We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Priyanka Kothari. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Priyanka below.
Hi Priyanka, thanks for joining us today. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your business and how did you resolve those issues?
In the beginning I was nursing round the clock along side taking care of a toddler with no child care and family to help out. While trying to nail the perfect gluten free and egg free cakes and macaron recipes I was also trying to cater to soy and nut allergen free clients. Developing recipes is not only an expensive and tedious but physically exhausting process. There were expensive ingredients involved and endless dishes. I also cook fresh meals for my family everyday, it was overwhelming and exhausting but I loved creating and problem solving so much that I survived on 4 hours of sleep some days between kids and the kitchen.
The challenges involved were time, money and convincing myself that I can make a business out of this expensive hobby, that as a single income family we could not afford.
My father came to rescue and helped with the initial investment and I made sure the business paid for itself from the start. But managing time was still a challenge. I worked late nights after putting the kids to bed. But my little one would wake up every couple of hours and I would have to drop everything and help her go back to sleep. Sometimes finding an uninterrupted hour was almost impossible. It exhausted me physically but the my need to create was the driving force.
I started with developing one recipe that was gluten free and egg free then made soy free and nut free version of the same. It took endless dishes and tears to get a beautiful sponge that was inclusive of most dietary restrictions and looked delicious. And there on I started experimenting with Asian flavors that weren’t being served at the local stores or bakeries.
I faced a new challenge of charging more than the market rate because of high cost ingredients and customizations involved. Restricting my menu and setting base price helped me not to undersell and also find my clientele.
While I still struggle with uninterrupted time between pickups and drop offs and “mom please hold me.” I continue to create and work toward not only offering choices in flavors but to make sure to work with the clients vision to bake for their special event without compromising on taste and texture. While there are days I doubt myself I remember a family reaching out to me to tell me that their child was able to eat a cake that was custom made from flavor to color to design for him and keeping his sever allergies in mind for the first time in 14 years.
Priyanka, 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?
It started with baking my daughter’s first birthday cake that was gluten free and egg free. A friend encouraged me every time they had the cakes i baked leading up to my daughter’s 5th birthday to start my own business. And Quirksnflavors was born! The idea behind it was to serve allergen informed custom baked goods that were delicious and looked amazing at the same time. With no prior experience in baking or formal education, trial and error was my teacher. My husband is gluten intolerant and was the reason I baked gluten free, helped me with his feedback on taste and texture.
Quirksnflavors sells custom Cakes, Cupcakes and Macarons that are all gluten free and egg free and can be further customized to be dairy free, soy and/or tree nut free. I work with customizing order to the T. Quirksnflavors is build on the foundation of quality ingredients and customize to match your vision without compromising texture and taste. I specialize in South Asian flavor combinations in custom Cakes and Vegan macarons.
The most common problems I saw were gluten free baked goods weren’t always moist and Vegan baked goods were too sweet. Although sweetness is subjective but i was able to come up with recipes that were comparatively less sweet and weren’t dry in texture.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
With no proper baking knowledge or formal education I started experimenting and sharing my baked goods with friends and family and eventually offered free samples on a neighborhood social media network. I shared a feedback form and worked on the data collected on taste, flavor profile, texture and pricing.
Since my business model is limited to custom orders from my small home kitchen and when I started out I didn’t have orders every week. To keep a social media presence, build a portfolio and practice, I baked small batches of vegan macarons every Monday and Cupcakes every Thursday for weekend pickup. There were times when nothing sold and I was very disappointed. I started giving them away on buy nothing group on Facebook and that’s where I found my clientele. It’s tricky to be visible just with social media for a home bakery. So I moved on to collaborations with local florists and coffee shops that helped get more attention. I am still learning how to use social media to my advantage but word of month so far has been the best strategy.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
The most difficult part of my journey has been the long hours of being on the feet. This business isn’t for the faint of heart. There were times when my kids were home sick and I had to fulfill the orders. There were times when I would throw out batches of cupcakes because I forgot to put sugar or oil in them because I was also involved in my daughter’s pretend play. Times when I would attend to her every hour late at night nursing and soothing while I worked on the orders. But nothing could keep me from the joy that creating And problem solving gave me.
It doesn’t end with baking but taking good pictures is equally important which was and continues to be a learning curve.
I felt the stress creep in my marriage where the mounds of dishes, constant takeover of a small shared space with equipments and ingredients played a big role. I was learning so many things all at once that I gave every waking hour when I wasn’t with the kids to learning, experimenting and growing. The growth was slow and hence was always questioned if this business was worth the time and effort.
I have had moments where I was ready to give up but I credit my sister who pushed me to keep going and believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. My family back in India has been my support system and has shouldered me through every failure and celebrated every small success.
I love what I do, and I am proud of how far I have come without any formal education. I am grateful I was never alone in this journey.
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