For London-based Anu Lath, sending a custom-made cake to her nephew in Bengaluru on his birthday proved to be a bit of a challenge. “Either I had to order from a bakery (which does not offer any customisation), or through existing websites (again, no option of customisation), or reach out to home bakers in Bengaluru through Facebook, but then payment and trust proved to be an issue,” begins Anu, a management consultant, who teamed up with her sister-in-law Anjana to set up HomeBakers.co.in that is designed to solve all these problems. While Anu’s interest in setting up the website was sparked by her experience as a customer, Hyderabad-based Anjana, on the other hand, realised that a homebaker like her could make use of a platform to scale her business. “It is our tiny step to convert the unorganised home-based bakery sector into an organised one,” explains Anu.
Operational in Hyderabad since November last year, the website is all set to go live in Bengaluru on January 26. To get things off to a start, the duo behind the venture will host what they call the Great Bengaluru Baking Show on Republic Day. “The event includes a cake competition, masterclasses, panel discussions and demos from India’s top pastry chefs, such as Joonie Tan of Lavonne Academy of Baking Science and Pastry Arts. Participating bakers will also benefit from networking with other bakers and baking suppliers,” she reveals.
The website, which has 130 bakers on its roster in Hyderabad, hopes to see 100 Bengaluru bakers signing up in the first week. “Bengaluru is a much more mature market with over 1,000 high quality bakers,” explains Anu, adding that bakers can get on board by simply registering on the site. They will then be given a dedicated ‘Bakery Page’ for their business, where they can display their products. Custo-mers can search, select and order with ease, and can either pick up the order themselves or have it delivered wherever they choose.
Those looking for something customised can fill out a form with their specifications. “To our surprise, this has been our most popular option in Hyderabad. Once we receive the request, we match the order to the right home bakers. After the order has been matched, the cake is baked and hand delivered by the baker,” she tells us. Besides cakes and cupcakes, the website also offers jar desserts, cookies, doughnuts, and more.
After the Bengaluru event, Anu and Anjana will be taking their venture across the country, with plans to launch in Pune on January 30, Chennai on February 23, Kochi on April 20 and Visakhapatnam sometime in May.
The Great Bengaluru Baking Show will be held on January 26 at Hotel Citadel, Seshadri Road. Entry Rs.1,200 upwards