Design and Entrepreneurship Students Help Startup with Growth

A group of Entrepreneurship and Design students spent the fall semester collaborating on a project for a start-up, Heritage Bread Pudding, based in Queens, New York. The company’s sole product is Puerto Rican-style bread pudding made from a recipe handed down to co-owner Tiffany Campos from her grandmother.

“My grandmother was my inspiration for this business. It’s a very personal project,” Campos told students.

Clients, Students and Faculty Meet with Entrepreneurs

In early September, Tiffany Campos and her husband and co-owner Ramon traveled to JWU’s Providence Campus to meet with Entrepreneurship and Design students and their faculty. Leading the Entrepreneurship students was Jeff Binczyk '23 DBA, director of the Larry Friedman Center for Entrepreneurship, while the Design students were led by Associate Professor Deana Marzocchi.

Ramon and Tiffany Campos of Heritage Bread Pudding with Entrepreneurship Students

The Camposes filled students in on what they have done with Heritage so far and what they want to see for the future of the business. They also brought an ample supply of bread pudding samples that everyone was happy to indulge in.

The Camposes challenged students to refine their brand and their business. For example, they want to expand sales and increase and diversify Heritage’s customer base by connecting with a wider demographic, especially younger consumers. They also plan to add the option of selling their product online through their website and pre-ordering items for purchase at pop-up events, which are now their only means of selling their product.

It is crucial to the Camposes to preserve the heirloom bread pudding recipe and to honor the Puerto Rican culture and community they are strongly connected to while paying homage to Heritage’s values. “Tradition” is one of their key words — and is something they honor every day.

Although bread pudding is the cornerstone of their business, the Camposes are open to adding new products such as a holiday line and different flavors. Ultimately, they want their products to be a positive experience for customers without breaking the bank for them.

Heritage Bread Pudding samples

Inspired JWU Students Get Down to Business

The 30 Entrepreneurship students from the Pitching and Planning New Ventures course led by Binczyk worked in teams of five or six to develop business plans comprised of strategies for growth and marketing. They used data obtained through a digital survey that Binczyk created with students’ input. The survey, posted on various social media channels, received an impressive 259 responses.

Three Design students from the Design Team course, led by Marzocchi, worked together on a brand refresh of the company’s logo, packaging and website.

The Design and Entrepreneurship students met to share ideas and input on how to best meet the Camposes' needs. From there they researched, analyzed, created and collaborated to develop comprehensive business plans and a refreshed brand to present to the client in December.

Jeff Binczyk '23 DBA, director of JWU’s Entrepreneurship Center

Entrepreneurship Students Team Up to Develop Business Plans

Each Entrepreneurship student took on different aspects of their team’s business plan. At the same time, they had to create their own individual business plans as a separate project. Two of those students shared their experiences.

Luna Burkland ’27, Baking & Pastry A.S., Food & Beverage Industry Management B.S., along with her team members pulled together recommendations for adding new flavors and sizes. They also came up with suggestions for product placement — where to sell the product and posting about Heritage on social media. And they proposed adding experiences to their offerings, such as baking classes.

For Burkland, working as a team with other students was a plus. “We worked really well together and focused on things like competitors, financials and projections. I've gotten to know them well, and I love working with them.”

One part of the project Burkland found especially helpful as an Entrepreneurship student and a business owner herself was a competitor assessment: “Seeing who the competitors are in the same market and how you can differentiate yourself from your them is extremely important.”

Entrepreneurship students presenting their business plan

She credits JWU with helping her get her own Vermont-based business, Forage Bakery, up and running. “Forage bakery is free of the top nine food allergens — gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, sesames, tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish and other fish. I've been working on Forage at JWU since Fall 2024 when I took the Introduction to Entrepreneurship course. It's cool to have schoolwork that is helping me with my own personal business. It helps me stay motivated.”

Emaline Hughston ’26, Baking & Pastry A.S., Food & Beverage Industry Management B.S., said each team created a different business plan based on their thoughts of what the client should do for the future. We worked on different parts of the plan each week. For example, we focused on a marketing strategy one week. Then we collectively agreed on what to go forward with and added that to our final presentation.”

On working with the Design students, Hughston said, “It went really well. They asked each group of Entrepreneurship students what we thought about the project for Heritage to see if we had any ideas that could work for them on their brand refresh.”

How was working with actual business owners? “At the first meeting, in-person, we got a grasp of their company and were able to ask them questions. At different times throughout the semester, we met with them on Zoom, and you could tell they trusted us to give them ideas and take our ideas into account. I loved working with them because it puts you in the real world and you care about the project more when it's something real that you could help change or make better. It's been a good learning experience.”

