5 minute read
French Bakery
French Bakery is a cafe located at Morjim in North Goa. It is situated on the main road, next to the FabIndia store at the Bora-Bora junction in Morjim. The cafe was started in November 2019 by Yamine and Lena. Yamine, who is from France met Lena (who hails from Russia) in Gokarna in 2016. Both of them had a long-term love for India as they travelled quite a lot and wanted to settle down permanently in India.
Founders' Profile
Yamine is a chef by profession. He worked for 6 years in Marseille, a city in the south of France. He used to cook traditional French cuisine. And, sure enough, most French people are just so fond of cooking so much so that they end up becoming chefs and opening up a brasserie or a cafe.
Lena was far from the kitchen, but was good in service, as she was a good speaker of English and Russian. Most of the customers who visit the French Bakery in Morjim are either from India or Russia.
How Did It All Start?
Yamine stumbled upon the concept of the cafe by accident in 2018. Being a chef, Yamine had a lot of experience working in the kitchen. And at some point, he and Lena realized that a cafe or restaurant in India was their calling in life. He was hiding in the Himachal during the South Indian monsoon season and he had carried a small oven with him to entertain himself by cooking and reminiscing his mother and grandmother's recipes. That’s how he once made baguettes. And surprisingly, he started to get orders from local restaurants nearby. That’s how he got the idea of starting a bakery and patisserie.
The next step was to find the right place. Goa was an attractive place from a business point of view — tourists from India and different parts of the world visit the state in huge numbers. That's how they ended up choosing Morjim as the place to start the cafe.
Food And Snacks Offered
At the French Bakery, you will find: Croissants in sweet and savoury options: with fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and homemade pesto, with chicken ham and cheese, with chocolate, with homemade almond filling, with cream cheese and with Nutella,
Sandwiches in veg and non-veg options: with mushroom-spinach and cheese filling, with mozzarella and tomatoes, with chicken filet,
Quiches: Veg with broccoli and zucchini or with spinach and mushroom, non-veg is with tuna, tomato and goat cheese,
Desserts: Chocolate tart, almond and pears tart, lemon tart with a soft Italian meringue, strawberry tart, eclairs with vanilla cream, and profiteroles with chocolate cream. And also seasonal options: chiamango mousse, traditional Сhristmas log, Pavlova etc.
Bread: Traditional baguettes, sourdough loaves, charcoal bread,
Coffee: Americano, cappuccino, latte and iced/ cold coffees as well.
Public Response
Yamine says that he started getting regular customers within less than 3 weeks of the cafe's opening. He also started getting orders to supply bread and desserts for restaurants. The business did slow down during the Covid period, but after all the restrictions were lifted, things started to return back to normal. They also started to get invitations from customers based in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, and Pune to open an outlet of French Bakery in those cities as well.
Challenges Faced
Yamine says that finding well-qualified skilled employees was and still is a major challenge that he faces while running his cafe. “It is not easy to find someone who is responsible, who is willing to learn and invest himself completely”, he says.
During the first year of operations, Yamine and Lena used to run the cafe all by themselves. They used to work in the cafe daily from 9 am to 9 pm. This year, they got lucky as they managed to recruit two amazing employees to assist them in running the cafe. But the two of them are still involved 100%, as quality control should always be there and Yamine is still making all the desserts by himself. Though they would love to have “more hands” in the kitchen as the capacity of French patisserie is unlimited, they are limited for now.
Shortage of parking at the cafe was another issue which they faced as the number of cars kept growing and they were unable to accommodate the cars of all the customers.
The seasonal aspect of Goa’s tourism also poses a challenge for them. “Taking it easy for a month is good, but it gets boring soon”, says Lena.
Plans For The Future
In the years to come, Yamine and Lena are looking to expand the size of their team. They also have plans to expand their operations to more places within and outside Goa as well. Places like Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune are some of the places they are considering opening franchise outlets.
So, if you ever find yourself in Morjim, don't forget to visit the French Bakery to enjoy some delicious traditional French patisserie and desserts.
Bon Appetit!
French Bakery GOA, Morjim
Phone: 074981 51149 Instagram: @frenchbakery_goa
Working Hours: 8:30am–10:30pm (Mon, Wed-Sun) Tuesdays Closed
