The archive · Small Business & Money · Product decision · 2014–2026
Baonanas sells banana pudding to fix a dented car — a decade of dessert shops
A hit-and-run left a $1,500 dent, so a couple sold their signature banana pudding into a '#Baonanas' repair fund that became a company.
Baonanas
What it had to solve
In March 2014 a hit-and-run dented Lloyd Ortuoste's yellow Subaru WRX, and the roughly $1,500 repair bill equalled nearly a month of his pay. His banana pudding was already the hit of every gathering, so the couple decided to sell it to friends to raise the money.
How it works
Baonanas began with a dent. In March 2014, someone sideswiped Lloyd Ortuoste's parked yellow Subaru WRX and drove off, leaving about $1,500 of damage — nearly a month of his pay. Ortuoste and his girlfriend Trisha Villanueva had a popular homemade banana pudding, so they decided to sell it to friends to raise the repair money.
The mechanism was a hashtag. At a gathering, a friend insisted on paying for his serving and christened it a car 'repair fund'; the couple posted under #Baonanas, and within two months orders from friends, family and strangers covered the repair. They kept the momentum going, spending their first three years building the brand through mobile events, catering, wholesale and weekend pop-ups at Smorgasburg in Brooklyn.
The product itself was the differentiator: a light mousse made with Leche flan instead of boxed pudding, layered with wafers and fresh fruit, served scooped like ice cream with more than 60 rotating flavours including ube, lychee-rose and buko pandan. After finishing school, the couple opened a flagship in their home Jersey City neighbourhood in June 2020 and an East Village location in early 2022.
The pandemic tested the model — a contractor scam during construction, cancelled weddings and wholesale orders, and a staff that shrank from 12 to three before recovering — but local pop-ups and catering carried the business through. By 2025 CNBC reported roughly $450,000 in annual revenue from the Jersey City outpost plus catering and wholesale.
Why it lands
- The car repair gave the business a concrete deadline and a story that made strangers want to help.
- A payment at a dinner party proved demand before any investment, and the hashtag gave the fund a shareable identity.
- The pudding was genuinely distinct — Leche flan mousse, 60-plus flavours — so repeat customers had reasons beyond charity.
- Starting with events, catering and wholesale built cash flow without the fixed costs of a shop.
- Opening in the neighbourhood they grew up in turned customers into community members.
What it did
The business that began as a repair fund grew into roughly $450,000 in annual revenue from its Jersey City shop plus catering and wholesale, according to CNBC in July 2025, with a celebrity following that included Bella Hadid. The couple ran the flagship for over a decade before announcing its closure in February 2026 after 11.5 years.
What you can take
A concrete, personal need gives a side hustle its first customers: sell something people already love at a named moment, and the story — not the menu — becomes the marketing.
Since then
Baonanas ran for over a decade, with locations in Jersey City and Manhattan, plus catering and wholesale. A 2022 profile covered the founders' journey from a car repair fund through the pandemic. In February 2026, they closed the shop after 11.5 years, thanking the community. The story remains a reference for side hustles born from personal need.
Sources
- 33-year-old started selling banana pudding to pay for a $1,500 fender bender — now his business brings in $450,000 a year
- Baonanas: Jersey City's Popular Banana Pudding Company
- Baonanas, Jersey City (dining round-up)
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