By Gloria Vittadello
Staff Writer
From middle school bake-offs to partnerships with busy breakfast nooks on the Jersey Shore, junior finance major Justin Yuen has turned a love for cookies into a successful business, J Bakes.
“I was just challenging a friend,” Yuen said. “And then the following week, people were like, ‘we want to buy some cookies.’”
He began selling his sweet treats in middle school through hosting fundraisers.
Though some assumed his baking talent came from family recipes, Yuen says he is entirely self-taught. He dedicated countless hours watching baking shows and videos, teaching himself to perfect his recipes and improve his technique.
Over time, baking became more than just a hobby for Yuen, it flourished into his passion, and as time went on, a business. “Eventually, I figured out how to turn that passion into something more,” Yuen said.
During high school, Yuen was enrolled in his school's culinary program where he met seniors that he considered mentors. Some of them would even fund his early efforts.
“They would give me money for ingredients,” Yuen said. They all had one simple request: “‘Just bake us cookies.’”
Still, the road wasn’t immediately profitable. For the first three to four years, J Bakes was operating at a loss, Yuen added. He was often selling to middle school and high school kids with limited money. Family members and friends questioned his decisions and told him to join clubs and get a part-time job.
“When you have a vision, it’s on you to nurture it and grow it,” Yuen said when talking about the questions he got from those around him. “If you tell the wrong people, then it’ll disappear.”
Instead of listening to the doubt from others, he used people's words as "receipts" for when he needed fuel. “When faced with all of that background noise, it really is make or break,” he said.
Today, Yuen says his campus fundraisers have been among some of the most rewarding aspects of his journey.
“People kept sharing my cookies and spreading the word,” he noted. “Today, when I do a fundraiser, I'll get a few hundred people who come and support me here on campus.”
Balancing academics with running a business isn’t easy, but Yuen says the pressure has taught him to adapt.
“All the pressure from running the business, being a student, and commuting, eventually you kind of adapt in your mindset,” Yuen said. “You have to learn to do things more efficiently, and it ultimately saves you time.”
After seeing the success of his school fundraisers, he was influenced to start doing pop-ups within his community. You can find him at market places, outside of stores and on Long Beach Island in the summer.
“I would say 70-80% of my business I do myself,” Yuen said. “And then when I do need help, I'll have my sister or my mom do a little bit of work, or my hometown friends.”
In terms of baking, Yuen operates out of a commercial kitchen in Monmouth County, which serves as the central hub for J Bakes.
“Once a week, I pop in, and I do what I have to do for the next week,” he said.
As J Bakes began to grow, Yuen was open to adding items to his menu. A late-night scroll on Instagram sparked the idea to add matcha to his menu. He saw a video for a new matcha cafe in Lawrenceville, NJ called Ooika. Yuen pitched an idea for a homemade matcha cookie in-person. He now supplies monthly cookie drops at Ooika and uses their fresh-ground matcha at his pop-ups.
Because of his collaborations with Ooika and marketplace vendors, people started to notice him, Yuen said. While doing a pop-up at the Baker’s Grove in Shrewsbury, NJ, the owner of a popular breakfast nook on Long Beach Island called Birdy’s reached out to Yuen and invited him to do a summer-long pop-up down the shore, where he sold both his cookies and Ooika’s matcha.
When asked about his personal favorite cookie, Yuen’s face lit up.
His personal favorite, the same as his best seller, is his hot cocoa cookie. “It’s a chewy chocolate cookie with roasted marshmallows.”
In addition to J Bakes and managing his coursework, Yuen is a licensed real estate agent. He says that his work in real estate is not only to help people find long-term homes, but to also pay for his dream of opening a brick-and-mortar location for J Bakes somewhere in Monmouth County.
For Yuen, J Bakes’ journey has been about so much more than just baking. “It’s so fulfilling to create something for yourself and make progress toward your ideas,” Yuen said.
