“Are you both even earning from sales?”

This is a question Sabariah and Faridah, owners of Besties Delightz, often get.

At just $25 for 100 cookies, it’s safe to say that their confections are one of the most affordable in the market. Typically, a container of about 40 tarts go for $20.

Coming from humble backgrounds themselves, you’d think the pair would want to maximise profits as much as possible.

That’s not the case for the long-time best friends.

“The point is to keep them as affordable as possible because we want to reach out to people from the lower income group, especially during festive seasons like the upcoming Hari Raya Puasa. We don’t earn much ourselves, so we understand what it’s like,” Sabariah explained when interviewed by Mothership.

How it started

Sabariah and Faridah were ex-colleagues who went out of jobs in early 2017. For months, Sabariah worked as a cleaner while Faridah searched fruitlessly for a new job.

One day, while munching on fresh cookies made by Faridah, the idea of starting a bakery business suddenly came to Sabariah.

She said, “Faridah has always been the baker, while I’ve always been more of a management person. So early this year, I asked her if she would like to get on board this new project with me. She was just as excited about starting it.”

Sabariah also took the time to brush up on her baking skills with the help of her friend.

Interestingly, people came to know of their baked goodies through something totally unrelated -- a perfume business owned by a mutual friend. To help spread word, their friend would send out a few samples with every perfume delivery.

Soon, orders started coming in for Sabariah and Faridah. Their friend’s customers wanted to know how they could get their hands on the delicious sweet treats.

The influx of orders was overwhelming for the pair, who didn’t know how to sustain the business. It was all new to them.

Heart Bakers Programme

Coincidentally, the call for the second session of Heart Bakers Programme came up on North East Community Development Council’s Facebook page in March this year.

“We chanced upon the ad for the programme on Facebook and decided to sign up. It came at the right time as we were just preparing for the Hari Raya bake sale for Besties Delightz,” said Sabariah.

When I asked why they needed to attend another baking class when the both of them had already started the business, Sabariah replied, “The programme isn’t just about baking. There’s also an entrepreneurship class which taught us business and marketing skills.”

Even though they were already taking in orders, they did not have a Facebook page.

“In fact, it was the entrepreneurship class that helped boost our confidence in launching the Facebook page for Besties Delightz. It also taught us how to use social media to reach out to more people,” Sabariah added.

Held at SSA Culinary Institute, the actual baking class was led by celebrity chef Siti Mastura, who is considered by many as an inspiration -- after being retrenched from her previous job as a secretary, Siti got herself through the difficult period by starting a confectionery business and baking school.

“We learnt how to make a special chocolate chip cookie by chef Siti that day. But besides just learning how to make the cookie, she also taught us other things like the use of each ingredient, and how important it is to keep the quality consistent. The MAC O’chips (recipe by chef Siti) was essentially a basic cookie dough which we could modify and enhance to create different recipes in the future.”

Generally, culinary classes adopt an approach where the instructor leads the students through every step.

It wasn’t like that with chef Siti. After going through the ingredients, she did a demonstration of the recipe, and got the students to recreate the cookies.

The Heart Bakers programme has been described as “teaching a man how to fish”.

“We want to set the foundation for these home bakers. This programme is to help give them a head start in the right direction,” said Desmond Choo, Mayor of North East District, where the programme was pioneered.

Sabariah and Faridah wasted no time in practising what they learnt at chef Siti’s class-- they started baking the MAC O’chips again the very next day.

“The cookies didn’t turn out well though. They came out completely burnt and the dough was just not up to standards.” Sabariah said with a laugh.

Eventually, they managed to bake a new batch for the cookie sampling session on April 20. The session, held at Tampines Hub, was to help push cookie sales for the home bakers who attended chef Siti’s class previously.

Tested. Tasted. Testified. These MAC O'CHIPS are amazing! At last week's debut of the MAC O'CHIPS, the stay-at-home mothers of Heart Bakers @ North East were heartened by the support they received from Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and Adviser to Tampines Grassroots Organisations Mr. @baeyyamkeng , Mayor @desmond.choo, corporate partners and the public. They were also inspired by @chefsitimas as she shared her personal experiences with them. These mothers now know that they're not alone in their struggles, and success is possible if they persevere. Support them by purchasing these cookies for the festive season. We tell you how, tomorrow!

A post shared by North East CDC (@necdc) on Apr 26, 2018 at 2:42am PDT

Taking charge of their business

Before this, both of them had already begun doing research and development on their own.

“We also took old recipes from my mother and reinvented them. Adding a modern twist to traditional tarts and cookies is the trend now, which is why many bakeries are selling things like nutella tarts to suit the taste buds of the younger crowd,” Sabariah added.

Now, they also sell flavours like peanut butter tarts, sugee cookies, red velvet cookies, and more.

“The Heart Bakers programme has really helped to boost our confidence in baking and launching a business. We’re really grateful for the opportunity, and we look forward to seeing what the future brings,” said Faridah.

You can get your cookies from the participating mums here: https://bit.ly/2Hl7Cf5

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The Heart Bakers Programme is an initiative launched by North East CDC. It aims to help stay-at-home mums gain baking and enterprising skills so that they can earn an extra income.

This sponsored post in collaboration with North East CDC makes this particular Mothership.sg’s writer full in the stomach (because of all the cookie sampling), and full in the heart. Aww.