What started off as a sweet bonding moment with her daughter, now turned into a baking business idea for local entrepreneur Sharifah Malai Hamidon as she created Mad Batter.
For the 27-year-old mom, Mad Batter is all about sharing good bakes with everyone, hoping to bring smiles to her customers’ faces.
Being a planning engineer by day and a baker by night, the mom wanted to find an activity that she could do with her two-year-old daughter at that time and thought that baking was just the perfect idea.
The entrepreneur introduced baking to little Mikayla and since then, they shared brownies with their friends and family who eventually convinced her to sell the bakes.
Officially starting the business in September 2021, although there are many small brownie businesses in the current market, the entrepreneur was willing to take the risk and open up the business as she wanted to earn something extra on the side.
The business name ‘Mad Batter’ was inspired by her daughter’s favourite movie Alice in Wonderland, she said.
Then, an idea sparked when Sharifah noticed that one of the characters is called Mad Hatter, rhyming with the word batter.
The business is currently being run by Sharifah and her husband and together the two make their bakes in the comfort of their own home kitchen.
As of now, Mad Batter offers a variety of flavours such as Classic, Salted Caramel; brownies drizzled with home-made salted caramel and sea salt on top to Crunch; topped with salted caramel coated cornflakes, Smores; topped with torched marshmallow and triple chocolate; brownie consisting of milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate.
Their top best-selling brownies are the Crunch Brownie, Smores Brownie and Themed Brownie.
“We also offer themed brownies where our customers get to customise their brownies. They can choose from our wide selection of chocolate shapes. It’s like choosing your jibbitz for your crocs,” added Sharifah.
The brownies are priced between $13 and $27 depending on flavours and sizes.
For Sharifah, she wanted her brownies to be well-received by customers so as to ensure that her bakes are made with the best quality ingredients.
The entrepreneur is currently planning to introduce a new flavour called “Matcha Brownies” which is still in the trial-and-error stage.
This business is, however, on a part-time basis which means that the bakes are not always available.
“It is at times quite challenging, I have to manage my time to bake as I have a full-time corporate job in Kuala Belait from 7am to 4pm and I have to commute every day to Bandar,” said the entrepreneur.
Nonetheless, she is happy that she can experience this journey of becoming an entrepreneur.
“I am blessed to have my family, especially my husband and also my friends, support me and my business since day one but the root of this business and drive to keep me going is my daughter,” said the 27-year-old.
Sharifah is proud of what she has achieved so far although just started her business in less than a year.
She has gained many supportive customers and that is one of the things that let her thrive in the business.
Give this little family of part-time bakers some support and head over to their Instagram @madbatter.bn to see all the sweetness that they offer.
THE BRUNEIAN | BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
