Episode 60: Baking Up Business Lessons with La Cherie Macarons

Wharton Global Youth is celebrating 60 episodes of our Future of the Business World podcast in sweet style.

This month, we speak with high school student Shaili Chudasama, a baker from California, U.S., who runs La Cherie Macarons. Soon after starting her business at age 13, Shaili’s community nicknamed her “the macaron girl” for her talent creating the delicate French pastries.

Since then, she has learned a lot about entrepreneurship, helped along by experiencing Wharton Global Youth’s Future of the Business World online program in summer 2025. Brand awareness has continued to grow, as have La Cherie’s annual sales, tripling in recent years. 

For her most recent order, Shaili baked several dozen Indian-spiced macarons for an October 2025 Diwali party, and one of her bestselling macarons is passion fruit, flavored with the organic harvests from a backyard vine.  

Click on the arrow in the podcast player above to listen to our 20-minute conversation. You can also visit the Wharton Global Youth YouTube channel to watch this podcast interview. An edited transcript appears below.

Wharton Global Youth Program: Hello and welcome to Future of the Business World. I’m Diana Drake with the Wharton Global Youth Program at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Each month on this podcast, I speak with innovative high school students from around the world who are starting and running businesses, nonprofits and social movements driven by their entrepreneurial mindset. Today’s guest was a student this summer in Wharton Global Youth’s online Future of the Business World Program, and she’s going to be talking about one of our favorite products, cookies.

Shaili Chudasama, welcome to Future of the Business World.

Shaili Chudasama: Thank you so much for having me. I’m very excited to be here.

Wharton Global Youth: All right, Shaili, let’s get started. Tell us about yourself. Where do you live and go to school?

Shaili: I’m from Irvine, California. I’m a junior at Portola High School. And I’ve been running my business for over three years.

Wharton Global Youth: We have discussed all types of products through the years on Future of the Business World, from apps to nutritional gummies, and sweet baked treats are always a popular source of entrepreneurial energy. I understand that your product, the macaron, can be tricky to make. Can you tell us what it is exactly and how it’s done?

Shaili: Of course. So, a macaron is a delicate French dessert made of two light and crispy meringue cookies that have a very soft center. Sandwiched between them is a filling that gives it its flavor, usually a ganache or buttercream. They are often confused with macaroons, which are more dense, lumpy cookies made of shredded coconut. But [macarons] are definitely tricky to make because it requires a very precise balance of almond flour, granulated sugar, powdered sugar and egg whites. And it’s especially tricky because the base of the macaron is a meringue, which is very sensitive to temperature and humidity. A different meringue can completely change the texture of your macaron. When I first started baking macarons, it took me nearly an entire day to get a batch done, but now I can make a perfect macaron batch of two dozen within two hours, including making the buttercream, making the filling and preparing them and packaging them.

Wharton Global Youth: You have become quite an expert at this, but I need even more of a visual here. Maybe it’s because I love cookies. So, you create a new specialty flavor each month. What are a few of your flavors and your top sellers?

Shaili: Yes, of course. This month, to celebrate the Indian festival of Diwali, my flavor is Kulfi, which is based off of a traditional Indian dessert made of cardamom, saffron and almonds. Last month, my flavor of the month was honey to celebrate the transition into the fall spirit. Generally, I think one of my biggest successes is having unique flavors and unique flavor combinations. One of my best sellers is passion fruit, which is my favorite and my mom’s favorite. My classics are also very popular, including chocolate peanut butter, which is another one of my best sellers.

Wharton Global Youth: I saw them on the website, and they are beautiful. What is your target market here? I would guess that not many high school students are buying these fancy cookies. Who are you reaching out to?

Shaili: For individual sales, most of my target market is adults in my local community, as well as people who are connected through the hospital [where] my parents work. My parents’ early praise of my business and my early customers got the word out about my business very well, and my primary source of marketing has been word-of-mouth marketing.

Very soon after I started, I was known as “the macaron girl,” and my sales started increasing exponentially. I also sell at local marketplaces and community events. And when I go to these events, high school students are a big part of my sales, because they’re always interested in trying my desserts. But a lot of my bulk orders and large orders are sales where customers contact me directly. Those come from adults in my community.

Wharton Global Youth: This whole time we’ve been talking about cookies, because we dove right into that sweet treat, but we didn’t even mention the name of your business. Your business is called La Cherie, correct? It’s not easy to go from your kitchen to actually baking for a wedding or a birthday party and in bulk. Can you talk about how this love of baking evolved into a business?

