Specialising in homemade sourdough bread, Leaves and Loaves is an artisan home bakery that emphasises using natural leavening techniques for its health benefits.
The local business offers healthy options for bread and pastry lovers as they freshly bake their products with quality ingredients, ensuring their best state is served to their customers.
Not only do they have a variety of traditional sourdough bread that typically come to mind but also softer options such as sandwich bread, pastries, pin au chocolat as well as levain cookies and choux au craquelin.
“Our menu is constantly evolving as we try to give the best quality that we can and we also offer seasonal items and are always adding new items onto our existing line-up,” said its business director, Alaister Lim.
Since it is a home-based online business on Instagram @leavesnloaves, the products are on a pre-order basis from Tuesday to Sunday depending on slots availability. Each order is freshly baked for the customers.
The 36-year-old entrepreneur shared that prior to the business, he discovered that a friend of his mother is good at baking sourdough and thought of opening their own bakery or cafe one day.
“Initially we wanted to open a cafe and do a combination of salads and sandwiches as our main offering. but due to staff shortages and COVID-19, we didn’t have enough manpower to make all the components for a full offering. So, we started off selling sourdough bread and items that we could handle making with fewer members of staff,” said the entrepreneur.
The members of Leaves and Loaves have always liked the idea of providing wholesome and enjoyable meals that brings food back to basics and their concept has not changed and they hope to expand their offering following the initial principles.
Currently, the operations are running from home and will host pop-ups from time to time. The brand is also looking to move the business into a commercial unit with its own kitchen and café area in a few years’ time.
Images courtesy of Leaves and Loaves
“We didn’t really have a target audience when we started, our following sort of emerged organically through word of mouth and customer referrals. Our original clients would buy and share with their friends and family and then they would share and so on,” said the entrepreneur, adding they are planning to expand their croissant series and some Spanish-inspired seasonal specials.
Leaves and Loaves is still new in the bakery market and that it is quite challenging for the business, added Lim.
“It does not get easier, but they are still pushing through competitions to try their best to strive,” he said, adding that they will return with their pop-up stall in OneCity Shopping Centre on 1 December.
This article was first published on 20 November 2021 in our Weekly E-Paper issue 168 |
THE BRUNEIAN | BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
