Out of the confines of their respective kitchens, nine city bakers met at Deck 88, The Astor Hotel Kolkata for an exclusive The Telegraph chat. Helmed by Vikas Kumar, director, food production, Apeejay Surendra Park Hotels Limited, the one-hour chat saw the home bakers put forth their queries to the chef who is known for his expertise in culinary art. He filled them with optimism and confidence and shared tips and tricks to run their businesses smoothly and take them a level higher.
Curated by Supreeta Singh, in attendance were Mahua Bhattacharjee of Sweet Desire, Zartaj Sarshar of Chocobliss91, Bhumika Mehta of Cupcakin’ Around, Farha Khan of Creme Caramel, Sreya Basu of The Melodrama Company, Oindrila Roy of My Mom’z Bakes, Dipika Singh of Homemade Happiness, Shilpa Karnani of Chocoo Box by Shilpa and Urvashi Shivnani of A Sweet Surrender.
The discussion started with the acknowledgement of the boom in home bakers and the awareness among consumers. “The time for India has come when we are at a point where we will see explosive growth of the F&B industry. People are more aware of the products and they have a lot of questions, so you cannot fool anyone any more,” said the t2 columnist. The discussion then focussed on the various challenges the home bakers face, including keeping up with the demand. “The reason that most businesses fail is because they overestimate the demand in the market. You should have a wide range of empirical pointers. Our own hopefulness is not our friend. Flurys has 71 outlets and not all yield the same business. Most food outlets shut within the first two years, and others don’t even open. When you think about growing larger, you must have evidence that you have the capacity to sell. The market will tell you when you are ready to grow,” explained the chef to his eager audience.
While the main focus is business and the product, the chef reminded all not to ignore the staff or the workforce, who are an integral part of an organisation and who are the wind beneath their wings. “The best resource you have is the people working with you. I believe deeply in it. You will see the product suffer if your employee is not happy or is not appreciated. Pay is not always everything, a good workspace is appreciated by all,” said the chef recounting how he and his staff went out of their way during the pandemic and how they were all acknowledged for it.
Fielding a question about delivering a delicate cake to a customer, the chef underscored a few things — the cake or the product has more value to the customer than being a food product because it’s part of the celebration. Second, not depending on the regular delivery mechanism for impactful service.
Post the chat, the chef posed with the ladies
Urvashi Shivnani of A Sweet Surrender said: “There were many takeaways. All the queries that we had were answered with such gravity. I have been struggling with managing my delivery system and the simple and logical things that the chef said make much sense and I am definitely going to work on my weak points.”
Shilpa Karnani of Chocoo Box by Shilpa said: “It was lovely and I thank t2 for inviting us all and also inviting Chef Vikas to talk to us. He is a great chef and is so down to earth. I had a lot of doubts and it has been one of the best learning experiences we all had.”
Oindrila Roy of My Momz Bakes said: “It was an honour meeting chef Vikas and to know so much about his life and the great work he has been doing. I am taking back a lot of values from here and I am going to apply those tricks in my business module.”
Mahua Bhattacharjee of Sweet Desire Bakery said, “I never wanted to get into the food business because I knew it will eat up my holidays as I am into travelling. So I started teaching the craft of baking to students and empowering housewives. However, I wanted to do more and hence started baking and I wish to scale up my business and chef Vikas’s tips come in handy.”
Farha Khan of Creme Caramel said: “After attending this session I have realised that we need to focus on things that we generally don’t give that much importance to, and that is our staff. As chef pointed out, they are our backbone and their hard work needs to be appreciated because they also contribute to our growth.”
Sreya Basu of The Melodrama Company said: “It was a great way of meeting like-minded people, which is difficult because we generally don’t get time to get together this way because we are working in our kitchens. I am sure everyone will agree that the chef has given us more confidence and we are only going to spread more sweetness and happiness.”
Deepika Kumari Singh of Homemade Happiness said: “I specialise in cheesecakes and chef’s tips on how to handle special cakes including the delivery part was genuinely insightful and it will help us all. As a home baker, we learn through friends or online and my agenda for coming here was to meet fellow home bakers and learn from each other.
Bhumika Mehta of Cupcakin’ Around said: “I feel it was really amazing. I really had fun listening to all of them. What chef said will only help me in the long journey of expanding my business. I genuinely felt that he was very humble that way. Even if we are home bakers it’s not that we cannot dream big. We can dream big and achieve it as well.”
Zartaj Sarsher of Chocobliss91 said: “The chef gave a lot of useful insights into running a business and coming from an established and experienced chef like him holds a lot of weight. He understood our point of view and gave wise advice.”