Today we’d like to introduce you to Bora & Darko Todorovski.
Hi Bora & Darko, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
In 2020, I (Bora) left my previous job during the pandemic because I wanted to be home with our three kids instead of missing out on their childhoods. But with three little kids, we knew we couldn’t financially get by on one income. I was involved with our kids’ school and at the time, they were struggling to find a snow cone truck, especially during the pandemic. It sparked an idea and I went home and asked my husband, Darko, “What if we started a food truck with snow cones and desserts?”
That’s how A’s Sweets & Treats was born. We named it after our kids, Aiden, Aliana and Ava. Their first initials gave us the name and their cartoon images make up our logo.
The truck quickly built a loyal following at festivals and school events around the county. Then, in 2023, Darko started experimenting with freeze-dried candy, which was having a moment on TikTok, and it was a big hit in our local community. We started selling it alongside our other treats and eventually began looking for ways to grow that side of the business.
We turned to selling online, and then late last year, we started selling on Temu through its U.S. Local Seller Program. It is our first e-commerce marketplace and they have become our top sales channel, accounting for about 80% of our orders. In the past six months alone, we’ve sold more than 10,000 products and have gone from roughly one order per week to more than 100 per day. There have even been some days where we’re packing upwards of 250 orders.
Thanks to Temu, people from all over the U.S. are discovering A’s Sweet’s & Treats. We’ve shipped as far as Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Alaska, and we’re even considering upsizing from our 1,900-square-foot kitchen to a bigger space to keep up with our online orders. It’s exciting to see how far we’ve come from that first snow cone truck idea.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. One of the hardest parts in the beginning was figuring out how to get our products in front of people. We had a website that generated almost no orders and tried different ways of selling online, but nothing was giving us the consistency we needed. Wholesale helped, but it was unpredictable. On top of that, our food truck only operates in the spring and summer in Michigan, so winter could mean months with little to no income.
When we first joined Temu in the fall, we were still learning how to make the most of the platform and its different tools like promotions, so we were only getting about one order a week at first. We were glad that our dedicated account manager helped us throughout the whole process and walked us through how to navigate the platform and understand the tools and opportunities available to grow our business. Once we learned and started running promotions, sales took off.
That created a completely different challenge: keeping up with demand. When we hit 250 orders in one day, we actually had to shut off our promotions because we didn’t have the capacity to fulfill any more orders. It was a good problem to have, but it made us realize that growing the business would mean optimizing our operations and expanding our capacity.
We’ve since added new equipment and are looking at larger kitchens, with hiring also becoming something we’re starting to consider. We’ve always wanted to keep A’s Sweets & Treats a family-run business. We’re still figuring out how to grow without losing that part of what makes the business special.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
A’s Sweets & Treats is a family-run dessert business that started as a snow cone and dessert food truck and has grown into a full-scale freeze-dried candy and treat operation. We specialize in freeze-dried candy, shelf-stable Dubai chocolate nachos, which are our own original creation, and our bestselling Dubai-style ice cream sandwiches. We also have fan favorites like our Sour Gushers, which we make fresh every day and genuinely cannot keep on the shelf.
Everything is made by hand in our commercial kitchen in Clinton Township. We run the business alongside our three kids: Aiden, Aliana and Ava.
What sets us apart is how much we care about quality and how personally we take the business. We’re extremely strict about cleanliness and allergen safety because we have family members with food allergies ourselves. We take pride in knowing that every product we make is something we would feel comfortable feeding our own kids.
We’re also always coming up with new flavors and products. Darko is constantly testing new ideas and our family, kids and their friends are our taste-test panel before anything goes to customers.
What we’re most proud of is that we’ve been able to grow into a nationwide brand through our Temu storefront without losing what makes us us. A large share of our customers now find us through Temu, and out-of-state customers who first find us through the food truck often reorder from our online store, but we’ve kept the same hands-on quality and family feel at that scale. We want readers to know A’s Sweets & Treats isn’t just about fun, unique treats. It’s made with real care by a family that loves what we do.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
A’s Sweets & Treats was not our first entrepreneurial venture. We previously ran a photography business and even sourced some of our photo booth props from Temu. We also operated a yard sign business out of the same building that now houses our commercial kitchen.
However, neither of us came from an entrepreneurial family.We’re both first-generation Americans, so building A’s Sweets & Treats from the ground up and seeing how far it has come means a lot to us and to our parents.
Pricing:
- Dubai Nachos: Milk Chocolate, Kataifi & Pistachio Butter: $18
- Freeze Dried Ice Cream Sandwiches: $8.99
- Watermelon Sour Gushers: $14.99
- Dragon Fruit Delight Freeze-Dried Snack: $16.99
- 3 Flavor Bundle Freeze dried Ice Cream: $41.99
Contact Info:
- Website: https://asweetstreatscandy.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/as_sweet_and_treats/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/As-Sweets-Treats-100089067597113/
- Other: https://www.temu.com/mall.html?_bg_fs=1&mall_id=741070852070804&goods_id=602307639016410&sticky_type=3&refer_page_el_sn=200446&_x_sessn_id=wa38zag0y8&refer_page_name=goods&refer_page_id=10032_1784652813636_aeomu82not&refer_page_sn=10032
