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Bengaluru girl Shivali Prakash’s desserts will make you forget your diet

Bengaluru girl Shivali Prakash’s desserts will make you forget your diet

Tuesday November 17, 2015 , 4 min Read

The choco lava pizza is a Pop’z Kitchen original. Other signature dishes include the banoffee pie, red velvet cake, death by chocolate cake, and blueberry cheesecake. At the helm of Pop’z Kitchen is Shivali Prakash, mixing good ingredients, with lots of love to offer the best to her customers.


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This Bangalore-based home baker started Pop’z Kitchen in May 2012. Her biggest inspiration is her father, who established a sanitary retail outlet 30 years ago on St. Mark’s Road, Bengaluru. After her father’s death in 2012, Shivali took a short break from her job and spent time introspecting. “That’s when I decided to turn my passion into a profession and set up my own venture in memory of my father, who was my biggest fan. That’s where the name Pop’z Kitchen comes from,” she shares.

Starting up

Shivali graduated from Christ College in 2010 and worked in the marketing and communications team at Accenture for two years. “Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would take up baking seriously and set up my own business. It’s been three years since I started baking professionally, and I have always been very passionate about food.”

Shivali started off by baking for family and friends on various occasions and she says with a smile, “to my surprise, it turned out to be a huge hit amongst them.”

Baking a cake for Vivek Oberoi’s newborn daughter was the highlight of her baking career. She adds to the list with a smile, “I managed to deliver a box of Pop’z Kitchen cupcakes to Hrithik Roshan.”

Bengaluru girl

Born and brought up in Bengaluru, Shivali has seen the city change in the last 27 years. “I know its so cliché to say this, but I’ve had the best childhood. I did my schooling in Bishop Cotton Girl’s High School. Apart from studying, my parents enrolled me in voice training classes and also sent me for piano and guitar classes. I was an athlete since childhood.”

According to Shivali, Bengaluru is a hub for experimentation and innovation, especially when it comes to

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culinary experiments. “Also, considering the massive youth population in the city, they have tremendous potential and fantastic and unique business ideas. To channel their creativity, youngsters are experimenting on becoming entrepreneurs. A small business that has high potential picks up really quickly and even finds investors easily these days. I say this with confidence because I relate to it. I decided to start baking from home and selling to customers to first understand the market and see if my products are well accepted and appreciated by potential clients.”Shivali is currently working towards setting up an outlet.

Pop’z Kitchen

Pop’z Kitchen specialises in desserts and savouries. They create customised cakes/cupcakes for birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers, engagements, weddings, and other such occasions. Shivali displays her work via her Facebook page and her website is under construction. She uses Facebook for basic marketing on Facebook, otherwise she says, “It is mostly word of mouth. Over and above that, I ensure brand visibility through my packaging.”

She bakes approximately 50 cakes a week and is breaking even. She follows cash on delivery as the mode of

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payment and had an auto delivery guy who does delivery for regular cakes.“For the 3D customised cakes, I have a delivery boy who delivers the cakes by car to ensure all the elements on the cake are in place,” she says.

According to Shivali, it the quality that she maintains that attracts customers.

She does all the baking herself and has a helper to help out with the vessels and other allied activities.

Innovation

In awe of Joonie Tan’s creations, she looks up to her as a role model when it comes to customised cakes.

She loves trying new and innovative concepts so she can set herself apart from the competition.

“I also believe in serving my customers with the best and my USP would be not compromising on quality. Some ingredients are imported from Singapore and our sole motive is to serve food that leaves our customers wanting more.”