High schoolers start candy business to fund college education
▶ Watch Video: 2 high school students turn candy making into sweet success
Arlington, Virginia — While they were stuck at home last year during the pandemic, Virginia high school seniors Sithiya Reshmee and Farah Bahr decided to start a candy company — even though they knew nothing about making candy.
“Our first batch of chocolate covered strawberries, it was not good,” said Bahr.
The two learned by trial and error.
“We watched a lot of TikTok videos on how to package,” said Reshmee. “So TikTok, thank you so much for that.”
“It helped us a lot,” Bahr added.
The pair didn’t just need something to do, they needed money because their parents lost jobs during the pandemic.
“I was definitely thinking about saving up for college,” Bahr said. “My parents, they pay for too much.”
Fast forward a year and their business, F&R Sweets, is the bomb. The cocoa bomb, that is. It’s one of their best-sellers.
“We had this huge order and we only had one, like, mold to make it with. And it was like an order for 50 cocoa bombs and we stayed up till like 1 a.m. making these cocoa bombs,” Reshmee said.
They pulled it off, even though they had school and homework.
“I feel accomplished in a way for an 18-year-old. And that’s like really big. I feel like I made my parents really proud,” Reshmee said.
They each earned enough money to help their families, which may be the sweetest part of it all.