My Origin Story:
I am a Kenyan from a small village in Nakuru County called Menengai, named after the Menengai Crater. Both of my parents were primary school teachers and we enjoyed baking cakes together as a family with my 4 brothers ” I was about 5 years old then”
We used a traditionalĀ ‘jiko’ for heating and ‘3 stones’ in a cooking pot known as a ‘sufuria’ that acted as an improvised oven.
The aroma and taste of this cake was mouthwatering. It is these coreĀ memories that inspired my baking journey more than 16 years later. It made me into who I am today.
My Education Background:
In both my primary and secondary schools I remained a top 3 student overally and particularly always best in Biology.
This inspired me to study Biochemistry in the University Of Nairobi and I majored in Biotechnology. I then majored in food science where I got the chance to study the science behind baking.
Through the support of my lecturer Professor S.K Mbugua of the University of Nairobi Food Science and Nutrition Department, I developed a complete bakery HazardĀ Analysis and Critical Control Points – An international Food Safety System.
My work journey:
After graduating in 2012 and finding no job, I decided to start my own bakery business consulting firm named Bake Consult. I teamed up with a friend who was also a baker.
We setup over 200 Bakeries in Kenya most of them being the leading supermarket chains.
We helped them choose the right equipment based on target baked products which was determined by target materials, location, income levels, demographics, size of retail chain and many other factors.
We then recruited skilled staff for them, including special bread bakers, pastry chefs, confectionary, cake bakers and decorators, oven men, mixer men an women.
We developed special recipes, documented them and costed them.
Results
In some outlest the bakery turnover surpassed that of the supermarket and they realised it was the backbone of the retail business
For those bakeries that existed before as a result of our upgrade got a 300% increase in revenue within 3 months.
I also taught and implemented my HACCP bakery guidelines to ensure baked products produced were very safe for human consumption.
Bake consult became such a household name and as a result we were approached by international bakery equipment manufacturers which in turn gave rise to the formation of Bakewave Ltd in 2016.
This added commercial bakery equipment as our main product and all services offered before by Bake Consult are now offered as FREE as long as you buy our complete bakery equipment packages
2016 – Present
What will you find in Bakewave Today?
Bakewave has setup over 500 commercial bakeries in Kenya with;
Free advice for startups such as best places to set up, products to venture in according to target market, income levels, demographics, etc.
Offered full list of high quality bakery equipment required
Layout of the bakeries according to the required HACCP and FIFO principles which are the international food safety standards.
Installed and commissioned the bakeries with our inhouse master baker. This includes documentation and costing the recipes.
Offered round the clock technical backup, spare parts and excecuted Service Level Agreements.
Continued advice and support of the bakeries including phase 2 upgrading, expansion and implementation.
1: Bakewave was the main exhibitor of the East Africa Bakery and Pastry Expo of 2018
2: I was chosen by the Italian government as one of the only 2 Kenyans who attended the Sigep Bakery Expo 2023 in Rimini Italy, fully sponsored by the Italian government.
Connecting with other bakers worldwide
I launched our Youtube channel Bakewave TV during covid and we have got massive feedback and support from Europe, America, Asia and Africa.
We have advised many such bakeries around the world on choice of right equipment and also technical backup
Conclusion:
I believe bakeries should be approached and implemented scientifically right from market research to understand your target market, (which in turn determines the product to be baked and therefore equipment to be bought), to sound advice which is based on facts and figures on the expected revenue and power consumption etc.
This should be followed by FIFO (First In First Out) principle and HACCP (food safety standards). Cost calculations should be done atleast every week due to increase of cost of commodities as a result of inflation around the world.
All staff must be interviewed practically to showcase their skills before hiring.
I am a self-taught bakery consultant, commercial equipment and professionally qualified food scientist. I’m among the founders of Bakewave Ltd. This is a company that focuses on commercial bakery equipment, sound bakery advice for startups and aftersale services such as installation, training/recruitment of bakers and commissioning these projects to become profitable businesses. I believe the bakery business should be approached as a science to maximize on profits.