Shaili: Over the pandemic, my mom was the one who taught me how to bake. We would be experimenting with new desserts in the kitchen and trying out little things for fun. On the day that I decided to make macarons, I didn’t realize how hard it was to make, because the first time I made it, it turned out perfectly. And my mom tried them, and she was very surprised. How did you get this so well the first time?

So, I made another batch, and she took it to a communal event where some friends tried them. Then a friend of a friend was asking where she bought these. That one little comment inspired me to think, oh, I should start selling these and create this into an actual business. Then eventually, that same person ended up placing an order for her wedding. That was my first big order, and that has really [increased] my business. Now I focus on larger events, corporate events, birthday parties, baby showers, all that kind of stuff.

Wharton Global Youth: And how many do you have to bake for a wedding or one of those larger orders?

Shaili: It depends on what the customer is looking at. For things like a baby shower, for example, about three to five dozen. Baby showers, community parties and events like that, three to five dozen is typically the amount for larger corporate events. I’ve gotten orders up to 10 dozen, which [amounts to] over 100 macarons. It’s always very exciting to be able to be like, wow, I’ve got this much inventory, and this is all going to someone’s big event. And it’s very special to me to know that someone who’s celebrating a big moment of their life wants my desserts to be there. It’s very gratifying.

“Once I understood how important finance was, I completely reshaped how I ran my business. I sat down and I learned the ins and outs of Google Sheets, which has been a savior for me. It’s how I’ve been tracking my revenue, profits and expenses.” –Shaili Chudasama, founder, La Cherie Macarons

Wharton Global Youth: Describe your most recent La Cherie order and how it came together.

Shaili: My most recent order was placed for a celebration of Diwali. It’s an Indian celebration of the Indian New Year. This person in my community reached out to me. They’re throwing together a party within a family gathering for the holiday. I always love trying to incorporate my Indian heritage into my dessert. I get really excited when I’m making Indian flavors, because traditional Indian sweets are usually very, very rich and intensely sweet. I like to experiment to try to get it to have that perfect Indian flavor, but also to be light and delicate like a traditional macaron. I just finished preparing the five-dozen order. The flavors were inspired by things like rose and saffron and cardamom, almond and pistachio, which are very traditional Indian flavors.

Wharton Global Youth: That sounds fantastic. And again, a very big order. I’m always curious about balancing business schedules. How do you do it? How do you go to school and [run your] business? I think I heard you say you were [also] in sports. There’s just a lot of things that you have to juggle. How are you able to do all of this? Do you have help running it?

Shaili: I am in a sport. I’m on the tennis team at my school. When I first took on this venture, my mom prefaced it [by saying]: only do it if you can manage it yourself without compromising schoolwork. So, I’ve always made sure that I create a good balance between this business and my schoolwork. Most of the time, it’s just creating a long list of planners and planning out my week ahead of time. I have had moments, especially during the holidays, when orders pile up for Christmas and New Year’s, but it’s also when finals are happening. So, there have been times when I make a batch and it doesn’t turn out right, and I have to scrap it and start over. And after that one experience, I realized from worrying so much that you have to be able to create buffer time and always include extra time, because you never want it to last longer than you anticipated.

I’m proud to say that [hitting that crunch time] has never happened again, and I’ve learned from my lesson. But if I’m really, really in a bind, my mom is always the one to help me out. [She] even drives me to deliver my orders or makes the boxes for me to package. She’s always been there for me.

Wharton Global Youth: So, it really is a family business too. Let’s talk business for a minute. Will you share details of your pricing strategy for your business and how much you’ve generated in sales and profits since you first started taking on clients? I’d love to know how you manage the financial aspect of your business,

Shaili: Of course. When I first started, I was excited that I was making money, and I was very focused on just making good macarons. I didn’t realize until a couple months in that I had to keep track of not only my ingredients, but the elements of my business that people don’t generally think of going into their costs. [That includes] gas prices for going out to deliver the orders, because I do free delivery on my first order for people in my community. [It also includes] fixed assets like my stand mixer and my silicon sheets, which I’ve had before I started the business, but now I primarily use it for my business, so I’ve put that into my cost.

Once I understood how important finance was, I completely reshaped how I ran my business. I sat down and I learned for about a week the ins and outs of Google Sheets, which has been a savior for me. It’s how I’ve been tracking my revenue, profits and expenses since I first started. I highly recommend it, because it creates formulas and setups for you that allow you to keep track of your expenses without having to keep all the numbers in your mind. You just have it there in front of you.

