving treatment at UNC-Chapel Hill hospital.

Two young people and an adult stand behind a gingham-covered table of baked goods outside a brick building at UNC. A chalkboard sign reads Take 1 and Donate what you can.

Eve Carson Charity Run

At UNC-Chapel Hill we ran a "Take 1 and donate what you can" table for the annual Eve Carson Charity Run.

In the press

Whisking Success

Chapel Hill Magazine featured us in its September/October 2023 issue, pages 64 and 65. "Two siblings team up to bake treats inspired by their travels."

Read the full article
A two-page spread from Chapel Hill Magazine headed Whisking Success. The left page shows a girl and a boy in aprons holding trays of baked goods. The right page is a large photo of sprinkle and chocolate chip cookies.
Chapel Hill Magazine, September/October 2023, pages 64 and 65.
Three people in aprons and caps smile with their arms around each other in a commercial kitchen.
AJ, Caroline and Mama in the commercial kitchen.

The team

A family project, led by the kids

We ran East Coast Kids Bakery. Mama and Papa supported us. Four of us worked on it together, from the first leaflet to the last market day. This page records what we built and what we learned. What a journey it was!

  • AJ
  • Caroline
  • Mama
  • Papa

What's next

Gone to college

We're in college now. Mama and Papa have moved to Hong Kong. We still cook and bake together, and we still share what we make.

Past bakes: @eastcoastkidsbakery New food projects: @ginnyshares

For press, mentoring or collaboration, message us on Instagram.