Design Students Work Together on Brand Refresh

Marzocchi explained how the three Design students, Abram “Abe” Kempner ’26, Tyler McShane ’26 and Jacob “Jake” Palumbo ’26, worked together on the refresh of the logo, packaging and website for Heritage.

“Originally, the clients wanted a complete redesign, and each student created an option for the clients to review. One of the students’ changes was replacing the photo of Tiffany’s grandmother in the logo with an illustration of her grandmother. "But nostalgia kicked in for the client and their attachment to their current branding,” said Marzocchi. The clients wanted to go back to some of the original elements of the brand, including the photo.

“The team did an amazing job of keeping that same feeling for the clients and listening to what their needs are. They started over, doing a refresh of the packaging, website and logo. They didn't give up. They said, ‘Can we go back in and see what happens?’”

Design Students presenting their brand refresh

The students began reworking their designs. “We each did individual work on the branding and showed them our visions for that,” said Palumbo. The client chose to go with Tyler's direction, so he took the lead on the branding. Abe has been working on the packaging, and he and I have both been working on the website development.”

“There are elements of each student’s first stab at it in the final outcome. Jacob brought in the flowers to the sides of the badge, Abe came up with the tile pattern design, which the client fell in love with. Tyler brought in the really strong typography and illustrations,” stated Marzocchi.

What has this project meant for the Design students? “The most important part of the project for me has been working on a design team,” said Kempner. “I have previous experience working with clients, but I’ve enjoyed working together on this with other designers and I really appreciate all the work we've done together.”

“It’s been very important,” expressed Palumbo. “I haven't had a project with this much of a scope before — branding, packaging and website. And being able to work on a team provides experience in working with your peers, taking on both a leadership role and following your teammates. Balancing that has been important. We’ve gotten real-world experience in design while still in school — including the real-world experience of dealing with an actual client.”

Instructor Eugene Santos and Associate Professor Deana Marzocchi watching Design students' presentation

On working with the Camposes, McShane said, “We mainly talked to Tiffany, and she's been really nice and easy to work with. “The critiques that she gave us really make sense, and she's explained things in a way we could actually understand.”

Instructor Eugene Santos was the advisor of the Design students for the website refresh and development. He commented on the strengths of students’ work: “Jacob has shown maturity and been the group's primary communicator. Tyler, one of the best designers in the program and the main designer for the project, is finding his voice, too. Abe is an amazing designer, articulate and visionary. They make a really good team.”

Student Presentations Revealed

The Design and Entrepreneurship students continued working on their projects and deliverables up until their presentations to the clients on December 4.

Design Students Showcase Brand Refresh

The Design students pitched their brand refresh ideas to the clients with other students, faculty and staff in the audience. Their presentation was comprehensive, with information about the clients, their product and their goals for Heritage Bread Pudding. Also included were the original logo, packaging and web design along with their refreshed versions. They included sketches of their ideas, feedback from the client, various iterations of their work and samples of other companies’ designs that inspired them.

Entrepreneurship student presenting business plan

Entrepreneurship Students Introduce Business Plans

The Entrepreneurship students presented their work within their teams, with each student presenting the aspects of what they had personally worked on. They explained how and why they came up with their suggestions and they created one-page presentations to depict their findings and ideas. Examples of the students’ ideas included:

• Communicating what bread pudding is since it is not well known
• Replace cardboard packaging with air-tight packaging
• Sell single serve sizes in addition to the current multi-packs
• Add new flavors — their survey results reported chocolate chip, cinnamon and coffee as most popular
• Run ads on Facebook to draw in more “older” customers and on TikTok and Instagram to entice younger ones
• Open a flagship store that will bring in foot traffic and where tours and baking classes could be held

Ramon and Tiffany Campos watching Entrepreneurship students' presentations

The Camposes React to Students’ Work

Tiffany and Ramon Campos traveled back to Providence in early December to see the students' presentations in person. The smiles on their faces as they watched and listened spoke volumes about their impressions of the work.

“Both groups were incredibly professional, highly aware and sensitive when addressing our brand's identity and cultural relevance,” said the Composes. “Their commitment also shone through with their readiness to answer any of our questions in greater detail.”

“Working with the students and faculty has played a fundamental role in strengthening our operations and guiding us on the next steps for scaling our business,” continued the Camposes. “Their fresh perspectives and hands-on support provided further clarity and structure, so we are looking forward to implementing them asap!”

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