Young home bakers mean business

It seems everybody is baking cakes and pastries in Jeddah. It’s no wonder, then, that a large number of pastry and bakery shops have spawned in the city in recent years, most of which are doing good business and have become huge hits with Jeddawis.
These bakery ventures start off as a hobby for home-based bakers who gradually develop their interests and skills into full-fledged businesses.
Saudi pastry chef Mayada Badr, initially a media executive and a home baker, loves to blend French and Saudi flavors and is now the proud owner of a pastry boutique called Pink Camel. Her shop specializes in a variety of macaroons such as coconut, date, pistachio and halawa tahinia.
Her journey into the baking world began when she realized working in the media field in Dubai had lost its appeal.
She went to Paris to experience true indulgence in gastronomy and she completed her culinary education in pastry and cuisine. The imprint of her experience in France, specifically at Ladurée, a restaurant popular for pastries, reflects on her pastry boutique.
Upon returning to Saudi Arabia, Mayada realized that the French pastry market in the Kingdom was very underdeveloped and only a few restaurants and outlets provided top quality products. While the cupcake craze had taken over the dessert market, Mayada had decided she wanted to introduce her version of high-end French pastries in the Saudi market, and thus the boutique was born.
“I always knew owning a pastry shop is what I wanted,” Badr said.
Baking enthusiast Amnah Mahdaly, 14, wants to finish school to become a pastry chef.
“The biggest order I worked on was of 40 rainbow cupcakes,” an excited Amnah said.
She said local pastry and homemade cupcake businesses inspires her to own a pastry shop one day. For the time being, she enjoys executing small orders to perfection.
Some bakers, though, are content with baking for family and friends and are not inclined towards turning it into a commercial venture.
Wojood Rozi, a 24-year-old electrical and computer graduate from Effat University, makes creative cakes, but has no intention of making a business out of them.
“It is just a hobby and my career interests remain limited to my field of study,” said Rozi.
She began baking at the age of 16. She took two workshops at Wilton Method Cake Decorating Training Center in Jeddah, where they taught her how to decorate cakes from scratch.
“Maybe if I were to be tight on cash one day, I would take up baking as a business venture,” she said.