After several hours of selling scones on his front lawn in Toronto, David Hove needed a bathroom break. He left his curbside stand unattended for a few minutes, and in that brief time, it was stolen. The whole thing — including the cooler, a wicker folding table and some supplies — had vanished.
The only thing left behind was a handwritten sign that read “homemade lemon cranberry scones.”
David, 10, had set up a baked goods table on Aug. 27 outside his home. That day, he was selling lemon-cranberry scones — his sister’s specialty. The sibling pair had been running a small baked-goods business called The Hove Delights for about a month.
They operated the stand on weekends for a few hours a day. While David dealt with customers, his 15-year-old sister, Kimberly, did the baking and recipe development. Their goal was to earn money. David dreamed of owning an Xbox, and Kimberly wanted a new cellphone. They split the profits.
So far, their stand had been a success. They sold sweet treats — such as cinnamon rolls, doughnuts, oatmeal cookies and scones — for between $2 and $3.50, depending on the size of the desert. Kimberly used her mother’s recipe for lemon-cranberry scones, which quickly emerged as the top-selling product.
They sold a lot of baked goods and heard plenty of kind words from customers and neighbors, the siblings said.
“I felt pretty happy,” David said about his business. He took great pride in independently running the stand, adding that, “I love communicating with other people.”
But his excitement turned to disbelief when he returned from the bathroom that Saturday afternoon and saw that his stand had been swiped. The sixth-grader was crushed.
“I felt sad. I was thinking it was my fault for leaving it unguarded,” said David, adding that he’s glad he took the cash box and leftover scones inside with him.
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His sister was discouraged, too.
“It was frustrating, because we had that table for a long period of time, and it held sentimental value,” Kimberly said, explaining that her parents received it as a gift from a cousin.
Although their profits remained safe, everything else was gone, even a reusable water bottle and paper towel that had been on the table. The theft was captured on a security camera outside the Hove family’s home. The footage shows a man stopping in a white SUV and loading his truck with the siblings’ stand. There also appears to be a child in the back seat of the vehicle.
The siblings’ father, also named David Hove, said he was stunned that someone would steal a child’s baked-goods stand. “I was so upset. It was like being kicked in the gut,” he said. “How can somebody do this to kids?”
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“David was so heartbroken and devastated, and Kimberly as well,” Hove continued, adding that David felt responsible for the ordeal. “They were both so down.”
He reached out to neighbors asking if anyone had any clue who the thief was, and no one did. He contemplated calling the police, he said, but decided against it.
“I just thought the police are dealing with a lot of other issues, and I don’t want to stretch them thin,” explained Hove, who was surprised by the theft because the family lives in a neighborhood with minimal crime.
Still, he didn’t want to ignore the incident. He decided to share the video with local news in the hope that maybe the thief would return the items and perhaps apologize to his children, who, he said, developed a “mistrust in humanity” as a result of what happened.
Although the perpetrator never surfaced, as the story spread, a steady stream of support poured in. In a matter of days, the Hove siblings received hundreds of encouraging messages from strangers. Police officers also stopped by to show their support and reinforce that David was not to blame for the theft.
“I feel very lucky to be in a community that other people care about every person,” the younger David said.
“People went out of their way to help us by reaching out and supporting us,” echoed his sister.
David Ricci and his wife, Elizabeth Aiello, live in the same neighborhood as the Hove family, and stopped by their stand multiple times over the past month to pick up treats. They were especially fond of the scones.
“I’m not lying when I say this to you: They’re incredible,” said Ricci, 48.
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Beyond their love of the scones, the couple also admired David’s ambition and wanted to support his entrepreneurial efforts.
“I thought it was admirable that he’s trying to reach his goals,” Ricci said. “This kid’s got it.”
When he heard that David’s stand was stolen, he and his wife ventured to a hardware store and bought a table and cooler, which they dropped off at the Hoves’ home.
David and Kimberly were elated and ready to get back to work.
“It felt really great,” said Kimberly, who began baking more scones.
“The kids were grateful to be back in business so quick,” her father said. “I’m so proud of them.”
Tim Byrne — who lives 55 miles north of Toronto in Barrie — had also seen the story and wanted to contribute. Knowing David was working toward a new Xbox, he decided to deliver one.
“I was an entrepreneurial kid my whole life,” said Byrne, 54, who spent his childhood mowing lawns and doing other odd jobs for money. He feared the theft might deter David from staying in business, so he decided to step in.
“I hope I inspired him to keep carrying on,” Byrne said.
The siblings also received dozens of offers to donate to their business, which they respectfully declined.
“We clearly stated how we didn’t want a GoFundMe,” Kimberly said, adding that she is close to being able to buy a new phone for herself. “We wanted to work for the money.”
In the past week, Hove Delights has received about 70 order requests — including from fans in the United States — and the siblings are crafting a plan to expand their business to offer shipping options.
“People from all over the world wanted to help by buying scones,” said Kimberly, who started 10th grade on Wednesday. “We’re still trying to navigate. We need to make a plan.”
In the meantime, though, their father said his children have learned a valuable lesson.
“In this world, there are way more good people than bad,” Hove said. “That’s the underlying story here.”
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