Currently the Cookie Co-op offers seven different types of cookies, but this will change as the business expands.
The Riversands Incubation Hub has cooked up a new way to support local entrepreneurs.
A Cookie Co-op has been started as a way to help self-employed bakers in the area to reach new customers and learn new baking skills.
Read Entrepreneurs inspired at third Riversands Business Club
Launched in December last year, the Cookie Co-op is not a place or business which employs local bakers to create tasty treats. Instead, the hub hopes to take home bakers already working within the Diepsloot community and help them professionalise their small businesses.
“What we’re doing here is trying to make a difference,” explained Anne Vincente of the Riversands Incubation Hub.
“The bakers still work for themselves, but our aim is to help them supplement and stabilise their income and learn new skills.”
Bakers from the community can use the industrial kitchen facilities situated at the hub. The hub will also help market the bakers’ merchandise to corporates within its network, bringing in more demand which will, in turn, be met by a number of baking micro-businesses from the area. This model means more financial security for the bakers and will provide more jobs for the community as more orders come in.
Mbali Mbatha and Letta Phege are two of the bakers currently working at the Cookie Co-op at the Riversands Incubation Hub.
“Since I’ve started at the Cookie Co-op, it’s been great,” said Mbali Mbatha, one of the home bakers from Diepsloot.
“I’ve learned so much about how to make my business better.”
Lisa Evans, the kitchen manager at the hub said, “The Cookie Co-op is still quite small and we can only provide work for a few bakers at the moment. In January, we sold about 60kg of cookies, but by the end of this year we hope to up our output to around 400kg of cookies per month.”
So far, the Cookie Co-op has focused on producing cookie orders for corporate gifts and business meeting snacks, but the co-op plans to offer other items as well, such as cookie gift boxes.
Details: If you are craving something sweet, you can place an order from the Cookie Co-op by emailing cookies@riversandsihub.co.za
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