Meet the UT Students Turning Their Sweet Tooth Into Private Businesses

If you turn down West 35th near King Street in Hyde Park, you’ll spot a hand-built, green-painted shed near the sidewalk. Bright signage advertises self-serve bread, cookies, and bagels. Stop by on a Tuesday, and the shed will be full of neatly packaged and branded treats ready for purchase. But arrive early—the scratch-made baked goods almost always sell out. The “Bread Shed” belongs to Stoya Bread & Co., a microbakery founded and run by UT students Sydney Stewart and Nicolas Montoya—and it’s just one example of a growing trend of students turning their sweet-tooth side hustles into thriving businesses.  

UT offers more than 50 entrepreneurship-focused undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. These top-ranked programs, grouped under TEXAS Entrepreneurship, provide a wide range of resources. Students can access rigorous coursework, mentorship, start-up accelerators, and investors. But the Longhorn entrepreneurial spirit extends beyond formal academic offerings, especially in the food and beverage space.

Notable brands such as Tiff’s Treats, Siete Foods, and Bawi Water have achieved national success—with many, like Stoya Bread & Co., starting as student businesses.  

Stoya began in April 2025 when Stewart, a sustainability major, and Montoya, a mechanical engineering major, dreamed of selling their homemade sourdough from a hand-built shed reminiscent of neighborhood “free library” stands. Initially, they struggled to find the perfect location for their Bread Shed. After sending out a request for help on social media, they were met with a wave of people offering up their front yards—and so Stoya began.

For Stewart and Montoya, balancing school and business is a learned skill. The demands require the couple to stay flexible. “We just always pick up where the other person can’t,” Stewart says. “We’re both having to make miniature sacrifices sometimes.”  

Sacrifices have paid off for the soon-to-be graduates. Stoya now offers pre-orders for Bread Shed pick-up and weekly walk-up sales. “We needed to find a way to meet our customers where they are, and meet our schedule as students,” Stewart says. Recently, Stewart was awarded a $10,000 Culinary Fellowship from the Junior League of Austin to support women in the culinary field. Looking ahead, they hope to open more Bread Shed locations in Central Texas and encourage aspiring entrepreneurs along the way. “There’s no time like the present,” Montoya says.  

Dulce Custom Cakes is another student-run business selling delicious sweets. Reese Saliceti, now a Plan II Honors junior studying sociology, began selling cakes from her family’s kitchen in San Antonio when she was just 14. What started as a hobby for holidays and family events eventually became a highly skilled craft of creating multi-tiered cakes with elaborate designs. Saliceti grew her social media following throughout high school in San Antonio and now showcases and sells her cakes to more than 18,000 Instagram followers.  

“I was being paid to do something I liked to do,” Saliceti says. “That was the only way I really saw it. It was like a new challenge.”  

Being a cake artist was an outlet, a break from school and life, and a way to make others happy. As she became more popular and the activity lost its sense of calm, she had to simplify things for herself.  

“That was whenever I realized that I had the privilege to choose the orders I took,” Saliceti says. “I didn’t have to take every order that came my way. I could say no.”  

Business is not her only focus. After being homeschooled and mentoring middle school students at UT, she developed a passion for law and education policy. “I think the way that you can make the most impact is through the public education system,” Saliceti says.  

Though decorating cakes and education law seem different, Saliceti finds similarities in both as she approaches graduation.  

“As a cake artist, you capture somebody’s favorite things, and you put them into a cake,” she says. “Whenever you’re mentoring or getting to know people, you get to know their stories, and you get to talk to them about it, and they feel seen that way, too.” 

 Aidan Cortes, a sophomore finance major, got the idea for Sugary Nation while working on a high school project. The candy brand partners with farmers in Mexico to source organic spices used to coat popular candies such as Skittles, Gushers, and gummy bears. At its core, the business’s goal is to connect people. “I just really wanted to spread the message of positivity and bring friends and family together over candy,” Cortes says.  

Sugary Nation launched in 2025 and now sells its products online for local pick-up and nationwide shipping. The brand also partners with UT student organizations, expanding its reach and including fellow students in the start-up experience.

Like many entrepreneurs, Cortes balances multiple ambitions. He aims to pursue acting and filmmaking while growing his candy company and finishing his degree.  

But for businesses like Stoya, Dulce, and Sugary Nation, the first step isn’t: Wait until after graduation. It’s: Start now. “By all means, do it,” Cortes says. “Chase the dream. Chase the passion.” 

CREDITS: Courtesy of Reese Saliceti; Stoya Bread & Co.; Sugary Nation