#AppreciationMonday: Baking to make ends meet led to her supplying Checkers
Sometimes your ending isn't quite what you thought it was going to be...
It's not often that people are able to say with conviction that they are living out their dreams.
But the few that do get this opportunity have found their passions and have surprisingly fallen into them from a place of desperation.
During the lockdown, many people used this forced time to reflect on ways they could make money.
Ironically, this time was actually useful for many people as we have heard many success stories where people have transformed their side hustles into full time gigs.
Read more: What's baking? #HotspotsInKZN
One such person is Heidi Dempers.
After getting a salary cut in her tourism job, she decided that it was time to do something to make ends meet.
Besides providing for her family, her husband and her had bond payments to think about.
"The 47-year-old mother of two approached a butchery in Centurion and enticed the owner with the idea of supplying them with home-baked goods. They were keen." (Business Insider)
With the help of her husband, she was able to fulfil the orders, which led to her creating her online baking business, Yum Baker.
Although she did not start her business with vegan baked goods, she saw a gap in the market when it came to vegan-friendly items and jumped on it.
A coffee date with friends pushed her into trialing a vegan-friendly fudge recipe. After her friends tasted her prototype, things took a turn for the best.
She added 15 vegan items to her online store.
"Some of the treats that Yum Baker creates are vegan rusks, fudge, peppermint tart, malva pudding, and lamingtons, among others – mostly adapted from her grandmother’s recipes and transformed into vegan treats." (Business Insider)
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It was a process, but she used the lockdown period to experiment and master her technique.
Fast forward to April 2021, she received correspondence from Checkers and supplied her first store in Northriding.
"In just over a year, Yum Baker expanded its range from 15 to 19 product lines and now delivers to more than 40 Checkers stores in Johannesburg. Dempers plans to supply 10 more by the end of 2022." (Business Insider)
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