Kelsee Brady, managing editor
The Spring Market will be on March 19, and student businesses have plans to sell items. While some businesses are part of the entrepreneurship program at Berry, others are capstone projects or just for fun.
Clear Cuts
Clear Cuts is a business that juniors Ashley Baxter, Adam Fox and senior Kammann Brown created as part of their Intro to Entrepreneurship class.
The name Clear Cuts comes from the type of products that they will be selling. Clear plastic tumblers, glass mugs and keychains with custom vinyl lettering and designs are currently advertised on their Instagram @clear.cuts.
Baxter said that the clear items are ordered in bulk from Amazon and then vinyl stickers and lettering are placed on them before they are ready for sale. The team uses a vinyl cutter at Hackberry Labs to create the designs.
“We are ordering all of our actual products, off of Amazon. We’ve also ordered the vinyl that we’re using off of Amazon. To actually make the stuff, we are going to Hackberry and we’re using the vinyl cutter and the software they have in order to make the designs we want. Then, we take them back to our dorm and put all the stickers on them.”
There are also plans to provide lemonade to go along with the tumblers at the Spring Market.
Clear Cuts has already sold products via their Instagram. Sales have included mugs and keychains so far. Baxter hopes to sell many more products at the Spring Market.
“By the end of this week, we’re thinking we’re already going to cover all of our cost,” Baxter said.
Students can stop by the Clear Cuts table at the Spring Market and purchase their own clear items. Items can be ordered prior to the Spring Market via the form on the Clear Cuts Instagram account, @clear.cuts.
Simply Serving Boards
What initially began as a business for an entrepreneurship course has now become a further endeavor for senior Hannah Kobeck. For Kobeck, the course now serves as her capstone project for her creative technologies major.
Last fall, at the Mountain Day market, Kobeck and senior Emily Kaszubowski sold laser engraved charcuterie boards. According to Kobeck, Kaszubowski came up with the idea for the business, but Kobeck is the sole operator at this time.
The charcuterie boards are 9 inches by 12 inches and made of cherrywood. Kobeck explained that she outsources the making of the cherrywood boards. Once she receives them, Kobeck laser engraves them at Hackberry Labs and soaks them in two different kinds of oil to bring out the color in the cherrywood and make the boards water resistant and food safe.
Since last semester, Kobeck has increased the quality of the engraving on the charcuterie boards. Kobeck said the lines of the engraving should be cleaner and she now has the ability to fill in designs instead of just outlining words and shapes.
The name Simply Serving Boards serves a dual purpose. While the charcuterie boards can be used to serve food, the business itself will also help the Rome community. A portion of the profits from the business will be donated to the Davies Shelter.
“I wanted to find a way to kind of help the homeless population within Rome and I found the Davies Shelter,” Kobeck said. “They’ve been absolutely awesome in communication back and forth with them.”
Kobeck plans to have wood designs incorporating spring flowers and trees at the spring market along with more Berry related boards. Simply Serving Boards can be found on either Facebook or Instagram @simplyservingboards.
Berry Good Paintings
Freshman Sarah Agullo started Berry Good Paintings this semester after receiving encouragement from attendees to the Painting and Puppies event that the Academic Success Center (ASC) hosted last semester.
Agullo will be providing stickers, painting and potentially origami for sale at the Spring Market. Currently, Agullo plans to make stickers of buildings on-campus like McAllister, the Cage and the Memorial Library.
Agullo had a background in art prior to starting this business and is an animal science and art double major.
“In middle school, I took the high school art course and then in high school, I took the drawing class pathway and the painting class pathway,” Agullo said. “Then, when I got here, I wanted to double major.”
Agullo plans to put sticker designs on Redbubble which is linked to the Instagram account for the business, @berrygoodpaintings. Agullo said she wants to sell paintings of the flora and fauna at Berry for the Spring Market along with the stickers.
Bubbling Boba
Seniors Jessie Lowery and Lynneatte Quenin are the faces behind the new Bubbling Boba business. They started the business for the Intro to Entrepreneurship class. On Instagram, the account is @bubbling_boba and each week, they have been teasing new flavors of bubble tea that will be sold at the Spring Market.
Bubble tea is a drink that typically features tapioca pearls in them. Boba is another word for tapioca pearls, which is why boba is included in the name of Bubbling Boba.
Currently, Bubbling Boba has announced two of the three flavors that will be offered at the Spring Market. Brown sugar milk tea with brown sugar jellies and mango green tea with popping boba pearls will both be options for the Spring Market along with a third flavor that will be announced over Spring Break.
Lowery and Quenin wanted to emphasize quality over price for their boba tea so they looked at different wholesalers to source their product.
“There’s a lot of wholesalers that sell boba and we mainly looked at the ones that have more of a better reputation, then we just bought all of our studd from there because we knew it would be higher quality and, taste good,” Quenin said.
Quenin and Lowery also hope to sell stickers at the market and will have mystery sticker packs available alongside the bubble tea.