CHEYENNE, Wyo. — 16-year-old Jalynne Williams loves three things: dogs, baking and health foods. What better way to demonstrate her passion for them, she said, than by running a healthy snack-making businesses for Cheyenne residents and their four-legged friends?
Every week, the rising East High junior makes several different kinds of treats and sells them under Health Nut 307.
Her dog-friendly menu includes biscuits like the “OG Recipe,” which is made from peanut butter, pumpkin, eggs, whole wheat flour and baking soda. She also sells low-calorie foods, like Carrot and Apple Cookies, that contain carrots, apples, cinnamon, egg, rice flour, oats flour and coconut oil. For the humans, Williams offers baked goods like granola, banana and zucchini bread. One of her favorite items, and a best-seller, is the Protein Balls, which contain a mixture of peanut butter, semi-sweet chocolate chips, coconut, vanilla protein powder, honey, oats and flax seeds.
“I love the protein balls, especially for a quick snack on the go,” she said. “I’m trying to be healthier, so that’s a great way for met to eat healthy. They don’t taste like the protein powder I use, just peanut butter.”
The inspiration to become an entrepreneur started with Williams’s desire to buy a car. She worked multiple jobs, but didn’t find them to be enjoyable. What she did enjoy was baking, a hobby that always brought back pleasant memories of spending time with her grandmother.
On a whim, Williams open Health Nut 307 in August 2022 and focused on selling protein balls, snickerdoodle cookies and banana bread. Her intended audience was the gym-goers at HIIT30, a Cheyenne fitness center that her mother co-owns.
“I knew that would be the perfect target market,” she said. “I was like, protein balls are very healthy. [That’s] perfect; I can try selling them at the gym.”
One day, Williams found dog-friendly treat recipes online and made them for her beloved 2-year-old Pitbull Luna. Sensing an opportunity to expand her business to dog owners, Williams decided to add unique dog-friendly cookies, ice cream and other concoctions to the menu. The items quickly became popular, she said.
“I have three or four monthly customers that get them and their dogs love them,” she said. “They’re like, ‘What did you put in those treats?’ It’s like crack cocaine for dogs, that’s what I’ve heard.”
The first time she posted on social media about Health Nut 307, Williams received around 179 orders. The attention and support she received from locals inspired her to keep up the business.
“I did not expect it to go that well,” she said, “but when it did, I knew that was something I had to do and keep doing.”
Williams wants to continue operating Health Nut 307 into the school year and one day transform it into a local store front. One of the best parts about having her own business, she said, is getting to learn more about her community.
“It’s cool that people would support a 16-year-old like me who’s doing this out on a whim,” she said. “I think I have a lot of love for the people who have been patient with me. I have multiple other jobs as well, and the fact that they are so overwhelmingly awesome with me — I love that.”