Q1. How did your career journey start? Or Who/What inspired you to start this business/ entrepreneurship? The flavours, texture, colours of ...
Q1. How did your career journey start? Or Who/What inspired you to start this business/ entrepreneurship?
The flavours, texture, colours of desserts and chocolates always intrigued me. I started baking at home when I was around fourteen. My interest for baking grew immensely with time. In 2014, I started a small home bakery as a part time interest after college hours. During this time my love for baking grew exponentially. I immediately knew that this is what I want to do every day.
I left my MBA entrance preparations midway and joined a well-known School for Baking in Gurgaon where I got completed my Diploma and learnt the Art and Science of French Pastry. After my diploma, I also did an internship and later worked at a reputed Chocolate company in Mumbai.
Q2. Kindly share some information about your Business, products and services here. Also mention your USP if any.
I started my own kitchen, ‘The Dessert Geek’, three years ago in Mumbai. I bake pure eggless desserts without compromising on the taste and texture.
We specialize in customized cakes, macarons, cheesecakes, fudges, handcrafted chocolates and much more. Besides customized personal orders, we work on multiple corporate orders, conduct workshops, organize live dessert counters at functions.
Q3. What kind of challenges did you face while starting/doing business?
With the growing competition it is also very important to understand the customer expectation and provide them with a budget friendly price. Finding a balance between quality and budget friendly pricing was one of my first challenges.
To run a business like this it is very important to keep introducing new products, to have a wide range of variety for your customers and to be updated with the latest trends.
Festivals are always a good business, but during off seasons, when there are no occasions meeting monthly targets are difficult.
Q4. Do share with our readers about your discovery period when you were facing difficulties in your business?
I started following a lot of chefs, bakers who inspire me. Looking at their work I worked on different techniques and realised it was important to find the right target audience. I realised the need to focus on shops and kitchens who could provide me with a fixed business.
Q5. Share with our readers about your experiment period after the discovery period?
I started investing more time in R&D, introducing more products and marketing them the right way. Joined business Networking groups which would help me connect with other bakers and shops who could resell my products like macaroons, fudges, florentines and this way I would have a fixed income flow during off seasons, such groups also helped me get connected to corporates for bulk orders.
Planning and conducting classes during the summers helped me inspire young excited bakers. Targeting the right audience took quite some time but educating your customers about the quality provided is very important and if you trust your product the client is going to love it and come back to you.
Q6. What are your future plans? Or now what is your vision for the next five years?
My plan is to expand my kitchen, have a regular fixed supply for restaurants and cloud kitchens, connect with caterers and supply desserts in bulk. I would love to do more corporate orders. Besides that I would like to work more on R&D and bring out new desserts and keep expanding more and more every year.
Q7. How would you advise/suggest new entrepreneurs who want to start & sustain in business?
I just want to tell all the young bakers out there to never give up, keep following your passion and to never sacrifice on your quality of work. ️
Q8. LinkedIn profile URL link
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Q9. Facebook profile URL link
Q10. Twitter profile URL link
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Q11. Instagram profile URL link
Q12. Personal blog URL link
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Q13. Company website & Company blog URL link
NA
Q14. YouTube channel URL link
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Interviewed & Edited by : Khushboo Chotaliya - Lifestyles Influencer & Co-Founder of Sanskari Decor from Mumbai, India
Referred by Suresh Menon - Sales Consultant & CEO of Value Additions from Mumbai, India
Khushboo is a member of Yogesh MA's InfluencerThon - Digital Influencer Academy
Follow Khushboo here : instagram.com/khushboobchotaliya
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