I looked as calm as a lake outside but was jumping on the clouds with the excitement I had when I was entering Dream a Dozen. I hope I wasn’t daydreaming cause it’s like a dream come true for me, to work in a big, classy cloud kitchen like that. As I entered the workplace I could see a lot of pink colors, photo frames, quotes, books, and some aesthetic decor all around, the place was so just like a wow and when I talked to the founder of the cloud kitchen I could understand that each corner and every word on the walls shouted out their aim and values of dream a dozen. It was so inspiring. The employees and workers were also very welcoming, with a big smile.
I have been to many bakeries before but this was one of the clean and tidy kitchens I have ever seen. It was well organized, everything had its labels and a definite place for each category. There were different sections for each function, like separate spaces for business team, marketing team, kitchen manager, and kitchen team. There was a future separation in the kitchen for each task like packing, baking, mixing, icing, working, and storage. I was so excited to work with them and learn a lot of stuff. Hoping everything goes well.
There was a hierarchy of the workers in the kitchen which made the kitchen run very smoothly. They had 2 head chefs and they are the heart of the kitchen. Kudos for their dedication and commitment. They run a marathon in the kitchen every second monitoring everyone and every action happening. They are pros at managing everything, especially I was amazed to see how both the head chefs had their way of handling stress, and pressure while they were managing the whole kitchen. They rock at handling the malfunctions peacefully in the most amazing way. yooo!! They are talented!!!! Me being a beginner in the kitchen I used to mess things up here and there and they made me understand where I was wrong and how to fix it with a friendly and firm tone. I used to ask lots and lots of questions like why should I sieve the flour?? how did you learn to bake? how do you create new recipes? etc, but they answered all my good and stupid questions very patiently.
They work very systematically. They have check list for everything, like for opening kitchen and closing the kitchen, procuring, tracking ingredients, and so on. They are just bang on!!! One of the amazing thing i loved about them was the way they treat each other. They are like a community, works as a community for some level. As simple as greeting each and everyone with a big smile in the work place just create a different bond and feel.
It felt different working in a all women kitchen, this created a cool and a safe space for everyone. They showed no discrimination to anyone. It was very interesting interacting with a dumb and deaf sue chef there. I also learnt little sign language with her. Everyone talks with each other, crack jokes and laugh out loud. They mostly use to communicate in Kanada and English but when ever they speak in Kanada it used feel like i am playing a guessing game as i didn’t know that language. It makes the place so alive. even with lots of online orders, bulk orders they still stay very systematic.
I also interacted with the business team lead, kitchen manager and marketing team lead over lunchtime. They connect with their team online and get things done. I wish I had interacted with them more. I had many questions about their work, like how they get more corporate customers for bulk orders. How do they budget things out? How did they find suppliers for raw materials who give a good deal? How do they keep updating themselves with new trends, markets, demand, and supply? How do they market? Is Instagram the only thing they focus on? How do they track all the finances? I wonder…… I also interacted with the founder on the first day she shared her journey to this stage, which was inspiring. How she had a passion for baking and a commitment to dream big! I could see her hard work and smart work in her journey. I wanted to know more about how she learned different aspects of business, and built different skills especially since she is good at communication and public speaking, cause running a business is not a small task and doesn’t happen in a day or two, i didn’t get a chance to discuss more but would love to talk more sometime soon.
Working in a kitchen is definitely a team game. One will mix the batter, one will bake it, one will assemble it, one will pack it and one will deliver it to the customer. Till now I was the one doing all these tasks so it a different experience for me to work in a team. I had a chance to try mostly all the tasks in kitchen like packing, assembling cakes, decoration, making chocolates, making cookies, mixing huge batches of different doughs. I was assisting the head chefs with most of the tasks like i will defrost the cream and transfer in a piping bag, head chef will pipe it out like that.
Overall experience was just a blast!!!!!! I enjoyed it a lot. I had to shift to Bangalore for this internship. I was feeling homesick, a lot! so I decided to quit after 3 weeks. Making that decision was not easy but with the support of my family, CoVersity guides, and Dream a dozen team i took that decision. I know 3 weeks is a small amount of time but when I reflect on the experience it gave me different exposure, and knowledge and introduced a different angle of myself. Now tell me, is it really small?? 🙂 Deep gratitude for this experience and the people who have supported me.
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