Treasured Treats

Treasured Treats helps high schoolers learn about business

Ben Reamico, president of Treasured Treats holds one of his products in a classroom in the Johnson-Cobbe Energy Centre on SAIT Campus on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.(Photo by Josiah Navratil/The Press)

It turns out you don’t need a degree to start a business. Or even a high school diploma.

Groups of Calgary high school students can learn the ins-and-outs of entrepreneurship through a 19-week after-school program run by Junior Achievement Southern Alberta, which teaches how to start and manage their own company, under the guidance of mentors.

“We came up with a snack box company as we wanted to showcase different cultures through snacks,” said Ben Reamico, a Grade 12 student at St. Francis High School. who took part in the latest iteration of the program.

Junior Achievement (JA) is a worldwide, non-profit organization that has been educating youth in financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship for over a century. JA Southern Alberta was launched in 1960 and is a member of JA Canada. According to its website, it helps educate tens of thousands of students in Grades K-12 every year.

The latest program wrapped up March 14 and saw 20 students from five different Calgary high schools participate.

Reamico, who served as president of his group’s project — dubbed Treasured Treats — learned about JA Southern Alberta online and through his local library.

Treasured Treats boxes in a classroom in the Johnson-Cobbe Energy Centre on SAIT Campus on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.(Photo by Josiah Navratil/The Press)

“We believe that culture is the driving force of what brings everyone together,” he said.

Treasured Treats sells snack boxes with products from countries in Asia and the group has plans to also include items from South Asian and Latin American countries as well.

Elijah Bastos, who was vice-president of production for Treasured Treats and is also a Grade 12 student at St. Francis, says they tried to find a balance between the cost of the products and the quality they can provide.

Elijah Bastos (left), vice president of production at Treasured Treats packs a snack box with the help of Andrew Wong (right), a company mentor in a classroom in the Johnson-Cobbe Energy Centre on SAIT Campus on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.(Photo by Josiah Navratil/The Press)

“The worst feeling ever would be to charge someone too much money,” he said.

“For them to open a box and feel like they didn’t get fair value for their money and they don’t want to buy our box again.”

Bastos is proud of how far Treasured Treats advanced during the program.

“We started out with crappy boxes and we didn’t even have tape, so we folded it up,” he said.

“I remember getting in (Reamico’s) car, going to a candy store in Chinatown and bartering.”

The old Treasured Treats box (left) compared to the new (right) in a classroom in the Johnson-Cobbe Energy Centre on SAIT Campus on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.(Photo by Josiah Navratil/The Press)

One of those was Andrew Wong, who has his accounting designation and is a partner at Dart Bryant in Calgary. He says lessons learned in failure can be just as important as those rooted in success.

“I think last year for example, I got a group of students that actually did not do very well in their product,” said Wong.

“And I get to sit down with them afterward and say, ‘If you would have run this again, what would you have done differently?’”

Andrew Wong, a mentor with Treasured Treats sits in front of some snack boxes in a classroom in the Johnson-Cobbe Energy Centre on SAIT Campus on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.(Photo by Josiah Navratil/The Press)

Fellow mentor Josh Johal is a SAIT business student with a diploma in accounting and is pursuing a management degree. He got involved with JA while in high school after his older sister encouraged him to join and says he enjoys teaching students skills that go beyond the business world.

“What's really important is to encourage them to put themselves in situations where they can develop soft skills,” he said.

“So how I interpret that is, really practising their communication, conflict resolution and leadership (skills).”

Josh Johal, a company mentor, holds a Treasured Treats box in the Aldred Centre on SAIT campus on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024.(Photo by Josiah Navratil/The Press)

For the first four weeks of the program, students are introduced to basic business ideas by the mentors. They then brainstorm and present ideas for their business.

“The first four weeks of the program is best to get them onto a product that is acceptable by JA and also practical for the student to achieve,” said Wong.

After the first four weeks, students can essentially run the company on their own, says Wong.

However, both mentors are still there to make sure that the company stays on course, with Wong reminding students about the importance of inventory management after seeing unorganized candy.

“They brought everything back and now they're doing a spreadsheet, they're tracking everything that goes in the box,” he said.

“I think it's a great lesson … so we know how important internal control is.”

The Treasured Treats employees met at SAIT in February for weekly production days, which usually meant packing boxes. The largest effort came on Feb. 7 when they packed 100 boxes.

According to Reamico, production days were done weekly, and extra days were added if demand was high.

“It was an arduous process at first because we were sourcing products from different areas from Calgary,” said Reamico.

Having a central location at SAIT, Reamico was able to delegate tasks to his team.

Ben Reamico, president of Treasured Treats encourages his team during a production day in the Johnson-Cobbe Energy Centre on SAIT Campus on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.(Photo by Josiah Navratil/The Press)

Desks were moved together to form assembly lines and boxes filled with colourfully packaged snacks and drinks populated the workspace.

Completed boxes were placed at the end of the tables with the company tagline: Finding the Treasure in Every Culture adorning the back of each green package.

As more students began to arrive, everyone seemed to find a role like worker bees in a hive. Johal sat at the back teaching students through his computer, while others unpacked products as Reamico helped direct tasks.

Snacks waiting to be packed in a classroom in the Johnson-Cobbe Energy Centre on SAIT Campus on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.(Photo by Josiah Navratil/The Press)

Boxes were sold at several locations including St. Francis High School and even during a trade show at CrossIron Mills mall.

“So, a trade show is basically 12 hours in a set location where we get to set up our product, it's usually somewhere public, has a lot of people, and we just get to sell our product,” said Bastos

“A few Saturdays ago, we were at CrossIron Mills and I think we sold about 30 units. We got a lot of feedback and the solid part is really that opportunity to get to find out more about ourselves.”

Reamico lists three points youth looking to start a business should consider — curiosity, courage and knowledge.

Curiosity to go out of your way to learn. Asking questions and having a genuineness to talk to people.

Courage to take the leap forward, using small steps like going to a meeting once a week or talking to a peer.

Taking the knowledge you’ve gathered from your curiosity and courage and pairing it with discipline and motivation.

“You have to have discipline, because motivation will get you started, but to actually be successful, to make an impact for those around you, not just for yourself, but in your community, you have to have these,” said Reamico.

Elijah Bastos, vice president of production at Treasured Treats carefully places a stack of boxes on a table in a classroom in the Johnson-Cobbe Energy Centre on SAIT Campus on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.(Photo by Josiah Navratil/The Press)

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