KAY THOMAS LIKES bakes. Yes, you read it right, good old Bajan bakes that conjure up happy memories along with fritters, fishcakes and pink lemonade or red Kool-Aid whenever it rained.
The businesswoman, who owns Ezee Cuisine, thinks there is great potential in bakes that goes far beyond flour, sugar, and water. She knew she was on to a good thing back in 2008 when she made and shared them with her former work colleagues.
“One day, somebody suggested that I package them and sell them. It had never occurred to me before that somebody would want to buy bakes. I asked if they would and they said ‘yes, of course’. I asked a couple other people and they liked the idea so I decided to go ahead and give it a shot. That’s pretty much how it was born,” she told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY.
So, with the help of willing people Thomas tested the formula – inclusive of instructions – tweaked it a couple times and three years later, she was ready.
“If you’re going to do something that people need to repeat, it makes sense to know exactly how much water to tell them to add. I wanted it to be as simple as possible to follow for somebody who had never ever made bakes, or who didn’t even know what a bake was,” she stated.
Before you baulk at the idea of having something so simple packaged and sold, be aware there are some people who do not know how to make bakes; others who stopped trying to make them as they did not turn out like their grandmothers’, mothers and people who live alone who like the convenience of the product and the ease with which they are able to just add water, fry and eat.
“There was a varied response from people accustomed to doing it the traditional way. We had some older people who were happy that it was convenient. They just had to add water and fry, and then I had some who reacted with ‘no, I prefer to make mine. I don’t want anything from a bag’.
“Interestingly enough, when I started making this product, my mother – who never buys anything pre-packaged and makes everything from scratch – stopped making bakes and would just tell me when hers run out,” Thomas said with a chuckle.
Thomas operated from her kitchen until the demand was so great she had to outsource to a manufacturer who had the requisite equipment and was able to handle 100 pounds, as opposed 12.
Besides the bakes (which are made with white or whole wheat flour with oats added to both) Thomas added a multi-grain muffin mix with eight different types of grains two years later.
She said customers “really enjoy the fact that it’s a healthy option” and noted that “a lot of parents got excited about it because their children were eating it”.
“What I have made is more of the baked goods as opposed to the mixes. I’ve baked those muffins to sell and banana bread. I’ve done variations of the muffin mix. I’ve added a whole heap of things to make it interesting – slivers of almonds, cranberries and so on,” she said.
“As good luck would have it, when I was made redundant from my full- time job, my severance money was enough to help launch the business. It had a rocky start at first, but it has reached a point where it can pay for itself, so I don’t necessarily have to be putting as much money into it as before. It can take care of itself.”
With “tons of ideas” for more Ezee Cuisine products but “not a lot of time”, her hope is to increase exports.
“It’s been up and down, but honestly, I felt that it was something that God wanted me to do, so I kept trodding on.
“When people said ‘no’ I said okay, regrouped and went again. It’s not for everybody. I’m looking forward to the day when I can say: ‘you can get it in England, in the US and Canada’”. (GBM)