<\/p>\n
Jordan Chang, junior biology major and owner of Chang’s Treats, a baked goods shop run on TikTok and other social media platforms,\u00a0holds up one of his prize cookies on display outside of Arium apartments on Oct. 6.\u00a0Chang has been running this business for almost a year now after starting back at UCF.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Jordan Chang<\/p>\n
While working toward a future in medicine, UCF junior Jordan Chang is also trying to hold on to a childhood passion that once became difficult to balance with school: baking cookies.<\/p>\n
Chang, a biomedical sciences major on the pre-med track, runs Chang\u2019s Treats, a small business selling homemade cookies to UCF students and customers throughout Orlando. With the menu changing every month and featuring flavors like s’mores and pumpkin spice, Chang’s work is unending.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started this business in high school because I just loved baking so much,\u201d Chang said. \u201cI\u2019ve been baking since I was a little kid and would bring goods to my friends in high school.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chang eventually stepped away from selling baked goods when school and nonacademics forced him to split his time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t as good then because I didn\u2019t have the time to put in my usual effort,\u201d Chang said.<\/p>\n
He restarted Chang\u2019s Treats at the beginning of the last school year, hoping to give the business another chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t too focused on it because of time constraints and feeling discouraged,\u201d Chang said. \u201cBut my passion for it grew, and I started making videos to promote it more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chang’s daily schedule normally starts with work or volunteering before heading to campus to attend classes and study. After playing tennis, he returns home to prepare cookie dough for Chang’s Treats.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got carried away preparing dough and forgot I had an assignment due that night,\u201d Chang said.<\/p>\n
Rather than stopping his baking, Chang said he sped up the process and still had enough time to work on his assignment. When asked whether the workload has made him consider stopping the business, he said that while he has considered it, he could never do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do consider not continuing sometimes because of my load, but I always remember how much I love it and how manageable it can be as long as I stay organized and manage my time,\u201d Chang said.<\/p>\n
The business has also pushed Chang to put himself in front of an audience on social media, something that hasn’t always come naturally to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can be very shy, so I\u2019m very proud of myself for putting myself out there in this way,\u201d Chang said.<\/p>\n
Beyond social media, word of mouth is still just as valuable, with Chang\u2019s cookies reaching other students through it.<\/p>\n
Ernest Rodriguez, a junior finance major, purchased cookies after learning about Chang\u2019s Treats through a friend. Rodriguez said he enjoyed the s’mores flavor and appreciated the variety of cookies offered each month.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was happy to help another student because I know how expensive everything is nowadays, and it\u2019s cool that he does what he does,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n
Beyond giving him a way to share his baking, Chang\u2019s Treats provides additional income while he attends college. Scholarships, including Florida Bright Futures, help cover his educational expenses, while earnings from his cookie sales help pay for rent and personal expenses.<\/p>\n
Although Chang is working toward a career in medicine, he has also expressed interest in selling baked goods full-time someday. For now, he continues balancing his education with the business he first started in high school.<\/p>\n
“I sell to all people in the Orlando area,” Chang said. “I’m going to be changing up the menu every month, so I hope to stick around.”\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jordan Chang, junior biology major and owner of Chang’s Treats, a baked goods shop run on TikTok and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[18031,1210,139,141,140],"class_list":["post-450430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-food_and_drink","tag-life","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}