SINCE young, T. Mary Evelyn has had an interest in baking, but never for a second thought that it would turn out to be her rice bowl at a time of so many uncertainties revolving the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hailing from the busy George Town city, she is keen to utilise her baking skills by turning it into a golden opportunity during this trying period. And the response from her customers has been encouraging.
Evelyn’s signature pastries are mini colourful cheese tarts (topped with mini cadbury chocolates) and nutella pods.
“Although I have a liking for baking and cooking since young, it is still quite unbelievable that I am now making a living from my hobby.
“When I first ventured into this area in July last year, the response was least encouraging. Then as the days went on and when I started baking more often than I thought I would, my customers and orders started increasing,” said Evelyn when interviewed by Buletin Mutiara today.
Evelyn also added that apart from her passion for baking, the other reason that greatly influenced her liking was when she had set up a food stall with her husband J. Simon at Hin Market (Hin Bus Depot) in George Town back in 2018.
“We would prepare some 30 packets of chicken biryani to be sold at the market, and we were fortunate enough to have received positive response during our days there.
“The Malay, Indian and Chinese folk in the community would visit the market every Sunday and would support our business. On top of that, they provided good comments after tasting the biryani.”
On how they came to know about Hin Market, she said it was her husband who took her on a bike ride one day past the area. Seeing many cars parked there, curiosity got the better of them to check out the place.
Hin Market is a platform for entrepreneurs, small business owners, craftsmen, artisans, musicians, performers and makers of all kinds to showcase their products, crafts and talents.
Simon, 37, who has been working in the food and beverage industry for over 18 years now, has been another important driving force in Evelyn’s role as a baker.
Separately, Evelyn, who currently uses her own kitchen space at home to bake, would usually receive around six or seven orders in a week. Her minimum order is 30 pieces of cheese tarts per customer.
Apart from baking, Evelyn also specialises in cooking chicken biryani, in which the orders are not open as often as for cheese tarts.
“Comparatively, I receive more orders for the mini cheese tarts, and hopefully more orders will come in for biryanis as well,” she added.
During Christmas last year, Evelyn said her business received blooming response, especially from her customers from the Hin Market.
“That is why I owe it all to my husband (Simon) for his thought of wanting to visit the premises (Hin Market) back then and the idea of setting up a stall there, which is proving to be extremely useful in this new venture,” she added.
When asked about the challenges she encountered while running this business at home, Eveyln said one of them was delivering the ordered foods on time.
“As for the cheese tarts, I would use only my car to deliver them as the tarts require a relatively cold environment to avoid melting. Meanwhile for the chicken biryani, I would usually tag along with my husband on his motorcycle to deliver.
“We only cover orders around the island, and now with the movement control order (MCO 2.0) back for the second time, we only open orders to targeted areas,” she added.
Her other challenges include limited kitchen space at home to store dry and wet food items.
Overall, Evelyn said the journey in this business has seen both ups and downs, but due to the incredible support she has been receiving thus far, it was made possible.
For further details about Evelyn and her business, please visit https://www.facebook.com/Evelyns-Kitchen-104442188249878/
Story and pix by Kevin Vimal