- Decadent and rich in flavour, but not overwhelming
Home baker Aanya Nanayakkara launched her cloud kitchen The Hot Mess in July last year, quite literally in the middle of the pandemic. A student of the culinary arts, Aanya is just out of school and is currently training to be a professional baker.
Speaking to Brunch Aanya shared that, while she is currently studying the culinary arts as a student, she has always had a passion for baking and preparing food for her family and friends.
She shared that for her, personally, she has always found it most intriguing to play about with numerous flavours – and she has always favoured the more decadent and rich uses of flavour in the desserts she it is difficult enough to start your own business from the ground up, the added element of a pandemic really made things tough. “The most challenging part was finding vendors who sold the things I needed, in bulk,” she said.
“I wanted to place a reasonable and affordable price point on my items, but if the ingredients end up being too expensive, and the delivery cost for those ingredients, packaging etc, labour cost, when all of this added up, if it goes far beyond a reasonable price point then it would have been a loss,” she added.
She further added: “We’ve all had a tough year, everyone is going through hard times and so I wanted to make sure I was conscious of those things.”
Aanya also noted that there has been an increasing number of cloud kitchens and home bakers popping up, however she never really felt as though she was competing with these businesses. She did note that some of them have been true inspirations to her, to take points for her own business.
Talking about her future plans, Aanya shared that while she hopes to continue to expand her menu, she plans to introduce a weekend menu, and also focus more on physically interacting with her customers and participating in more pop-ups. While the latter may be challenging due to the pandemic, she hopes to gradually achieve these goals over time.
Instagram: @thehotmess_sl