Saturday 20 / April / 2024
Muscat: Nadia Salim Al Aufi’s begins baking her cakes, cookies and brownies at 7 am every day. She’ll need to get them done by noon at the latest, so that she can decorate and pack them in time for her customers that evening.
Four years ago, Nadia began her home-based bakery—Nad’s—which in addition to the above, also specialises in traditional Arabic sweets.
It’s been hard work so far, but Nadia is proud of what she’s achieved so far, and is looking forward to what the future holds.
“I always had a passion for baking, and when I’d made some goodies for some friends at home, they really loved it and I decided to pursue this full-time,” recalled Nadia, who used to previously work for the National Bank of Oman.
“Some of my colleagues at NBO said it wasn’t a good time to quit my job, but others gave me their support and said it was a good decision because it’s a difficult one to make,” she said.
“From the beginning, I’ve always wanted to have my own specific business,” she added.
“In a day, I make roughly 200 cakes and cookies, because I supply my products to the Sherbet Café in Qurum, and I also have about a 100 customers, who place orders with me every month.”
Although Nadia does everything herself at the moment, she is looking to expand her horizons in the future. “I want to have my own café, and I am currently looking for a place to set up a shop of my own,” she revealed to the Times of Oman.
“The feedback from my customers is that they are always very happy with my goodies, and that gives me the incentive to continue my baking. Positive feedback has also come from her parents, who had expressed some consternation when she began pursuing her passion.
“My parents asked me why I was tiring myself out even when I had a good job,” recalled Nadia. “But then they saw that this was my passion, they saw how happy this made me. Now, if my parents want to host a party, they turn to me to provide the sweets!”
She uses only the best chocolate for her famed desserts, because she says quality ingredients make the best products.
“I buy my chocolate from Master Chef, because they have the best, and my other ingredients are from Carrefour and Lulu,” she said.
“It might be expensive, but for good results, you need to buy the materials that are worth it.”
Nadia still remembers the excitement she felt when her first order was placed, and that keenness to bake has been steadily tempered by a number of lessons she’s learned through running her business.
“I was very excited when I met my first customer because they gave me a big order, which was for a wedding,” she recalled.
“They were very happy with what I gave them.” “The most important thing I’ve learned is that you need to have patience in this business, because you will face many different kinds of customers, and you need to learn to handle all of them,” she added.
“Qualities, such as dedication, hard work and honesty are also very important because only then will your customers trust you.”
