Ryder St. Amant, a sophomore at Hahnville High School, decided a few years ago to make his own chocolate-covered Oreos. When he brought them to a party to share with friends and family, he never expected what came next.
Ryder’s treat business, Dipped by Ryder, keeps him so busy that he spends every afternoon after school making treats. His online business pages have over 300,000 followers across Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, and in the last 30 days, his business page on Instagram gained 22.7 million views.
In August alone, Ryder made 154 dozen treats. His biggest event so far was Hahnville High School’s prom, when he made 20 dozen treats.
Ryder’s hand-dipped, chocolate covered Oreos, pretzel sticks, Rice Krispy treats and strawberries, along with his cake pops, are custom made, designed to match the theme of each birthday party, baby shower or wedding. Decorated with bright colors and often dusted with gold, chocolate designs, or sprinkles, the treats sell quickly when Ryder does a pop-up shop once a month at Best Life Nutrition.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Ryder said. “I’ll go there and people will be waiting for me, literally before I’ve even set up, people are waiting early in the morning.”
In a typical week, Ryder makes between 30 to 40 dozen treats, but he wishes he could do more.
“I think the biggest challenge is I am still in high school, so it’s kind of hard,” Ryder said. “I can’t take on as many [orders] as I would like to.”
Usually chocolate-covered Oreos are made using molds, but Ryder said his hand-dipping technique gives the best chocolate-to-Oreo ratio. He spends time testing new recipes, and he has even dipped gummy worms and potato chips in chocolate.
“You would be shocked,” Ryder said of the chocolate-dipped chips. “It’s the perfect mix of salty and sweet.”
Last year, Ryder started posting videos of treat making online. The videos show Ryder dipping treats in chocolate and decorating them in a playroom that his family converted to a special room for treat making. One recent video gained 2.7 million views.
“I think a lot of people got interested at my age and that I’m doing this at 15,” Ryder said. “I love putting out these videos for everyone. And also, I like to get into my creative side. I really try to go all out, not only for the customer, but also, for the videos.”
His videos brought customers from Mississippi and Lafayette. Ryder does not ship the orders – and he doesn’t drive yet – so customers drive to pick them up. His growing online presence means he sometimes gets recognized around the parish by people who follow him online.
“You don’t even know how big my head is,” Ryder joked. “I’ve gotten recognized by multiple cashiers like, ‘oh, I see you and I follow you on Instagram.’”
Because online followers often ask Ryder questions about the business and how to make the treats, Ryder decided to create an online class to teach the skills step by step. In just 12 days, 195 people paid for the class, which launched in late July.
“It was a big money maker for me,” Ryder said.
Ryder estimates that, just this year alone, he has made around $50,000 from treat sales, the online class and social media. The biggest thing he has learned over the last few years is to keep going.
“It’s still unreal to me how something that I was just doing for fun, just for myself, has taken off like this,” Ryder said. “Definitely keep going.”
Ryder’s goal is to have a storefront someday, and, at the end of the year, he hopes for half a million followers online.
“It’s amazing that I’m able to do what I love already, as a kid,” Ryder said. “When I was a little kid, I’d pretend I owned my own restaurant, and I’m still shocked my dream is coming true.”
