‘We do things the old-fashioned way’ – Father, son still dedicated to their Croydon Bakery

Nothing comes quite close to the smell of baking bread and few things are comparable to the pleasure of being around mouth-watering confection, every day. Dimitri Moustakis knows what it feels like. He runs the Croydon Bakery along with his dad, Tim, who founded the bakery in 1980.

It is a busy place, with people waltzing in and out of the store constantly. And there is always a queue at the pie oven.

“We have become quite famous for our pies and sometimes we just cannot keep up with demand,” said Dimitri.

Like everything else in the bakery, pies are made from scratch. They are delicious. Dimitri said the bakery has been the centre point of his life since childhood: “We grew up in the bakery, all the kids in the family. So after school, school holidays, weekends, we would be here. And then after my studies, that is when I formally joined the bakery.”

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He first completed a BCom and went on to achieve an MBA. Another part of his education was learning how to bake, and he did that on the premises, as well as apprenticing overseas.

While Dimitri’s day-to-day function in the family business comprises taking care of the finances now, he still rolls up his sleeves and gets in front of the oven when it is busy. He said that during the pandemic it was often, with staff sick days and logistics demanding longer hours and on the floor action from everyone.

Despite the long hours, Dimitri said that he would not change it for the world: “People do not realise the commitment and sacrifices we have had to make over the years. Sometimes not taking any breaks. Sometimes it is impossible to have a holiday. But no matter what goes wrong, the show must go on. It is a challenging job and rewarding. I could not imagine myself doing anything else.”

They start baking at 4am and close the shop at 6pm every evening. Dimitri and Tim work the shop like pros. And they move around the bakery at lightning speed. One moment he is behind the counter serving a customer while his dad’s busy taking an order on the opposite side of the cash register. Then, Dimitri’s at the coffee machine brewing a cappuccino with Tim unpacking fresh bread.

In between, staff are hurried off their feet as the pie queue just gets longer and longer.

‘We do things the old-fashioned way’

In the kitchen, which is absolutely spotless, staff are buzzing away nonstop. On the one side of the action, there are trays of fresh pastries and cream doughnuts.

Fresh rolls and bread are rolled out of giant ovens and beyond that, a pastry chef is busy rolling out fondant in technicolour to dress the many cakes cooling down close by. Everything gets made from scratch, said Dimitri, with fresh ingredients.

He said: “We do things the old-fashioned way. It is the only way to really get the kind of result of which we are proud. Whether it is fresh cream or pie fillings, it is all done here.”

At the far end of the kitchen, a staffer is processing puff pastry. Dimitri was on hand when something went wrong in the pastry folding process. He fixed it, helped his staff member redo the batch from scratch and faster than you could say “yum”, he was back out on the floor helping customers.

Next to the pie warmer upfront is a row of chilled showcases with cupcakes, delicious looking cakes, baked snacks and confection, including jam eclairs, mini pecan pies and a whole lot of temptation. It is difficult not to spend your day snacking and tasting, said Dimitri.

His favourites are the pies and, on the sweeter side, he said that the carrot cake is irresistible. Those are his two weaknesses at work. Then there are the brownies… Delicious is not the only thing on everyone’s lips these days.

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The bitter taste of rocketing food prices and concomitant inflation and load shedding is the less fun part of the job. Dimitri said that it is having a real impact on the business: “It is impossible to pass on so many price increases to our customers, so we try and absorb as much of it as possible. Consequently, margins are thinner, and you must work much harder and smarter to keep any kind of business afloat today.”

Yet it is all smiles. Not just from Dimitri and Tim, but demanding work and being on your feet all day does not seem to faze the staff, either. There is just a willingness to serve and quite clearly the passion and dedication that father and son have shown, and continue to lead in that manner, is infectious.

– news@citizen.co.za