Always wanting to create her own identity, Heena, took to baking after her children had grown up, and has been successfully running her home bakery for the past four years.

Heena Kataria is the founder of Meency Bakers in Surat.

Heena was born in Mumbai but is currently settled in Surat. She completed her school and college education in Mumbai.

Recalling her childhood, Heena says that she had always been an all-rounder and front-runner from the beginning, be it in studies or sports. Besides, she says growing up, she would always follow her heart irrespective of what others had to tell her.

Heena shares that initially she had not been interested in cooking. Her mother was a great cook and would constantly ask her to learn to cook. Slowly, Heena began learning to cook and in course of time, she particularly grew interested in baking cakes, and other bakery items.

After her wedding, Heena moved to Surat to live at her in-laws’ place. She got absorbed in her family responsibilities and when her children had grown up, she decided to take to her passion for baking to realize her childhood dream of doing something of her own.

Heena shares that she began by participating in cooking competitions and won several of them which in turn boosted her morale. She then started baking cakes for her own family on special occasions and her family would love the cakes prepared by her.  It was during the COVID pandemic that she took to baking as her profession, she says.

Talking about the challenges she faced in her baking business, Heena says she had to face some hardships initially. She says, at times delivery men would fail to pick up her cakes for delivery and due to that she would face losses. But, now as it’s been four years since she started her home bakery, she knows the nuances of running a bakery pretty well, Heena says.

Heena acknowledges the fact that her husband, her late father, and her late father-in-law always supported and nudged her to realize her true potential.

Talking about her achievements, Heena says that she stood second in a cooking competition organized by Radio Mirchi in Surat. Winning the competition, she got to meet renowned chefs of the likes of Sanjiv Kapoor, which is her biggest achievement.

To aspiring bakers, Heena advises them to always focus on the quality of their products and never on the monetary aspects of their baking business to be able to retain existing customers and get new ones. Besides, she advises them to do their job conscientiously as one mistake of theirs can mar their baking careers. Furthermore, she advises them to maintain uniqueness in their bakery products and never to rely on the recipes available on the internet.

Heena advises people to always believe in themselves if they want to make progress in their field of interest. Besides, she tells them that there is no substitute for hard work to achieve success in any field.