Aditi Handa, Co-founder and Head Chef of The Baker’s Dozen, a renowned bakery, is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The milestone marks a decade of culinary excellence, exceptional customer service, and commitment to quality that has earned The Baker’s Dozen its sterling reputation in the industry.
Handa shared insights into the bakery’s journey, highlighting the brand’s growth, culinary expertise, and the increasing popularity of sourdough bread in India.
Going back to the beginning of her journey Aditi Handa said, “The Baker’s Dozen (TBD) in 2013, with one store in Mumbai as a D2C brand producing 25 loaves daily to draw attention to the age-old goodness of sourdough bread and put it on every dining table as an essential commodity. The Baker’s Dozen today is India’s largest artisan bakery, making bread, cakes, cookies, crackers and premixes using natural ingredients.”
She added, “The Baker’s Dozen is present across 33 cities and 2000 touch points in India. The Baker’s Dozen uses an omnichannel strategy and retails from 50 of its stores, 600 Modern and general trade stores and is available on Ecommerce and Quick Commerce channels like Amazon, Flipkart, Big Basket, Zepto, Swiggy, Zomato and Blinkit. At TBD, we use AI-backed demand estimation and an ERP for SKU-level traceability, ensuring that only the freshest products are available to our consumers.”
Handa has noted a notable surge in the demand for bakery products following the Covid pandemic.
She explains, “We have received consumer requests now and then for an innovation or product they want us to experiment with. The Bakery industry is gradually shaping up as one of the largest segments in the food processing sector in India. These latest developments result from a change in consumer habits and lifestyle. Catering to a global trend, Indian consumers are now changing their mind-shift towards bakery products, earlier consumed as a treat but are now bought for their daily consumption. The other reason behind the change in consumer patterns is the global home cooking/baking trend with the pandemic. Thus there is a definite shift towards products that work well for home delivery and base products such as pizza bases and pita breads, which help them make delicious meals at home.”
In an effort to counteract India’s preference for white bread, Handa is dedicated to highlighting the nutritional advantages of sourdough bread and advocating for its consumption as a dietary essential. She is determined to educate people about the benefits of sourdough bread and ensure that it becomes a staple on dinner tables.
She said, “The bread industry in India has witnessed a considerable amount of hike recently. Sourdough is a slow-fermented bread made from just four ingredients, and its inherent nutrition is great for immunity and digestion. Sourdough is a natural way to enhance flavour, texture, and shelf life, and even if it dries out, toasting brings back its original texture.”
To ensure that customers only receive the freshest bakery products, Handa utilizes AI-based demand estimation and an ERP system that provides SKU-level traceability at The Baker’s Dozen.
“All our products are produced in a central facility and shipped to our different warehouse’s pan India daily. Due to our innovative packaging, we can supply a naturally higher shelf-life product pan-India. We are looking at growing our revenue 2.5 times in FY24 and increasing our footprint from 2000 touchpoints to close to 3800 touchpoints. We aim to reach an ARR of INR—150 crore by the end of FY-2024”, said Handa.
Regarding the expansion plans, Handa said, “Our company is considering diversifying our product offerings to include mid-meal snacks such as toast and cookies. Additionally, we plan to establish partnerships with distributors to increase our presence in tier-1 and 2 cities.”