EDITOR’S NOTE: Interviews with Angelina Velazquez were conducted in Spanish and translated into English.
Walking into Jello Fantasy instantly evokes wonder as all kinds of jello molds cover the storefront from floor to ceiling.
Angelina Velázquez owns Jello Fantasy in East San José where she helps people bring their creative side to life through the creation of food.
In Jello Fantasy, one will find flower-inspired decorations in an open fridge with all sorts of fruits, nuts and vegetables spread out as the employees prepare for classes later that day.
Velázquez said in Spanish that she didn’t always have a storefront in mind.
“My journey toward the successful business I have now started over 14 years ago,” Velázquez said. “I started making Jello (with) few resources. My first location was simply out of my garage.”
Velázquez said she gained customers and new suppliers over the past 10 years and finally made enough profit to open up the storefront and hire employees until COVID-19 struck.
“The pandemic posed many problems as in-person meetings were prohibited,” Velázquez said. “To circumvent these restrictions we utilized live classes on Facebook and sent recipes to people’s homes.”
Velázquez said opening her business was a piece of cake compared to keeping it open. She said most of the work goes into the maintenance involved in the products she creates.
She said to keep a business running people need to keep up with infrastructure, including industrial cooking equipment, a consistent supply of produce and an innovative menu to keep customers entertained.
Jello Fantasy employee and San José resident Mary Carpi said she enjoys working at Jello Fantasy because she gets to meet new people and see how they express their creativity in different ways.
“There really isn’t another place like this in San José,” Carpi said. “Jello is something that is more so from Mexico than the U.S. and there aren’t a whole lot of companies here that produce these kinds of molds.”
Melanny Sanchez, Jello Fantasy employee and San José resident, said she chose to work at Jello Fantasy because she enjoys the work environment.
“I feel like the place is very welcoming . . . and I get along with everyone, so I feel really like working,” Sanchez said.
Velázquez said while everything is stable now and her business is flourishing, she still remembers the prior struggles.
“I had a fear that was hanging over me,” Velázquez said. “Do I have enough money to pay the rent? Do I have enough money to pay my employees?”
She said during the pandemic, small businesses were negatively impacted and were in risk of losing business.
Velázquez said the help of social media marketing and opening a website for her business helped keep it alive and well through trying times.
She said she also has a shop where she sells everything people need to create their own jello or other desserts from start-to-finish.
Velázquez said as county restrictions slowly eased she found classes filled up to the brim. She said the store was completely packed and demand was high following the pandemic.
Capri said that she was familiar with desserts before working at Jello Fantasy. She said while she was growing up, her Mexican family would eat jello.
“I always had jello and cake (at birthdays),” Capri said.
“You get to see very amazing cakes and jellos made and there's customers who come in and tell me I'm gonna do this and this and I'm like, ‘How?’ and then they bring me the picture later on,” Capri said.
Velázquez said the space she created is special because people come there to learn. She said that people can take the recipes here back home and share it with their families.
She said over time she began offering more classes to keep customers coming back and teach them new things.
She said over 30% of her clients have found community here and made her classes a consistent part of their lives for years. She said some people have been taking her classes for over a decade.
Velázquez said another source of inspiration for recipes is that her classes are simply her own palette. She said as she goes to restaurants and tries new foods she also gets inspired to create new classes.
“The most important part about starting a business is to stay consistent and to learn something that you are passionate about and to share it with people,” Velázquez said.
