Ahmedabad has always had a sweet tooth, but now the Gujarat capital is getting serious about its relationship with gourmet bakes. And egging the romance along is a handful of women who have opened upscale pattisseries specialising in speciality cakes and desserts.
7 VIOLETTES
Suvritti Singh says she wanted to start a food and beverage business since she was a teenager. “After some short courses in making chocolates and baking, I started making custom-made chocolates for special occasions. I also apprenticed with Fortune Landmark Hotel in 2011 where I was exposed to various aspects of pastry-making, the kitchen and even the stores,’’ she explains. Feeling the need for a more formal education, she enrolled at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Pâtisserie in France. When Suvritti returned from France in the middle of 2012, her sister Sumiti Singh, who has a business management background, also headed back from Dubai where she worked in retail operations management. Says Sumiti, “I am very interested in retail management, and Dubai is a Mecca of retail. Suvritti and I decided to work together to establish a food business where her expertise in pastry would come together with my experience in retail management, visual merchandising, store operations, store audits and related subjects. In July 2013, boasting chic French style interiors and products to match, 7 Violettes opened its doors.
“We would tell customers what a framboisier, a charlotte, a red velvet, an opera cake, and so on were. We soon became known for our croissants, macarons, small cakes, French loaves, baguette and desserts,” says Suvritti. At their outlet, apart from the retail display, there are a few tables and chairs where patrons can unwind over cake, croissant and coffee. Buoyed by the success of their first outlet, they have started a bakery café in Ellisbridge Gymkhana. “We are looking at making 7violettes a national chain,” says Sumiti, whose dream is to take the brand overseas too.
INDULGENCE
Reena Kakkar studied hotel management, worked in different hotels and a flight catering company before thinking of setting up Indulgence. “Inspired by Chefair, I started Khateer Food Specialties as a provider of executive lunches, custom-made confectionery and on-site catering services to corporate houses,” she says. Her sister, Esha Kakkar, who worked in customer service for corporate houses, joined the business. The two then added a retail counter to the house kitchen on IIM Road. “With cakes and confectionery as my forte, we decided to name it Indulgence,” says Reena. As demand for their products picked up, the two decided to set up a bakery-café. “We found an ideal store with reasonably good floor area to house the display and the kitchen, and still had enough space for a few tables,” says Reena. The cozy and intimate café, with a cheerful atmosphere, has a large glass door looking out on to a tree-lined lane. The modest menu features the day’s specials. The shelves are packed with pastries, cakes, pies and so on for guests to take away or select to eat-in.
COCOA DRAMA
Khushali Solanki learnt chocolate making and baking while travelling to other cities, and decided to start a small store for her products in Ahmedabad.
“I started with a small store that kept fudge, chocolates, donuts, brownies, cupcakes, etc,’’ says Solanki. Since chocolate is the main ingredient in most of her products, Cocoa Drama sounded appropriate as a name for her business as it signifies the drama that cocoa creates on our tongues if used innovatively. The prominent Cocoa Drama signboard has been designed to attract chocolate lovers.
With the success of Cocoa Drama, Khushali decided to double the size of the store and increase the variety beyond chocolate to include cheesecakes in seasonal flavours. “I also plan to offer coffee for those who want to sit and eat in the store itself,” she says, adding, “I want to make this a store where confectionery goes beyond borders. Whether it is English or French or German, or even local Gujarati, it should be available under one roof. Finally, I would like to have lots of places with the name Cocoa Drama,” she reveals. Here’s to more such chocolate-coated dreams.