Silver spoon: Here’s a peep into Nikhil Mittal’s baking den

The story of Nik Baker’s is also the story of Chandigarh’s evolving tastebuds. Way back in 2006, when young chef Nikhil Mittal started the first outlet in Sector 9, we lapped it up. For whom an occasional sweet treat meant a pineapple pastry or a Swiss role, Nikhil gave us a whole range of products —bruchetta, quiche, crepes, waffles—stuff most of us had heard about, but only a few of us had tasted. His authentic European flavours enticed us and his style of baking live behind a glass partition won us over!

That was just the starting point. As the demand grew, the kitchen had to be moved out. Another outlet was added. Then yet another…Today Nik Baker’s boasts of 31 outlets in Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Jaipur and Uttarakhand. And a massive state-of-the art workshop in Mohali, which feeds all his outlets, raw materials as well as finished products.

Sitting in his plush office, Nikhil recalls his beginning, “I was always interested in food, not just in eating, but cooking too. So, my father pushed me towards this field. After my 12th grade, I enrolled myself for a one year course in Dr Ambedkar Institute of Hotel Management, Sector 42, and then underwent a short training period with a five-star hotel in Delhi. I later did a diploma in food technology and another one in Patisserie from Australia.”

Nikhil had no plans to come back, but his father insisted that he did something in his home town and that’s how Nik Baker’s took shape, with active participation from his entire family.

The year 2006 may be a distant memory, but the family has stuck together through his rise and rise! Giving us a guided tour of his ‘baking den’ Nikhil introduces us to his brother Nitin Mittal, “He is the one who takes care of the packaging and marketing.” And whenever Nikhil adds a new item to the existing menu, which already boasts of a staggering 200 products, it’s his family members who get to eat it first.

“My wife is from Canada and she knows a lot about bakery products. Her advice is useful,” says Nikhil.

Advice, criticism and applause—Nikhil takes it in his stride as long as he has full control over the kitchen. He is the only chef in the entire operation that has 1,500 employees, though he has assistants whom he has trained himself. “I handpick youngsters and train them.” He is working on the module of a training institute, which will be operating from Panchkula, where a three-month capsule course will teach youngsters how to make coffee, pasta and cakes, depending on their aptitude. The course will be practical-oriented and most of his students will be absorbed either in the workshop or the outlets, once they complete the course.

Considering that he is adding about two outlets every month in India and abroad, Nikhil is in need of trained hands. And by training them himself, he can directly control the quality of his products.

Well, quality control is one aspect of business he takes seriously. A batch of food technologists guided by strict SoPs checks each and every product before it leaves the premise.

Nikhil takes us to a chamber where a group of women are washing eggs by hand and stacking them in a crate to be sent to different locations. “Most of the bacteria gets into baking products through dirty eggs. Here we wash them one by one with hand. Once our egg consumption exceeds 50,000 per day, I will get a machine, but since it is less than that now, we wash them manually,” he explains.

As Nikhil takes us through the administrative wing, the R&D section and a crèche where we meet toddlers playing under watchful eyes of nannies, an open area earmarked for get-togethers of his staff, tells us that the attrition rate in his company is very low. We believe him. Who would want to leave a place that pleases all the senses and gives the satisfaction of belonging to one big family!