Baking artisanal revolution in India
By: Shack Media Co.
Tags: Interview, Coffee, Delhi, Artisanal, Baking

Pao Bakery & Workshop at Sunder Nagar weekly market

Baking artisanal revolution in India

Founders of Pao Bakery & Workshop (Pao)- Keith & Mayank bake artisanal breads. Artisanal breads are nutritious and environment friendly. Yet, most of India eats commercial breads. India has about 1 lakh bakers/bakeries, comprising of large, small scale and independent bakers/ bakeries. They bake breads in Mukhteshwar (Uttarakhand), and sell it to the buyers in Delhi. Can they inspire farmers, consumers and the government? Will they succeed in building a viable business? Edited excerpts from the conversation at Sunder Nursery with The Shack’s Abhishek Rai:

How do you define Pao Bakery as a business?

Keith:

We are not a conventional business, looking at baking or farming as a homogenous entity. When we think about a loaf of bread, we’re thinking about the land, it’s coming from. We also just don’t talk about sustainable business, but it’s also a sustainable environment, the whole ecosystem.

Does Pao practice direct trade, similar to coffee?

Keith:

I work with farmers. We pay a premium for the experiment. They have agreed to use their land. I guarantee a return, if there’s a weather event, which crop insurance doesn’t cover. I’m trying to think about a different way of doing business.

Tell me about your journey to India?

Keith

I started artisanal baking in 80s. Artisanal movement was in its early days in USA. Only five years ago people got interested in artisanal baking in India. After baking for more than 10 years, I moved to policy. I wanted to combine both, baking and policy. I moved to India 11years ago to work on this idea. In 2018, I opened Pao Bakery and Workshop in Mukteshwar, Uttarakhand.

Mayank, tell me about your journey to baking?

Mayank:

I did my masters from Delhi University and started a manufacturing business. I could not see myself doing it for the rest of my life. I was interested in food. I couldn’t do it as a hobby. I got introduced to breads, and started baking at home. Then, I met Keith and joined Pao Bakery.

How did both of you become partners?

Keith:

I was fortunate to meet Mayank. We have different ideas. We share the same aesthetics and business sense. I met him last year. Early this year, we had started working together.

Mayank:

After finding about Keith, I went and met him. Both of us didn’t want to replicate the trend. Keith innovated with things that I had randomly thought about. Later, we discussed about how we want to grow the business.

What do Mayank and you bring to the table? Do you have a team?

Keith:

The initial investment for the bakery’s infrastructure is mine. Mayank isn’t drawing a salary right now. He is learning what I’ve been doing. It’s with the understanding that this will be a business partnership. Other than us, we employ people from the village. We give them double the market rate.

Who buys your breads?

Keith:

About five years ago, we started selling around the village in Mukteshwar. People from Delhi are in the same area. We also sell at weekly market at Sunder Nursery.

Mayank:

We bake everything by the late afternoon. We carry the cargo to train by cab. And, then it travels to Delhi. We go back to the bakery.

Can you tell me about the techniques and ingredients you use for baking bread?

Mayank:

We work with the techniques of European artisans. We adapt it to the Indian palette with Indian ingredients (‘rai’), grains (millets, ‘madua’, wheat) and fruits (persimmons)

Keith:

Like Beer and coffee we also blend grains, which local people use by sprouting or fermenting. We combine the local millet with the European style baking. The idea is to be inspired by what people use in local foods and cuisine.

Do you plan to grow Pao?

Keith:

We could grow this to making a 10,000 loaves a day bakery. I am not interested in that. My argument is for upending the business model where you try to maximise the investment (Return on investment or ROI). That’s important, but the ROI has to be shared.

What are your goals for Pao Bakery?

Keith:

We want to inspire people to create artisanal bakeries and build the supply chain, that supplies those kinds of grains. We also want to make people aware, and give growers a face. We look forward to creating a community of bakers, growers, and members. We want to keep the tradition alive such as watermills.

Who was your biggest influence ?

Keith:

One of my biggest influences was a Portuguese baker-Dona Edit. She was my mentor. She did everything by hand. She worked for 12–14 hours a day. She was the inspiration. Pao is a Portuguese word for bread.It also has a connect here. We know pao roti here. It is our entry point.

What if other bakers copy your idea?

Keith:

The idea is to encourage others. We don’t see it as competition. We want to share knowledge. We want to support each other. We do not look at it as how can I outmanoeuvre this person?

Will artisanal breads spread as craft brewery did?

Mayank:

That’s the idea. Today people are aware of artisanal breads. When I started people said that the artisanal bread was harder and chewy. Local Bakeries such as Theos in Noida started selling sourdough bread two years ago. There are also single bakers, who bake at home and distribute. It’s a local movement.

Where can one buy breads from Pao Bakery?

Keith:

People can buy from our bakery. We also sell at the weekly Sunder Nursery market. We will also start home deliveries in Delhi. We aren’t selling through retail outlets yet.

Does the high price deter consumers?

Keith:

Yes, there is a refrain, but we’re doing reasonably well here at the weekly market. Demand is there at this price point.

Are you looking to connect with someone, who can help you further your cause?

Keith:

I want to build knowledge and resource networks. I am looking at it from the an academic perspective. The other part of it is looking at policy; our policy makers thinking about how food is circulated, what the raw materials are, what people are imagining and how they’re advocating for growers.