India-wide Release, 12th April 2023: After the incredible response it received in the first-ever Sourdough Summit held in 2021, India’s largest hand-crafted artisan bakery brand, The Baker’s Dozen held the second edition of the country’s only Sourdough Summit on April 5, 2023 to celebrate the love and passion for sourdough, marketing and entrepreneurship. Marking their 10th anniversary, the brand hosted this one-of-a-kind, one-day virtual event through a series of Instagram and LinkedIn lives which brought together elite guests and speakers immersing in impactful sessions on varied topics. Baking enthusiasts, food bloggers, entrepreneurs, marketers and other aspiring professionals showered the summit with immense love and appreciation by their active participation, making it a grand success.
The Baker’s Dozen, having completed a decade in the industry, has accomplished numerous noteworthy milestones, signifying a remarkable chapter in their journey. This year’s event surpassed previous editions, with a stellar lineup of industry experts and notable personalities from diverse fields, delving into a range of brilliant and thought-provoking topics. The summit’s sessions covered a spectrum of subjects, from the bakery industry to scaling a business with omnichannel strategies, building and fortifying teams, and effective marketing tactics. The summit constituted 4 live sessions – the first session was held on the brand’s Instagram handle @freshattbd while the other three were conducted on LinkedIn.
The summit opened with an Instagram Live discussion on ‘The Sourdough Club of India’ with Aditi Handa (Co-founder & Head Chef, The Baker’s Dozen) along with three other culinary experts – Avian Thaliath (Co-founder & Director, Lavonne Academy), Saloni Malkani (Co-founder, The FBAI) and Sujit Sumitran (Baker, Executive & Leadership Coach, The Yellow Submarine). The first session shed light on the history and culture of one of the world’s oldest breads – sourdough and its swelling demand in India since Covid-19. It also created awareness about why customers must shift from unhealthy white bread to preservative-free Sourdough bread and brought to the fore its health benefits.
The next live session was held on LinkedIn, where D2C experts brought into focus ‘The Omnichannel Path for Food Industry’, drawing more than 1000 impressions with 550+ viewers. The speakers’ list had prominent names like Sneh Jain (Co-founder & Managing Director, The Baker’s Dozen), Punita Sabharwal Kapoor (Deputy Editor, Entrepreneur Magazine), Nitin Bhardwaj (Co-founder & COO, Jimmy’s Cocktails) and Anish Shrivastava (Senior Vice President of Revenue, Blinkit) who were on a panel discussion providing insightful details on the importance of omnichannel strategies in scaling up a business and its significance for a D2C brand. The session also highlighted the roadblocks to building a successful omnichannel strategy, when and how one can chalk out this pathway for their brand and also how branding and marketing help in boosting the overall omnichannel presence.
For the third session, the panellists revealed their knowledge and field expertise on LinkedIn on the importance of ‘Building and Strengthening a Team’ which drew more than 791 impressions and 500+ viewers. The list of panellists included Aakanksha Gupta (Co-founder, The Other Circle) the moderator of this 3rd live session, Disha Singh (Co-founder & CEO, Zouk), Arjun Vaidya (Co-founder, V3 Ventures) and Mohit Sadaani (Co-founder & CEO, The Moms Co.) where they spoke about how team building plays a pivotal role in building a brand, the challenges of team building across different business stages and what matters the most when it comes to keeping the team contended. Sharing his expertise, Mohit Sadaani explained how he is involved in various team building activities and the process of building and sustaining a strong team.
The last session dealt with ‘Discovering Market Approach’ and marketing leaders like Ms. Vani Gupta Dandia (Founder, Cherry Peach Plum), Meghana Narayan (Co-founder, Slurrp Farm), Simeran Bhasin (Business Head, Alternative Protein), Saurabh Bajaj (EVP of Prepaid Marketing, Vodafone Idea), and Bobby Pawar (Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, Havas Group) explained why marketing is critical in brand development and received an overwhelming response of 413 impressions with 200+ viewers. The session finally came to an end with an interesting debate on whether an emotional connection or functional benefits offered by the product adds more to brand growth.
Ms. Aditi Handa, Co-Founder & Head Chef, The Baker’s Dozen, commented, “ We are extremely happy that we teamed up with such eminent industry leaders and together made the second edition of the Sourdough Summit a fulfilling and successful one. This time too, we had left no stone unturned in curating this one-of-a-kind, annual Sourdough festival and this was just another step that strengthened our foundation. Through the panel discussions, we were able to promote the art and magic of sourdough and hold impactful discussions on the business of food in India, business scaling and other industry-related issues. The summit definitely provided the audience with a unique chance to learn and interact with others who share the same interest.”
Ms. Aakanksha Gupta, Founder & CEO of The Other Circle, stated, “The Baker’s Dozen has been a valued partner of our organisation for many years. We are proud to highlight TBD as one of those rare brands that actively engages in commendable initiatives, such as hosting a Sourdough Summit, to foster category growth from the ground up and raise the bar for the entire Indian baking industry as a whole. The discussions held during the summit were exceptionally informative and engaging, providing valuable insights from an entrepreneur’s perspective on a diverse range of topics. We eagerly look forward to and are committed to participating in TBD’s future initiatives as they remain one of our favourite brands.”
Further, as part of this year’s summit, The Baker’s Dozen celebrated its journey by conducting an exclusive tour of its 30,000 sq ft factory in Ahmedabad during the week of April 3rd. The factory tour showcased TBD’s product-making process and German packaging technique, with product tastings and a meet-and-greet session with the brand’s co-founders. The event received an overwhelming response of more than 50 visitors, with partners, investors, media, and influencers in attendance, all of whom have supported the brand since its inception. Visitors were impressed by the detailed factory tour provided by Team TBD and praised the brand’s focus on maintaining impeccable hygiene standards while building India’s largest artisan bakery brand.
