It all started with her daughter’s birthday in June. “We were still getting used to the whole pandemic thing, and so I baked her cake myself, along with some quiches and other things,” recalls Ipsa Sambhi, going on to describe how her efforts were received.
“My family and some friends who had come over were full of praise and almost insisted that I open my own home bakery as a new business and that’s when I started to consider it seriously.”
What followed was a lot of tastings and trials, tribulations and triumphs, but after a couple of months of fine-tuning, Sambhi, 37, was ready to go, and so La Croute was launched.
Given that it means The Crust, La Croute specialises in pies, quiches, sweet and savoury tarts, pâte feuilletée, canapés, and tea cakes using high quality premium ingredients and fresh local produce, something Sambhi is both proud of and
insistent on.
“I have always had a passion for cooking and baking. We very rarely order food from outside, only when everyone is too tired or wants a change. Otherwise, everything from making pizza from scratch to baking pot pies to grilled chicken with vegetables, basically almost everything, I do in our home kitchen,” says Sambhi, adding that even now, with the orders pouring in she’s doing everything herself.
“People have been really kind and complimentary with their comments, but the biggest compliment are the many repeat orders we have been getting. I am hoping this means we are doing well,” beams Sambhi, adding, “Initially, we ran into some problems on the delivery front, because I was relying on these delivery services, and I wasn’t sure about how hygienically and carefully my products were being handled.”
La Croute has since resolved that issue by getting their own delivery person, who has been fully briefed on hygiene and the handling of the often delicate packages.
“Right now, I only deliver in Delhi and Gurugram, though on occasion, we have delivered to Faridabad. I want to get all my logistics streamlined before I start delivering to the rest of NCR,” says Sambhi, adding after a pause, “and then the rest of India.”
Prior to the bakery business, Sambhi worked in corporate HR, before joining her husband’s travel agency, Terra Ignota, handling its marketing and social media, and working from home as their daughter grew up.
“My husband’s company used to specialise in tourism between South America to India, but obviously with the pandemic, things got very difficult. Since then, we have all been trying to make new paths again, and I am very happy with my chosen space,” concludes Sambhi.
In a nutshell
Given that it means The Crust, La Croute specialises in pies, quiches, sweet and savoury tarts, pâte feuilletée, canapés, and tea cakes using premium quality ingredients and fresh local produce, something Sambhi is both proud of and insistent on.