BAKERY REVIEw BUSIneSSW
omen have always aspired to
start a home-based business
where they can take care of their
children as well as make some money in
their free time. One of the businesses that
they have a natural talent for is food. Many
of them have taken to baking. An activity
not usually associated with traditional
Indian kitchens, baking has been on the
rise over the past decade in the country.
It may be mentioned that baking is a
combination of both art and science. It
demands a lot of creativity, commitment
and passion for food. It is an exciting
career for those with an intrinsic interest
in cooking, have natural culinary talent,
artistic skill and a social nature. Bakers
need to be skilled, creative and innovative
professionals.
Though no formal educational
qualification is required to become a
home baker, one needs some basic training
in baking, icing and decorating. This is
because baking demands the right mix
of ingredients and even small changes to
baking recipes could ruin the dish.
So, is home baking really a cakewalk?
No is the short and simple answer.But it is exciting with lots of scope for
experimentation and innovation.Baking Delights
Bayiravi Mani admits that being a home
baker entails lots of hard work. Bayiravi,
who was working for an event management
company and had never even baked before
2011, developed an interest in baking after
visiting a friend and looking through a
recipe book. It was then that she realised
that the ingredients used for baking were
simple. This prompted her to go out and
get an oven and she started by making
a vanilla muffin. And there has been no
looking back since then!
Her major challenge as a home baker
was delivery. Several customers stayed far
off and would be put off by the distance
they had to travel to pick up the cake. But
once the business and her reputation as a
home baker grew, she faced no problems.
“Once people think that you are worth the
effort, they make the effort,” she said with
a smile.
Insia Lacewala, Co-founder of Small Fry
Co., Mumbai, a food consultancy company,
moved into the food pop up business in2013 after over ten years of experience in
events, film, television and Indian music. “In
urban India, home bakers are growing at a
rapid rate. I say this because I come across
so many people who have started their own
catering business or deliveries from their
house on a day-to-day basis. The numbers
are really crazy, there are some 200 people
on my list of home bakers and that is just
for Mumbai,” she pointed out.
The growth in the number of home
bakers during the recent years, in urban
India has been mainly because bakingAnuradha Chopra Kukreti