There are plenty of things that come full circle, including cupcakes and other baked goods. So do family legacies. What started as a passion project for home chef Rajni Bector in Ludhiana in the late 1970’s has since turned into a multi-brand conglomerate, which recently closed its first IPO.
Around that time, Sana Bector Parwanda launched Zoet Desserts in Defence Colony market, with the recipes and blessings of her grandmother Rajni, and the culinary guidance of mom Geeta.
“Apart from the ice-cream and confectionary business, my grandmom has always loved baking all these old-school goodies for her family and friends. We grew up eating trifles and mousses, and a bunch of other stuff, and when we moved to Delhi a few years ago, we missed her desserts,” reminisces 28-year-old Sana.
Clearly having inherited an entrepreneurial zeal, apart from a sweet tooth from their Bector matriarch, Sana and Geeta began recreating the classic recipes first for themselves and friends, and then retailing it from Friends Colony Club.
“I have been in and out of there since I was a kid and knew so many people there and it seemed natural to have that as our starting point,” explains Sana, adding, “From there, it grew organically. We did some bazaar pop-ups and started retailing from other community clubs in Delhi.” Sana wanted to start the bakery earlier in 2020, but the pandemic put a kibosh on that.
However, every dark cloud has a silver lining and “we realised that the pandemic had really upped the ante for logistics and delivery services, so it actually made sense to open a physical store, and deliver all over NCR. We soon found the perfect spot in Defence Colony,” she shares.
Present at the store is a cake and confectionery collective of desserts, cookies, pies and puddings; and yes, the famous trifle is there. While some of the Mrs Bector’s recipes have been tweaked with contemporary flourishes, others are sacrosanct.
“There’s a 40-year-old family cake recipe that we have not touched. On the other hand, it took us six months of experimenting to come up with an eggless chocolate mousse, and it came out wonderfully,” finishes off Sana with glee.