Delight in every Bite - Pistacia Bakery
Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Maha Zabaneh, owner of Pistacia Bakery, located in Toronto, ON, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I'm the business owner and baker at Pistacia Bakery, a Toronto-based small business specializing in Middle Eastern gourmet cookies and European style Petit Fours, among other delicious varieties of savory snacks and choice deserts. Our products are low in sugar but rich and authentic in taste – a hallmark of fine Middle Eastern cuisine brought to you from old and time-tested home recipes. Our repeat customers come from all over the GTA, Ontario, and Quebec, and proud to say, other places in Canada.
Like many foods in the Middle East, desserts are made from healthy, all-natural, and simple ingredients yet with complex and unique flavours created through the artistic blend of spices and aromatics. A few to name are orange blossom and rose waters, anise, and mastic. Finest baking ingredients such as organic unbleached flour, raw organic sugar, extra virgin olive oil, and top choice dates are also part of the known secret that makes our baking products special. And we just don't stop here. We also use tree nuts – think pistachios, walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts, applied richly in quality and quantity. Sorry - no peanuts. We're cognizant of allergy concerns. Our cookies are made to order, so they're always fresh, just as the customers expect them.
For holidays and special occasions, I love creating seasonal products decorated gift boxes and baskets, which are always well received and appreciated.
Tell us about yourself
I am a 35-year corporate business veteran with a fulfilling career in professional services, including 22 years in Canada at two of the Big Four firms, Deloitte and EY. During these years, I found that my best resting times after a full work week was in my kitchen, where I enjoyed the serenity and the challenge in baking cookies and pastries, aiming to perfect old family recipes and always testing subtle changes to make them healthier and tastier. Come 2020, with all its burdens and disruptions; I decided to build on my baking experience and take my passion for baking to a new level, namely launching my own baking business, thankfully empowered with huge encouragement from my family and friends. Their taste buds said it all, having enjoyed my baking for years.
My inspiration also comes from the culture I grew up in, known for its rich cuisine, healthy food, unique flavours, and the care in preserving old and family recipes. Food in the Middle East also means hospitality and generosity. My memories of long and savoured meals, and elaborate, beautiful, and delectable spreads made for guests at holiday occasions and feasts, drove my brand vision.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
I'd say it's the ability to shift and adapt from corporate to entrepreneurial mindset and setting. I spent most of my career with large, structured companies with support resources, so it was no easy feat to start a small business and navigate an unfamiliar environment on my own. I successfully maintained top-quality baking products from the start. I proved that commercial baking goods need not lose home baking quality. In bakery language, this means authentic and fresh ingredients, rich in quality and quantity, all the time.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
For any successful business, quality control and customer service are paramount. For me, it is maintaining a time balance to optimize the process from the moment orders are received to timely deliveries of the freshest and tastiest cookies and snacks possible. Quality control means maintaining supplies of fresh and authentic ingredients at all times and a baking process that cannot be rushed or tardy. The other hard part, typical for all businesses, is wearing multiple hats and managing all aspects of the company from planning, marketing, purchasing, expenses, cash flow, and administrative. All are equally important and always require close attention.
There are also specific challenges pertaining to the baking business, such as low-profit margins and physical effort requirements, especially in busy seasons like Christmas. Still, I'm motivated each day by the satisfaction and enjoyment I get from the art of baking and from crafting products and gifts that create sweet moments for my customers. The feedback so far has been encouraging and rewarding.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- This will sound like a cliché but only do something you love and enjoy. There will be moments when you may be too tired and consider giving up but loving what you do will continue to drive you.
- Keep focused on your niche and strive to be the best at what you do to differentiate your product and brand.
- Go the extra mile for customers and deliver the best product and experience. I've discarded many batches of dough and baked goods to ensure I deliver only the best to my customers. My own satisfaction with my product tops my quality control checklist.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
I love being part of the small business owners' community and experiencing the support and bonds created by similar opportunities and challenges. I enjoy meeting talented chefs and business owners at commercial kitchens and farmer's markets and sharing the experiences and passion for what we do. I feel lucky to have had the courage to embark on this journey.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.pistaciabakery.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pistaciabakery
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pistaciabakery/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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