BRYAN, Texas — What if I told you on a quiet back road, on the outskirts of Downtown Bryan, where the number of houses could be counted with just a few fingers, sits an entire bakery?
Now, what if I told you that the bakery was inside of a 10x18 shed in a family’s front yard?
You’d think I’m crazy, right?
That doesn’t matter to Tenika Williams though, the owner of the place.
“As long as you believe in yourself, there's absolutely nothing you can’t do,” she said, standing next to her son Devarion.
The mother son duo turned business partners when they began creating custom t-shirt together.
Yes, in the same shed.
It wasn’t until Williams’ daughter had hopes of opening her own bakery, specializing in cupcakes, that this new dream came to life.
”We went from Thanksgiving, Christmas to almost every day, somebody is placing the order,” said Guyton, thinking back to the roots of Royalty Bakes.
Guyton is a full-time student-athlete at Sam Houston State, playing football while earning a business degree.
He also works with his father, operating heavy machinery for a driveway installation business.
He’s not the only kid involved in the business though.
There’s two others, all playing a vital role.
“Everybody has their own job that they're good at,” Williams said.
Her youngest son, who’s 18, is a great taste tester and delivery driver, according to the pair.
Williams’ daughter, who’s 19, focuses on cupcake orders.
”We weren't born into money,” Williams said. “We have to come up with a way to make sure that we are able to survive.”
Williams worked diligently and in silence on Monday, thinking about the challenges they face as as a minority-owned business.
“I definitely want to make sure I leave something behind so we can break the generational curse,” she said.
She walked us through her childhood, explaining that going to college was rare in her family.
That goal may have seemed far off for teenage Williams. She never completed highschool.
If it wasn’t obvious until now, determination took over.
She earned her GED and started taking classes at Sam Houston State.
It was there she made a promise to herself and future family: going to college isn’t an option.
All three of her kids go to her alma mater, and she explained that paying for it isn’t cheap.
That’s why she does what she does.
“I'm up sometimes two to three o'clock in the morning, and then I sleep three hours, get up, six o'clock, go work at the school, come home, and I'm right back at it,” she said. “It's nonstop.”
For now, she said, there’s no place she’d rather be than in that little shed in her front yard, bonding with her family, while making treats for the community.
“I've never concerned myself with those who do not support me,” she said. “I'm more focused on the ones that do support me and what can I do to keep giving them what they need to keep coming back.”
The company ships across the country and can deliver here at home! To place an order, you can go to Royalty Bakes’ website.
