A slice of sweet success

Interestingly, it has been eight years since Shradha has consumed desserts.
A slice of sweet success

CHENNAI: House parties are a great way to showcase your cooking prowess, tap on your innovative side, and sometimes lead to Eureka! moments. If you don’t believe us, perhaps Nungambakkam resident Shradha Lulla’s journey into the world of gourmet business might do the trick.

A frequent party host at her abode, a few years ago, Shradha experimented with ice-cream cakes for a get-together. Soon, this snowballed into a cater-from-home venture Shradha Lulla Gourmet Desserts with a basic menu in 2018. Taking part in pop-ups gave her much needed visibility. Just as she continued with her experiments in her kitchen, the pandemic struck. But, unlike other businesses that struggled to stay afloat, the lockdown in fact came as a boon for this home baker. “It was during the lockdowns that the clientele for my ice-cream cakes increased. People wanted to try something new and unique and most of them preferred home chefs and bakers due to the fear of the virus,” shares Shradha.

Needless to say, her menu also expanded to accommodate lip-smacking flavours — from the luscious Lotus biscoff (a bestseller), and sweet and sour strawberry to oh-so-delicious Oreo and tempting tiramisu. The recent addition to the menu is rose petal (with pistachios), which was launched right in time for Valentine’s Day. “I thought rose milk is a flavour everyone loves here. So I wanted to do something with that and nuts. I tried various combinations of nuts, and pistachios worked best. It has a falooda-like taste. While all my other flavours are West-inspired, I wanted to add one that was desi. My next one will also be a desi flavour,” she says, giving us a hint that the next will be fruit-based.

Interestingly, it has been eight years since Shradha has consumed desserts. Yet, she wanted to provide Chennaiites with niche options for ice-cream cakes, a market she believes is still unexplored. Call it her sixth sense or her superpower, Shradha knows when she has cracked the code with her flavour experiments and which batch of her ice-cream cakes is going to be perfect. “Sometimes the way it turns out, I feel satisfied,” she adds.

Through the venture, Shradha provides half and one kilo ice-cream cakes that customers have to pick up from her in-house bakery after placing orders two days prior. But, you can savour her 500 ml ice-cream cake tubs that have found a space in 15 stores across the city and can be ordered via Swiggy. “I wanted customers to have a taste of a few flavours before they order larger quantities. Many would like to buy a tub, store it and eat when they like it. I approached the Amma Naana shop first and they agreed to sell the products. Then other shops like Chennai Grocers and Nuts n Spices came on board too. Now, I want to expand to other cities and Hyderabad is the first on cards,” she shares.

With clients now coming in from Bengaluru and Mumbai too, Shradha is happy with this success and is in no rush to add more flavours on the menu. But some months down the line, she wishes to dabble into different types of desserts.

Price: 500 ml tubs at Rs 750, 1/2 kg at Rs 1,500 and 1 kg at Rs 3,000. No customisation.

For details, call: 9884087089 or visit Instagram page: @shradha_lulla_gourmet_desserts

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