What’s the story of how Myne’s Cakery came to life?
Basically I’ve done masters in statistics. I have a bit of experience working in retail in UK. But I’ve always been a desert enthusiast. I love to experiment. I also created a scrapbook on Facebook and got a lot of appreciation from friends and family. This gave me a lot of hope. I wanted my deserts to have the Wow factor, not just in their appearance but also in their taste. When I came back to Pakistan, I decided to take it into my own hands and due to certain series of events, I did manage to create deserts with my Midas touch (wink wink)
Who has most influenced you with developing your cooking talent?
Interestingly I don’t have any mentor which is really hard to believe. But yes, I belong to a family of desert enthusiasts and we do love cooking. But the kind of cooking I’m in, it’s not like anything that has been tried before in our family. This is me, the deserts represent me. There is a hint of inspiration from online tutorials and social media but that only helped inculcate the passion in my heart even more.
How do you generate new ideas about your recipes? What is the creative process behind it?
I’m a self-taught baker. My way of working is different and you know people follow online trends, I don’t like becoming part of the herd rather I go against the tide and develop recipes that are exclusive. I’m fortunately creative that way and even if I follow recipes from existing chef, I experiment with them. I believe the successful bakers are the ones who are experimental.
What is the biggest challenge in running Myne’s Cakery?
I wanted to start my venture on my own with minimum resources. I had a lot of challenges as I wasn’t used to working in Pakistan. I had to change myself and adapt to the environment. Initially and even now, inflation is a hurdle. My goal is to create showstopping items that are a bit over the top and they are imported. These items are sometimes not present and if they are, then the prices are shooting through roof within a few months.
What do you think is the best part of Myne’s Cakery that makes it stand out among the likes of it?
I would wrap my answer around two to three factors. When I started off, everyone was doing fondant cakes. I tried to do something different with cakes and cupcakes. I developed fusion techniques to customize buttercream cakes with minimum fondant. Then after three weeks when I introduced ice cream, I got ice cream orders by a lot of people. Dairy and customized ice cream was not in the market at that time. Also, as I’m a baker at heart, I always decorate my gift boxes so that people don’t have to arrange anything else. This gave me presence in market. I suddenly became “ice cream wali bandi”. Lastly and most importantly, I put a lot of heart in my recipes and develop one on one relations with my clients.
What was the happiest memory you have since starting your business?
My work has given me such experience that I am really thankful to God as this is my biggest happiness. My work has been recognized internationally and I’ve also been a part of top 5 entrepreneurs in Pakistan. I was also called at PTV for an interview. But my biggest source of happiness is when people are inspired by my journey. I can recall one experience, when my friend told me about her lecture at university. So, his teacher began to talk about the journey of a self-made woman. Suddenly, my friend realized that it was my story and that got me emotional, I was just touched with this story.
If you could pin your success down to one thing or one moment, what would that be?
I would most probably pin it to the night I launched my ice creams menu and that was after three weeks I created Myne’s. Even before that I used to constantly add more items to my menu just to see the response of the crowd. I was already making ice creams and I did have some pictures of the ice creams that I’d made in the past. I remember uploading them late at night and then waking up to my inbox exploding with orders. The rest is just history.
If you could have one dream celebrity be the face of your venture – Who would it be?
I don’t really know about a specific celebrity but I’m actually very inspired by Ben and Jerry ice creams. People usually compare my ice creams with them and I love it when that happens.
What is your favorite part about working for yourself and what’s the most challenging?
My favorite part is that I have the liberty and freedom to make my own decisions. Also, I love interacting with the crowd. And because of that I attend my own stalls so that I could give people a wholesome experience of allowing Myne’s to become a source of their happiness. Another thing I really cherish is the moment when my birthday cakes are the center of attraction. Talking about the challenges, I feel that as a woman you have to work within certain parameters. People usually take you for granted if you don’t hold your own.
You also offer baking classes? Tell us a bit about it?
Yes, I do. In fact, I have a class in mid of April, my 25th class. I have done range of different classes. One day classes that includes ‘no bake cakes and deserts classes’ and ‘cake decoration tutorials’, three-day extensive baking course. My class is not centered around recipes. I teach basics and mediums and teach them the way of handling ingredients so that they can innovate. I do give out recipes but I teach them to use them to add their own signature. I want the environment to be interactive and fun. Also, suppliers arrange them so I give out discounts. I explain the class objective in advance to my clients so they know what they’re going to pay for. There are a lot of pages who acknowledge my efforts. I also do workshops on entrepreneurship and talk about on my journey both at my house and online.
In a male dominant society, how does being a female entrepreneur impact your business?
It has both pros and cons. Pros is that people give you respect, recognition and appreciation. Flip-side: some people aren’t really supportive, they pass inappropriate and in decent comments. Some people pretend to be customers just to have a chat. Another hurdle was that initially, people used to charge me more because of being a young female but now I know how to handle these issues. Also, belonging to a family with certain values, I have to follow some rules like coming back home by 7pm. This is also a hindrance caused by ourselves.
Women entrepreneurs are rare in Pakistan but trends are changing and they are moving ahead in the world. What do you have to say to the female youth of our country who wish to make achievements like yours?
I believe in feminism as much I believe in humanity. I strongly believe that everyone should have a right to make their own decisions be it a housewife or a working woman. Even if they multitask and explore themselves working under the boundaries set by Allah. I believe every individual should have an identity or skill to bank on. Most of married women go through depression due to social pressure, they should take out some time for themselves. It is super important that both genders realize that women need to play a big role in bringing the economy to a green zone. I started with less than 50K and I believe with passion and positivity, women can do it.
What’s the next big step for Myne’s Cakery?
I would love to have my own place/bakery. At present I’m outsourcing to two places, Swirl (Johar Town) and Desert Directory (Y-Block, DHA). If Allah gives me strength and resources, I will soon have my own place. Also, I want to give back to society. I want to give more and more workshops on entrepreneurship and also help other businesses establish and grow.
All Image Sources: www.facebook.com/MynesCakery
