In probably our sweetest Chick Chat to date, we speak to self-made entrepreneur and founder of Gula Cakery, Arieni Ritzal, who built her own dessert empire from the ground up.
From a young age, Arieni was a filial child who treasured time spent with her family. When she grew older (and tall enough to reach the kitchen stovetops), she began to pick up on baking with her grandmother’s recipe book as her faithful teacher. Always warm-hearted and sociable, Arieni even gave personal baking lessons to friends and challenged herself to experiment with a wider variety of flavours and ingredients—so that there would always be something for everyone when she sold her baked goods to her loved ones.
Baking had become so much more than just a hobby to Arieni, and upon her return to Malaysia from France, she opened her first-ever flagship bakery. In the face of hardship, Arieni continued chasing this seemingly impossible dream by keeping the most important thing close to her heart: family.
Now with more than 5 outlets around Klang Valley and over 55 varieties of sweet treats on their menu, Arieni talks to us about her time spent in Paris, the good and bad early days and how she persevered through it all to get it to where she is today.
Some of the topics we cover:
- What pushed her to turn her passion for baking into a successful business
- Who her biggest inspiration is for her cake recipes
- Why family and togetherness are such important values for her
- What it was like studying and working in Paris and the challenges she faced translating techniques to a local environment
It’s safe to say, this is what sweet dreams are made of.
