We recently connected with Dee Gupta and have shared our conversation below.

Dee, appreciate you joining us today. 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.

Ever since I was 4 years old, I knew I was going to be a chef or a baker. I was born and raised in India. Growing up, my parents couldn’t even afford an oven due to lots of financial setbacks they went through. I used to bake in makeshift ovens such as big metal pots on the stove or sometimes manipulated with wires. I did a mighty well job. There weren’t any baking schools either while I was growing up, so I had to figure out the recipes by reading magazines, given through friends and family, and by trial and error. I migrated to USA when I was 18 years old. I left behind my dream to bake and my boyfriend too. However, I was destined to marry my boyfriend, my middle school sweetheart, who had been aware of my dreams growing up with me in India. My husband moved to USA with me later. Now when I turned 27, my husband helped me financially to go to Le Cordon Bleu to study French Patisserie. This was a dream come true. Unfortunately, while I was in the school, my dad passed away and it left me really hurt, sad and demotivated to bake. I finished the school with flying colors and decided to not pursue baking in any shape or form. I couldn’t even touch the oven. It was hurtful. I went back to my banking career. My husband was upset and disappointed, but he understood my emotional state and gave me my space and time. I dragged it for quite long. I had my son and when he turned one, my husband put his foot down and forced me to make his first birthday cake or there wasn’t going to be a birthday cake. I went past my hurt and then started my baking journey again. I posted the pics on social media and upon somebody’s referral I got an opportunity to compete in a cake competition pilot program on social media. I wasn’t ready for the competition, but I put my best foot forward and I won. And now, my baking journey picked up a faster speed and I knew I was going to open my first bakery soon. I had the passion, I had the motivation, I had a good reason now, and I had the family support. I now look back and think that some things are meant to happen when they are meant to happen. And if it’s not happening at one point in time, maybe there is a better time for it later. If there is a deep desire and passion, it will happen one day. Now I have two bakeries and its a magical feeling.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Deepti Gupta. I have 2 bakeries. My first bakery is in Ventura, California. Its a wholesale bakery. We make wonderful baked goods that are supplied to local coffee shops, restaurants, and events. Baked goods include and not limited to scones, breads, cookies, muffins, bars, brownies, specialty cakes etc. I then started making a lot of custom birthday cakes and it gained momentum. I then decided to open a retail bakery in Thousand Oaks, California focusing on all occasion cakes. My focus is to listen to the customers and translate their vision on the celebratory cakes. I specialize in making buttercream cakes and make them look as good as a fondant covered cake. I take so much pride in my recipes and the referral business. I dedicate myself to the cake from the beginning to end. Each cake gets special attention. I firmly believe that I have been gifted this art and its my purpose to spread love and cheer. Cakes makes people happy and it creates memories. I dont have an easy job but a fun job for sure.

Let’s talk M&A – we’d love to hear your about your experience with buying businesses.

When I decided to open my bakery, I knew that I had no experience in establishing a kitchen from scratch. I am glad that I pivoted toward the idea of starting in an established kitchen. I wanted to make the process easy. My goal was to learn the business first and maybe later when I expanded, I could try to establish a customer bakery as per my specifications. That was the smartest decision. I had to pay a lumpsum amount to take over a kitchen and they trained me for a month on their equipment and other questions I may have. Another benefit was I acquired the employees, the raw materials and progressed as I learnt more and more. This took a lot of extra work and stress as a beginner in a new industry. The acquisition process was seamless and I just wrote checks and changed everything over to my name and credit.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Fortunately, I had the funds saved from a long time. However, we even considered to not use our money and instead get a loan. I was able to call the Ventura county local small business assistance and they gave me a lot of referrals for a new business loan at a decent rate. Please check your local county small business assistance departments for a lot of help.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.siblingsbakery.com
• Instagram: siblings.bakery
• Facebook: siblings.bakery
• Yelp: Siblings Bakery