We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Seda Bakery a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Seda, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Throughout my life, I have always been mindful of maintaining a healthy diet and avoiding packaged foods. Therefore, my relationship with the kitchen has always been good; I especially love creating new recipes and inspiring others to follow them. I’ve realized how challenging it is to maintain healthy eating habits when socializing outside, and I, personally, found it incredibly difficult. I usually made an effort to avoid eating out and adhered to a healthy diet. However, when socializing with friends and family, adapting to dining habits becomes necessary. Recognizing the harm of refined sugar and unnecessary carbohydrates to the body, I started publishing my sugar-free and low-carb recipes on a blog, emphasizing the importance of such a diet. I still continue to do so.

Noticing the limited options for individuals with diabetes, celiac disease, and those following a similar dietary pattern when socializing, I decided to take my passion to the next level. After receiving positive feedback from events where I voluntarily let people taste my creations, I established Seda’s Bakery to reach a wider audience. Now, I take great joy in creating all the regular flavors in the healthiest way possible and encouraging people to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Breaking traditional stereotypes about food and drink with my entrepreneurial venture and the happiness and pride I experience as it spreads further truly honor me.

Seda, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I graduated in international relations, pursued a master’s degree in financial economics, and received training in business law. Despite my educational and professional background seeming distant from the bakery sector, I’ve always maintained a hobby of promoting a healthy lifestyle through regular exercise, cooking, and discovering new flavors. Although health problems increased over time, leading me to believe in the saying “health starts with nutrition,” I decided to turn this hobby into a business and left my corporate side.

I began intensive efforts to inform people about healthy eating and to demonstrate that there are healthier versions of everything we eat. I initially focused on snacks, the kind of things people most enjoy eating. For example, homemade sugar-free vegan Nutella, flourless protein bites, sugar-free cookies, pies, etc. As demand grew, I diversified my products and even started making personalized items. My priority has always been sugar-free, low-carb, gluten-free, and vegan options. This is crucial because many of my customers have health problems stemming from food allergies and struggle to find suitable options according to their dietary needs. While some products are available in stores, the additives added for longer shelf life compromise the healthiness of the food. The distinctiveness of Seda’s Bakery lies in the freshness of everything and the absence of any additives—everything is entirely homemade.

The positive reactions and requests from people make me incredibly proud and assure me that I’m on the right path. In 2023, we made it to the Top 25 in a dessert competition held nationwide in the United States, specifically in the Charlotte region. We showcased a famous dessert from our own cultural cuisine in the competition, and the positive feedback from both the judges and the attendees honored us. Seda’s Bakery continues to grow, and we are actively working on further expansion in our endeavors.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

While contemplating how to turn the bakery sector, which started as a hobby, into a business, I began working on the necessary plans and capital efforts due to the existence of a financial infrastructure. Initially, I focused on a couple of products, and later, by participating in small events to introduce and offer tastings to people, I took my first steps. Simultaneously, my Instagram page started growing, and with a sudden increase in followers and the questions I received, expanding the business beyond the initial one or two products became possible. The most significant impact was the spread of the name, and thus, the continuation of the business.

Of course, initially, you don’t establish a profitable business right away; your priority is creating opportunities for people to taste the products you make. For this, I always set aside a budget and turned that budget to reach my current point. Both financial and taste-related efforts continue to expand further and reach even greater heights.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

Currently, we are operating through our website and social media accounts. Our website is still under construction, so people usually reach out to us through social media or by phone. We already showcase all our products on our social media accounts. However, custom orders are, of course, available, especially for catering services, and we handle them accordingly.

We are currently in the process of working on major e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Etsy, and our efforts in this regard are ongoing. In a short period, we will also be active on these platforms.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sedabakery.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/sedaabakery?igshid=ZGNqMmhiaGFoZ2s0
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100073098609227&mibextid=ZbWKwL