Dreams with cream
The Sweet Story, a venture of home baker Cheshta Mallik is a dream come true. Cheshta, who has an MBA and worked in a bank for six years, turned her passion into a profession with her husband’s support. Although her husband encouraged her to pursue her dream, the efforts were entirely those of Cheshta, who wanted to be independent.
She says, “Initially, I started with chocolates but gradually expanded to brownies, cakes and cupcakes which soon became popular. I introduced savouries like lasagna, quiches and so on, but my brownies are what my customers love most.”
She adds that it was her space which started petit fours or small sized cakes, which have now picked up all over the place.
Cheshta also makes birthday hampers including sweet and savoury items like cakes, chocolates, quiches and she recalls one hamper which she made for a kid with Doraemon-themed chocolates and cakes.
Cheshta calls herself a ‘mompreneur.’ She says that though she has a three-year-old son, she manages it all single handedly as this is her passion. As for her son, she admits with a laugh, “He loves what I do because it always means lots of cake!” She remembers one particular incident when she was making a rainbow-shaped cake, and her son started calling it Barney relating to a cartoon character — so of course the creation was shortly after christened the Barney cake. Cheshta shares, “What I do is not just baking or creating something, but I love trying out new combinations and customising cakes, chocolates and hampers. The smile on a client’s face or a positive feedback makes my world go round.”
She relates some of the unusual stuff whipped up in the past like Mirchi Chocolate (with a dash of spice), Chai cookies, green tea-flavoured cookies, flavoured butter, which can be used to stir fry things or can be used as a bread spread, flavoured oils for cooking, fresh pomegranate chocolates and mint chocolates. She says, “I have also prepared themed cupcakes with stars, mistletoe and snowflakes for Christmas, as well as for weddings with rings and roses on them.” Apparently, once she made lemon-infused vanilla cake and combined it with a watermelon cake, and that as one can guess was talked about for quite a while!
Party with sally
Twenty four years ago, Sally Mathew started a catering venture with her husband and her niece Beena Oommen. But after her husband passed away in 2007 things became difficult for her. In the meantime, she learned how to handle the business on her own and soon orders came trickling in.
Sally, who is involved in outdoor catering for weddings, parties and family functions, usually takes bulk orders but when there is not much work, she take orders as few as 20. She says, “We specialise in South Indian food, but we do make delicacies like paneer butter masala, biryani and so on.” She adds that they do have a few helpers, but between her niece and herself, the orders are well managed. Sally lets on, “It’s a lot of work, but we make sure that at least one of us is in the kitchen, while the other is at the party spot.”
She feels blessed to have learnt everything from her husband because today, she is capable of managing things on her own. The entrepreneur tells us, “It feels great to be self-reliant. My daughter got married last year and I am proud that I didn’t have to depend on anyone.” Sally adds, that keeps her engaged and that the quality of the food and satisfaction of her customers are of top priority.
Bengali date on a plate
For Maitree who is in her late forties, her restaurant Atithi keeps her busy. She says, “Atithi happened 13 years ago, when I wanted to open an exclusive restaurant for Bengalis in Chennai. About four to five years ago, Apollo Hospitals gave me an offer to have my restaurant merged with them, so that I can make food for the patients. I was ready, but wanted space for another restaurant which could cater to others, especially attenders of patients coming from Kolkata.”
She says that she manages both the restaurants by herself as her husband, who is an engineer is a busy man.
Maitree adds that she started from scratch and did the marketing and cooking by herself initially, though she does have helpers now.
She says, “It’s a lot of work. For the Apollo outlet, the food has to be light and depends upon the patients — less oil for some and less sugar for diabetics. For the restaurant outside the hospital, the food has to be spicy and delicious. Supervising both while constantly tasting and even cooking myself, at times, is exhausting, but I love it.” She says that she doesn’t even depend on her driver and shuttles between her house in Ashok Nagar and her restaurant in Wallace Garden.
She adds that the food is economical and the guests love it. The menu includes a range of Bengali favourites such as various types of fish, katla, ilish, chingri (prawn) and much more.