B Swaminathan (publisherchefbharath@gmail.com)
“Students passing out of the H-Schools are not opting a profession inside a kitchen”- of late we are hearing this from many seasoned chefs. According to them, most of the students aim to be in the front office or administration. Breaking the barriers, here is an interesting story of a 10-year-old kid aiming to build a world-class baking institute to nurture baking talent among the underprivileged children.
It all started when Vinusha MK, an 8-year-old who was always glued towards baking and food videos but I never made a hands-on effort. “Last year, I wanted to surprise my mom on her Birthday. I tried baking a cake with my friend which gave me self-realization of how much I loved Baking.”, says Vinusha who is studying class 4 in her academics. Following that incident, Vinusha attempted another cake, this time with her mom who became the biggest pillar of her strength. “ My daughter was much passionate in Baking. As a parent, I thought why not follow her passion other than regular studies.”, says Muthuramalingam, her father who says he had learned quite a number of things through parenting her. “ I like her confidence. She has the guts and courage in her own field, these two things I learned from Vinusha.”, he says.
After baking became a breathe new life for her, she made the next effort- entrepreneurship. “Along with my mom, I had attended many classes to develop my skill in baking following which, I met a lot of entrepreneurs and was inspired by their stories. At one point of time, I thought why shouldn’t I start my own brand and thus ‘Four Seasons Pastry’ was born. Vinusha is the Founder-Chief Baking Officer of the bakery based in Chennai. The name was born out of her love for seasons and cup-cakes.
On the other side, it was her time-honoured practice that made Vinusha climb the ladders. There were many challenges and the tough times she had gone through. According to Vinusha, no one in society encouraged her to explore new careers. However, her parents encouraged her to chose her passion as a career.
“There were days when I was not allowed to enter ‘Food Expos’ due to age criteria. In some expo, I returned home too.” In some cases, she had showcased her credentials to make the organizers accept her. Today, Vinusha specialises in vanilla chocolate cupcakes, season-themed cupcakes like [spring] flower, [autumn] leaf , [summer] sun color and [winter] snowflake . This decoration is on top of the cake which is buttercream. Some of her mentors include Suresh Chinnsamy MD of Samys Dosakal Restaurant, Geetha Krishnan, who has 40 years of experience in baking who is updating about current trends in baking and Lakshmi Reddy, a baker, who taught her the basics of baking. Vinusha is the youngest member of TiE Chennai chapter and has opportunities to meet entrepreneurs regularly.
Baking, as a career had given many life learnings for Vinusha who says baking is an ocean and she could understand the science behind baking. “I had developed an E-Commerce website for ‘Four Seasons Pastry’ in this COVID -19 lockdown. I want to establish my sales across Chennai. I had also developed a Baking Kit (STEM Based) for kids, wants to sell across India.”, she concludes who further expresses her interest in building a baking institute of global standards.
Vinusha has already for collaboration with many brands and is also keen on exploring avenues to collaborate with good brands.
