While a lot of people her age are worried about things like college, prom, and simply getting to school on time, South Seneca High School senior Elizabeth Dendis just started her own business, opening Sweet Sprinkles Bakery in Trumansburg this summer.
The bakery is located at Hazelnut Kitchen on 53 East Main Street in Trumansburg. Dendis has also been the sous chef at Hazelnut Kitchen for two months (she got promoted to that position after working there more than a year).
Dendis was actually considering leaving her position at Hazelnut Kitchen to open her own bakery, and was even looking for a space to do so. After speaking with her boss, Matt Hummel, they came up with the plan for Dendis to lease Hazelnut Kitchen during the mornings and use it for her bakery.
Sweet Sprinkles Bakery officially opened for business on Wednesday, July 26. It is open Tuesday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m.
“Having a bakery has been my dream since about the time I was old enough to have career dreams,” Dendis said. “Since I decided to go into some aspect of gastronomy when I was around 12, I have been slowly working towards opening a bakery. I have loved cooking and baking ever since I was a kid, but I got the licensing I needed to open a home bakery in 2020 when I was 14. Then I started Sweet Sprinkles out of my home doing custom orders and catering local events.”
Dendis said her customers can be on the lookout for new items on a regular basis.
“One of my favorite parts about the bakery,” she explained, “is that it has a rotating menu. So every week, half of our menu changes leaving each item on for two weeks in a row. While this is my plan, everything is still very new – so some items that are very popular might be on more often, or vica-versa with items that don’t sell well. At the moment, you can expect to see cookies, muffins, cupcakes and rolls. Each week we will also have a special or two that don’t fit into any of those categories that I come up with based on what ingredients we have available.”
As things stand now, Dendis does not plan to attend a culinary school after graduating high school. Her vision is to continue to learn as much as she can from Hummel while simultaneously growing her own business in real time.
“I have definitely found that I learn better with fast-paced, on the job training,” she said. “I am currently working under Head Chef Hummel who has been featured on several culinary TV shows, including taking second place on Chopped, and studied in different places across the US.”
While it’s only been a little more than a week, Dendis has been extremely grateful for the community’s support and reception.
“The community reaction has absolutely blown me away,” she said. “We exceeded our expected sales in the first week and even had some repeat customers. I also received an email on our opening day from a journalist at Tompkins Weekly asking for an interview in order to write an article about the opening of the bakery. So I’d say the Sweet Sprinkles Bakery has been very well received and many of the community members have reached out to me and expressed their exuberance over having a new bakery in town.”