I’ve also had to adapt my prices along the way. When egg prices spiked in 2023, I realized that I needed to raise my prices but also keep a fair value for my consumers and my customers. So overall, I think I’ve increased my prices about 27% since I started, but I’ve also found ways to decrease my prices and keep my margin stable along the way. For example, I have an organic passion fruit vine in my backyard [that produces] a couple dozen passion fruit every year. I end up using those most of the time for passion fruit orders, which, again, is one of my most popular flavors.

My first year my profit margin was around 23%, because I completely underestimated the value of my fixed assets and the initial costs that go into running a business. Since then, I’ve refined my process. [Where] a batch used to take me a day [to make], it [now] only [takes] two hours to make. And I’ve lowered my production cost around 30%. Now I’m proud to say that my gross margin is 82%! So, I’ve been making profit since my first year, but my sales since then have tripled from year one to year two, and they continue to grow exponentially. Generally, for my orders, 30% comes from large orders for big events, and my average order size is around three dozen macarons.

Wharton Global Youth: You also have a subscription service, right? Can you talk about how that works and whether it has been successful for you?

Shaili: I just launched my subscription service this summer, so it’s very new. Each month, subscribers will receive my flavor of the month in either a pack of 12 or pack of six, depending on whether they choose the gold box subscription or the silver box subscription. Since it’s still very new, it hasn’t fully taken off yet, but I see it as a great opportunity to build consistency and connect with my loyal customers. As of now, about 35% of my customers are repeat buyers. So, I’m looking for ways to structure the business around my consumers’ patterns and give people who already love my macarons an easy way to enjoy them regularly.

Wharton Global Youth: Do you have people buying into this subscription service?

Shaili: Not quite yet, but I’m looking to expand that and get out to more people to really increase my subscription service.

Wharton Global Youth: Do you market on social media as well for that type of new element to your business?

Shaili: My parents didn’t let me use social media when I was first starting. So, my social media platform is also very new. But I consider it a huge success that I’ve been able to grow my business this much completely organically. It’s all been completely word of mouth. Some other marketing strategies I’ve used: when I have a new flavor of the month, or even when I open my subscription service, I create flyers and I post them on community group threads to reach out to most of my target market. A lot of adults that are buying from me are more on their community group threads than they are on social media. I found that to be an even bigger success than my social media platform.

Wharton Global Youth: All right, so you had to pivot there, like any good entrepreneur. What does it mean to you to be a profit-generating entrepreneur? How has that changed your perspective on personal money management?

Shaili: I started this business when I was only 13, so I was just excited that I was making money in the first place. But, I didn’t completely understand the idea of having a profit versus having just revenue coming in. I started to learn that what you put out is what you get back in. And I didn’t learn, like I said, until a couple months in, how to keep track of all of my expenses and my profits. But now that I understand where all my money is coming from and where it’s going, I appreciate how rewarding it feels to know that the money that I make comes from something that I created myself. Now, instead of spending everything I earn, I set aside a portion to reinvest. And I also set aside a portion to donate. I think that mindset is going to stay with me long after this business.

Wharton Global Youth: Let’s talk about the donations. You contribute profits to a social cause in India, correct? Tell me more about it.

Shaili: Through my business, I’ve donated 20% of my profits to the Rajput community in India to help provide education for girls in underserved villages. It’s a cause that’s really close to me, because it connects to my heritage and it allows me to use my business for something that’s bigger than myself. I think that education can completely change the direction of someone’s life, and being able to contribute to that, even in a small way, gives me and my business a deeper sense of purpose.

Wharton Global Youth: Making a food product comes with a host of requirements related to safe food handling — labeling, care around allergy information, and all of that. What have you learned about that process? Has that been integral to what you’ve been doing?

Shaili: Since I started, I’ve taken food safety very seriously. Before every baking session, I always thoroughly clean and sanitize my workspace and all of my equipment. I have a food allergy myself. I’m allergic to nuts. I understand how important it is to be careful with ingredient handling, so that my customers don’t have to worry about things like cross contamination. Especially for orders that I know are going to be for large events, I print small signs with allergen information, because I know what it’s like to be at a party and worried about if the food there is something that I can eat and feel safe about. I never want my customers to have that same experience. I also bake all my macarons with organic ingredients, and macarons are naturally gluten free, so they’re a safe option for people with dietary restrictions. I want every customer to feel confident that what they’re eating is both delicious and, of course, made responsibly, so that they know what they’re putting into their body is good stuff.

