While Vernita Salligram’s passion for baking started out as a hobby in 2017, it has quickly turned into a serious business.
The Durban native and single mother with a professional background in marketing grew up in Chatsworth, recently opened her bakery and café, Vernitas Kitchen, on Durban’s popular Florida Road.
Growing up in a big family, Salligram revealed that she loves baking and it became an outlet to express love.
“I just started as a hobby. It was something I loved to do. I came from a big family and you know when you come from a big family, your parents and the older generation don’t necessarily tell you they love you. They cook for you.
“They will feed you and that is the culture where I come from, why I love to feed people. I love to cook. I love to make things,” she said.
According to the baker, her business formally kicked off in 2021 when she started baking and selling at lifestyle markets in and around Durban before moving into her retail space this year on the busy street.
“When I started the business, I used to do markets and the House & Garden Show. I also did the morning market at Umhlanga Arch, Market 031 Market in Durban and the I Heart Durban at Moses Mabhida before they moved to Ballito and we just gained momentum and more people began being used to seeing us around,” she said.
The entrepreneur and baker said that selling at events like House & Garden proved to be a great investment as it got her the foot traffic she needed and with the publicity, people started to notice.
Salligram said that following her growth and facing challenges of a growing business while also being a stay at home mom working from home, she decide to looking for premises.
The search was also fuelled by the fact that living in Chatsworth while her daughter went to school in Durban central, she couldn’t afford fuel costs driving in and out of the city so finding a retail premises was important.
“It’s hard as a single mom. It’s just the two of us and if I worked till late then it would mean my daughter would be up till late and if I woke up early in the morning, she would wake up early as well.
“So just to get a little bit more stability, that we can have work hours, that we know we are working here and spend quality time at home,” said Salligram.
She also said that transitioning from working from being a home-based bakery to having a retail store was also a challenge.
“Everybody wants to open a business and everybody has great ideas but it is hard to transition from being home based because obviously rules are different, storage is different.
“You don’t really have staff to worry about and then there’s this big electricity bill etc, and all of those things to worry about.
“Just the transitioning in the beginning was a little daunting and to be honest we are still learning every day that evolution in your business is very important,” said Salligram.
Part of Salligram’s evolution, was refining her products so that she could be able to sell fresh cakes at her bakery and café.
She revealed that since she doesn’t use pre-mixes and bakes everything from scratch with quality ingredients, she had to change her packaging in order to make sure that her products stays top notch.
When discussing what sets her baked goods apart from others, she revealed that she tries to maintain the highest quality and customer satisfaction.
“I’m very judgmental of my own products. If I’m not happy with it, I will not sell it. If a customer comes in and complains about something, I will immediately apologise and offer a refund. I will not argue with you because I feel like this is my product and I have done the best that I could’ve.
“I will not sell you something that I would not serve my daughter or what I would not eat myself,” said Salligram.
She also revealed that she would like to venture into cooked meals and expand on her offerings and serve nutritious and quality food and continue being consistent as a service provider by offering the best quality goods at a good price.
“Everybody has their own dreams and aspirations, I literally just want to bake my cakes and go home to my child and pay my bills. I don’t want to take over the whole world. I just want to have my little shop and have my clients who love my items.
“I don’t have conquering ambitions. I just have my small little bubble and within my small little bubble, I would like to succeed,” she said.