Several people turn to home baking amidst the pandemic. Organisations promoting women entrepreneurship laud social media for the same.
Bangalore: Home baking has witnessed new dawn after people from all walks of life turned their heads to it in the lockdown. Facebook groups like Home Bakers Guild and Bakers of Bangalore have thousands of members. These groups witnessed a 30 per cent increase in their membership during the pandemic, said the admin team of the group.
Experts from organisations like AWAKE, Womennovator and Womenhub said that social media has proved to be a catalyst for growth in the profession. The bakers bake both standard and theme-based customised cakes as per their customer’s order.
Factories of beverage companies like Chai-Point shut shop during the lockdown, which led to the company giving lesser salaries to their employees. “I baked my first cake in April 2020 with a pre-mix. Eventually, I thought I can do this better, and when I started getting better, I began getting orders for the same. This helped sail through the pay cuts,” said Emeda Gomez.
The shift of trend has been seen in customers’ preferences as well. They find home bakeries to be more reliable and hygienic in the face of the pandemic. Ammu Maria, a regular buyer of home-made cakes said,” The cakes are better in taste and I think that if they are baked at home, they are hygienic as well. Plus, they are very cost-effective as compared to regular bakery made cakes.”
Several home bakers who said that they took up baking as a hobby, are now thinking of leaving their full-time jobs and get involved in baking professionally. They said that for them, it’s one of a kind stress buster from everyday activities and household chores.
There are several institutes in the city like ASK Institute of Bakery Confectionary & Pastry Arts and Institute of Baking and Cake Art that help beginners get into baking.