Wharton Global Youth: Your experience growing a baking shop has sparked a deeper interest in studying business. Has it quite literally opened a new career path for you? What are some of the ways you’re pursuing business education for your future?

Shaili: Before I started La Cherie, I never really considered pursuing business as a career. Baking was something I love to do for fun, but once it turned into a real company, and I started learning about marketing, entrepreneurship and customer relationships, I fell in love with the business side and the management and everything that happens behind the scenes. Since then, I’ve become very involved with business at my school. I have a lead role in my DECA chapter and my business club, and I’ve gone on to win both regional and state business competitions from participating in DECA.

Additionally, over the summer, like you had mentioned before, I attended Wharton’s Future of the Business World online program, and it was an incredible experience. I learned so much about product development trends in the business world and how consumers evaluate products before they buy them, and I’ve really incorporated that into my business. One of my highlights during the program was our final project, where we pitched a business idea within a group, and our classmates had to invest virtual funds into their favorite ideas. My group ended up being a project called Vibe, which was a music-sharing app, and we received the largest investment by far in the program. Afterwards, me and my teammates Facetimed, and we stayed on there for an hour. We were all so excited that we had come so far together. We still have that group chat running, and I very much value the connections and friendships that I made through that experience.

Wharton Global Youth: That’s great to hear. And I’m also curious if your experience starting and growing La Cherie was something that you brought to the Future of the Business World discussions. Did you tell your group about your entrepreneurial experiences, and did it help enrich the learning that was happening?

I did mention during the class, in some of the intros, that I had a business. And my group mates knew all about my business and my macaron venture. But [it was especially helpful] when we were designing our product and designing our marketing for the final project. I’m very well versed in Canva and very well versed in creating flyers and advertisements based off the aesthetic of the business. I was definitely, I think, a big part of making those flyers and making promotional materials for our fake company.

Wharton Global Youth: Let’s end with our lightning round. Please answer these questions as quickly as you can.

What is something about you that would surprise us?

Shaili: I don’t like chocolate, which a lot of people find ironic, since I run a baking business and I sell chocolate.

Wharton Global Youth: When you’re not baking macarons, what is your favorite treat to bake and eat?

Shaili: I really like making creme brulee, because the base of creme brulee is egg yolks. I use egg whites for my macarons. So, it’s great to know that I’m not wasting anything.

Wharton Global Youth: Very good, very holistic. What is your favorite midnight snack?

Shaili: A big bowl of Cheez Its. I love Cheez Its.

Wharton Global Youth: Do you prefer texting or talking?

Shaili: I prefer talking because I feel like you get a deeper connection through talking.

Wharton Global Youth: What component of the entrepreneurial mindset do you most appreciate and why?

Shaili: I think I most appreciate adaptability. [I’ve learned] through my business that entrepreneurship is not a straight path. It’s full of curves. It’s full of mountains and valleys. Being able to adjust and problem solve and keep moving forward, even when things don’t go as planned, is very important when you’re running your business. Every challenge pushes you to improve. I think that being adaptable doesn’t mean giving up or turning around, it means being more creative and finding ways to work through your problems.

Wharton Global Youth: What is your best advice?

Shaili: My best advice would be if you ever have an idea that you’ve just thought about starting it, and it keeps coming to your mind, do it! You might not have the same opportunities when you’re older, or in the future. You would rather live with the strength of having to fight through to get to your goals, instead of living with the regret of [knowing] you could have done something before.

Wharton Global Youth: You are starting your own business-themed talk show. Who is your first guest and what is your first question?

Shaili: My first guest would be Jamie Siminoff, who is the founder of Ring. I believe he has the biggest comeback story in entrepreneurship history. He went on Shark Tank and didn’t get a deal. But the next time he came back, he came back as a shark [investor], which is very inspiring to me. My first question to ask him would be, when was the moment you realized that you were no longer afraid of failure?

Wharton Global Youth: Shaili, thank you for joining us on Future of the Business World.

Shaili: Thank you so much for having me.

Conversation Starters

What challenges did Shaili face in scaling her macaron production, and how did she overcome them?

How did Shaili’s business skills develop through practical experience versus formal business education? Did formal education enhance her learning? If so, how?

What strategies did Shaili use to track her business finances and improve her profit margins?

Hero Photo Shot By: Mita Chudasama