Black-youth-owned bakery business Bakers Gallery is baking up a storm in Dube TradePort’s Mini Factories.
The business, which specialises in high-end celebratory cakes, is recording significant growth as a mass-market cake and pastries offering, says founder Skhumbuzo Maphanga.
Moving into the mass-market cake line was a Covid-19 survival plan when the speciality celebratory cake orders halted - and it worked.
“In 2020, we had our first break into the retail sector with a contract to supply cake loaves, cake slices, cake rings, cupcakes, biscuits, tarts and pastries to a Spar store. Within eight months we were supplying 10 Durban-based Spar supermarkets and we needed to expand to bigger, better premises,” said Maphanga, an executive pastry chef with international experience.
“Dube TradePort’s Mini Factories were ideal. We were looking for security, a constant supply of power, even during load-shedding, ease of access and parking for our clients, and a well-kept environment that provides a good image,” he added.
He started Bakers Gallery in 2013 as a sideline, supplying a home industry shop in Morningside to supplement his Durban ICC pastry chef’s salary. By 2018, his cake baking had grown to such an extent that he was working around the clock, and he had to make a choice between his full-time job or building a business. The latter won, and Bakers Gallery SA was registered as a business.
Younger brother Siphesihle Maphanga also trained as a chef and was drawn into the business. Being creative in the family, his forte is the intricate decoration and painting of celebratory cakes.
Coming on board as the third partner was Ntobeko Ndlovu, a qualified educator and a medical scientist, who has brought his strategic thinking and business management skills to Bakers Gallery, changing it from a hobby into a business.
