Sep 30
“Our vision is to be the best and the most luxurious Indian confectioners across the globe through constant innovation and use of best quality ingredient”, says NEELAM SAINI, Founder, Ornamental Mithai
The traditional mithai of India is taking another turn rising towards a transformed level. Previously there were just laddoos, barfis, pedas, katlis of various ingredients. Now with artisanal touch the sweetmeats are having an immense makeover in making, in packaging and in presentation. The Mithai makers are adding new style, new design and some even have monopoly over the ingredients where they are kept secret from the others, one excelling the other where you can’t stop feasting your eyes on them.One such designer mithai can be seen in Mumbai’s Ornamental Mithai Outlet.Considered as a true innovator in the world of mithai and desserts, Neelam Saini has been pushing the boundaries of mithai designing and outshining in her work since last two decades. Of late, when most of the Patissiers in India were busy curating and modifying their innovations in international desserts & confectionaries like pastries, cupcakes, macaroons, cakes, chocolate variationsetc., Neelam Saini decided to carve her own niche by working exclusively on traditional Indian desserts and giving it a contemporary twist in terms of taste and presentation.Trident, Chennai is where Neelam started her career with, followed by The Oberoi Udaivilas, a 5-star luxury resort in Udaipur. Later, the maestro continued her skills at Oberoi, New Delhi, which truly is an iconic luxury property in Central Delhi. With innate creativity, passion, dedication and sharp-mind, Neelam molded herself into a well-focused expert.
With working experience at major hotels and restaurant chains like The Leela Hotel in Chennai, Lalit Hotel in Kolkata, Specialty Restaurants, Massive Restaurants, Theobroma, Neelam comes with a strong background in culinary art, with a thorough understanding of textures, temperature & techniques of modern cookery. While making a dish, one needs to have an eye for detail (consistency while piping, delicacy while assembling) and Neelam has mastered the same over years.Even before she stepped into the kitchen in a professional capacity, she had gone through rigorous on-ground training in some of the most fast paced, ambitious and innovative kitchens in the country. She was heading the Bengaluru outlet of Farzi café as Pastry chef. The turning point in her career was a chance participation in ‘Pastry Queen India’ in 2015 where she was applauded for her exceptional menu which was influenced by Indian interpretation of western desserts.This competition gave her a vision to explore her culinary prowess further and create a brand that would help her showcase her talent globally. Hence, Ornamental Mithai was founded.
At Ornamental Mithai, every single mithai is crafted as precious as an ornament with the most superior quality of ingredient and delicately packaged as if that is the last mithai on the planet to create a feeling luxury and royalty.
Mithai & Namkeen Times had a gracious opportunity to talk to Neelam Saini, Founder, Ornamental Mithai. The inspiring and exclusive interview follows for our valued readers:
There is always a turning point in everyone’s life. What made ORNAMENTAL MITHAI the name it is today? Your journey so far.Ornamental Mithai is a result of an inspiration and love derived out of the vivid flavours and craftsmanship that is present in every Indian mithai. I have been a pastry and confectionery professional all throughout my career until 2015 when I participated in “Pastry Queen India”.
Although I wasn’t the winner, the entire event influenced me to seek inspiration from native Indian flavours. This actually made me realize that there is an immense potential in our own mithai and that eventually inspired me to create “Ornamental Mithai”, the whole idea is to get back our traditional mithai back in vogue at par with ever evolving western confectionery.
The journey so far has been an amazing roller coaster ride, full of ups and downs. It is never easy creating something of your own. It needs a lot of patience, perseverance and constant self-motivation to evolve yourself in this fast paced food and beverage industry. The three pillars that form and support OM (short form of Ornamental Mithai) are “tradition, evolution and sustainability”. This is just the beginning of a long journey, some great person rightly said – Stay hungry….stay foolish, I would somewhere like to follow this principle in my life as well.
What are the different variants of ORNAMENTAL MITHAI manufactured at your production unit? How do you develop them and their market demand? As I mentioned earlier, “tradition and evolution” are two of our key ideologies. While developing or creating any product we ensure that the essence of eating a mithai remains intact however considering the demand of being healthy, being vegan, eating less sweet etc… makes us innovate and evolve on these fronts where we end up using bean curd instead chenna, use of avocado in shrikh and, shilajit in barfi…so on and so forth. A lot of our products are bespoke and custom- made to order to meet specific dietary requirements as we truly believe that taste is very personal and needs customization.
We do have our set menu that is again changed every 8-10 months at times depending of seasonality as well, for example during the month of winter we would always have something with strawberry similarly mangoes…mulberries etc…will reflect in seasonal changing menus.
Something about your packaging style.
Packaging plays a very crucial role in the whole game. To compliment a beautiful and tasty mithai you need a packaging that is clean yet chic. We try and keep it simple, colourful, vibrant with multiple bright coloured boxes and some beautiful ribbons which gives a very happy and cheerful feeling once you look at the boxes.It has become mandatory to mention “manufacturing and expiry dates” as per the directive of FSSAI. Do you think this is feasible where loose mithai is concerned? What are your suggestions on the order?
We absolutely support this protocol of hygiene, after all this is a matter of public health safety. Fortunately we began our careers with the best of the best (Oberoi Hotels and Resorts) and thanks to our chefs and mentors there who made sure that these basic hygiene practices like date tagging, FIFO etc…are part of our daily work hence it is absolutely feasible to maintain and tack these records at every level.We at OM make sure that every box is accompanied with a card where the FSSAI number, manufacturing and best before dates are mentioned. Also the card contains details of allergens like dairy, gluten, nuts etc… This is because lot of our boxes travel out of the country where mentioning these details are mandatory.
Sales during pandemic has been quite critical. What was your experience during festivity times?Yes. These are tough times as far as sales are concerned. Especially when it comes to new startups and MSME. The entire pandemic crisis has directly impacted a lot of businesses in which the food and beverage industry is clearly struggling, we are a part of it.
The season has already begun and we just need to maintain a lot of positivity, treat every order with utmost importance, ensure complete safety and hygiene on all fronts and finally hope that we could hold our grounds in these testing times. I am sure that this too shall pass.
Every business seeks an expansion. What are your future plans of expansion product-wise as well as new area-wise?
We are a young brand and obviously all was self-funded as most startups are, we had a great response in our maiden year. There was certainly a plan to have a larger retail outlet in a better location out there in the city, increase our SKU’S and obviously give an all rounded product when it comes to gourmet mithai and street food. However with the current situation we might have to rework our strategy and expa
nsion plans for the next coming years.
Also this pandemic situation has given us an immense learning of extreme adverse situation, and hence we will ensure that we kind of develop a backup strategy to counter such economic situations in near future.
Mithai & Namkeen Times compliments Neelam Saini and wishes the best of the accomplishments and undertakings for future endeavours.