We had the good fortune of connecting with Jaime and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jaime, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Back in October of 2021, I was on a mission to find all the ingredients & supplies to make homemade lollipops for the kids. While shopping around several different grocery & craft stores for flavors, I noticed that every extract/flavoring product on the shelves contained sweeteners, artificial ingredients, and were simply unappealing.

From that moment, I realized I had to create a natural & healthier line of food flavorings that I would enjoy, can be applied to any type of recipe, and know other foodies would want to keep in their pantry. Fast forward to March of 2022, I launched an online shop (halopantry.com) to sell my very own product line of flavoring extracts under the brand HALO PANTRY.

All the flavor concepts developed for the Halo Pantry collection were inspired by my passion for home baking/cooking and obsession with drinking boba teas.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
HALO PANTRY is a premium & natural line of Asian-inspired flavoring extracts made exclusively for use in any baking, cooking, dessert, candy, or drink recipes. Our product line is All Natural, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Vegan Friendly, Zero Sugars, Zero Calories, Soy-Free, Nut-Free, Non-GMO, No Preservatives, No Artificial Colors or sweeteners. The mission of HALO PANTRY brand is to make the DIY, at-home cooking/baking experience simple, fun, and to also encourage others to explore asian-inspired flavors. Unlike other food flavoring products, our product line only adds flavors & does not alter or negatively impact the taste of your original recipe because it doesn’t contain any sweeteners or other additives. With our product, you have complete control of your own recipes.
As a female-founded and Asian-owned business owner, I am most proud that I was able to start my current business so quickly and that the idea was inspired by my passion for cooking at home, asian desserts, and bubble teas. My business is in its early stages, but I am excited for the product line because it fulfills a void in the market and have had great feedback from our current customer base. The first time I jumped into entrepreneurship with my own brand was in 2012 and it operated until 2017. I made some mistakes along the way, which have prepared me for this new brand/product I created in 2022. I learned that it’s important to have FUN with the business you create and that it be aligned with your lifestyle in order to create a healthy balance between work & family life.

It’s been amazing to experience a level of community when customers use HALO PANTRY flavoring extracts in their food recipes and share with others. I hope more people find out about our brand and try our versatile product line. Our product line is available on our website: halopantry.com

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
That’s a tough question for me as a foodie. There are just so many restaurants to chose from, I would say I would take them to asian restaurants they can not find in their home town.The most fun thing to do is people watching and enjoy the beautiful outdoor activities in SoCal.

Since, we are based in South Orange County. If a friend was coming from another state, I would take them to our local beaches and the itinerary would consist of visiting a lot of fun places to eat. For example, I would take them walking around Corona Del Mar State Beach, get Vietnamese food at Brodard’s Restaurant in Little Saigon area. Then we would head over get Mung Bean Tea with Boba at 7 Leaves Cafe. Then I would probably drive them up to Los Angeles for some shopping and find another local bubble tea cafe for more tea. Again, just too many places to go and fun things to do here in California, it is hard to narrow down the itinerary.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to dedicate a big shoutout to my husband who has been supportive in my entrepreneurial endeavors for the past decade. Without his support and encouragement, I would not have been able to leave my corporate career to pursue entrepreneurship and also be full time stay-at-home mother to our young son. My husband also tries to contribute on the operations aspect of the business, which is an added bonus.

Website: www.halopantry.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/halopantry

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC55HS2Pra09SHs9bGnrqaxA

Other: https://www.pinterest.com/halopantry/

Image Credits
created by HALO PANTRY

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