“Those Little Bars Mean A Lot Of Work”

Between schoolwork and running pop-up events, the young chefs of Our Sons Bakery crank out up to 25 pans of their brownie-sized Ummmy Bars every week, in a rotation of sophisticated flavors like Orange Dream Crème Crunch Cake, Blueberry Compote Crème Swirl with Poppy Seeds, and Browned Butter Triple Chocolate Chip. The bars are crowned with the bakery’s signature baked-on swirl, then individually wrapped for freshness.

“They might just seem like these little bars, but boy, those little bars mean a lot of work,” says 15-year-old baker Corey Patton Jr., who was inspired to start the kid-run business after watching Netflix’s Sugar Rush and Zumbo’s Just Desserts with his brother Samuel Turner. “We weren’t serious about it at first, but then we eventually followed through.”

With organizing help from an adult, youth programmer Bre Suggs, the entrepreneurial venture for Black and Hispanic boys now takes orders online for delivery and pick-up near its Northeast Side headquarters. The team, whose youngest member is 6, has also collaborated with Tinker Coffee and filled large corporate orders.

“I got an email from Target in June, and I thought it was a scammer,” Suggs says. “Then the lady came to one of our pop-ups and asked if I got her email. I was like, ‘That was for real?’”