We received so many letters asking us to tell how we cook gingerbread and teach how to do it in the same way that we wanted to put together all the knowledge gained over a long period of work.
Therefore, we announce the launch of our online schools and invite you to take part in the first course, detailed information
.
Attention: there is a lot of self-irony in the article;) All points of view stated in the text are the author's and do not pretend to be objective.
The Internet is now full of offers for the manufacture of handmade gingerbread (as a rule, we are talking about gingerbread with glaze painting) from market giants like Tula gingerbread, from less large companies, positioning themselves as a specialized production (i.e., like us), from all kinds of confectioneries that succumbed to the gingerbread revolution, and, finally, from huge amount private craftsmen who paint hordes of snowmen and Christmas trees in their kitchen at night before the New Year (there are many of them at the Fair of Masters and on Instagram).
Faced with a gingerbread souvenir for the first time, potential buyer, as a rule, inspired - gingerbread looks very beautiful, unusual, fresh, and most importantly - handmade, but this is still a trend.
What disappointments and, conversely, unexpectedly pleasant surprises await the consumer who decides to place an order for handmade gingerbread on the Internet?
Let's talk about the good first ;)
TOP 10 rave reviews:
1. Gingerbread cookies are very beautiful, is it possible to eat such beauty?!
2. I thought (s) that the gingerbread cookies were inedible, but they turned out to be delicious too!
3. The gingerbread cookies are unexpectedly large, they looked much smaller on the website, and in reality they look even better!
4. It turns out that you can make a gingerbread in the form of almost anything. We ordered a copy for our friends at home, it turned out very cool!
5. Gingerbread is stored for a long time (up to six months) without special conditions.
6. Gingerbreads are well transported, even to other cities and countries.
7. Gingerbread cookies can be hung on a Christmas tree, and then eaten.
8. You can make gingerbread in the form of wedding bonbonnieres, and write the names of the guests on them.
9. Illuminated gingerbread houses are something unreal. My child was absolutely delighted!
10. We ordered to school and another question is who was more delighted - the children or the parent committee :).
And now for the negative. The following are the most common criticisms of gingerbread(in fairness, we note that criticism applies to very many manufacturers):
1) Gingerbread cookies are very hard, stale, dried out, it is impossible to eat .
The comment is not entirely unfounded. Compared to our native Russian stuffed honey gingerbreads, icing-painted gingerbread can indeed be quite tough. Rather, they are very dense and look more like cookies than gingerbread. The fault here is partly the translation from English gingerbread - literally "gingerbread", in Russian translation - gingerbread. At European and American Christmas markets, gingerbread and gingerbread houses are a traditional treat and decoration. And believe me, they are almost stone. The German Lebkuchen doesn't seem to be meant to be eaten at all. What is it connected with? The answer is simple - with the recipe. In order for the gingerbread to keep its shape during baking and not spread, the dough must be quite tight. The icing on the gingerbread is also very hard - in fact, it is a hardened egg white with sugar. BUT! This does not mean that gingerbread is inedible. Very edible, especially with tea;)
And, of course, there is one trick: to make the gingerbread softer, place it in a tightly closed container along with a piece of bread and an orange peel ... After a day, the gingerbread will pick up moisture and become softer!
2) The icing colors the tongue! (“And anyway, I thought that yellow icing was lemon and red icing was strawberry ...”)
For those who are not in the know, natural food coloring (like beet or cherry juice) cannot give a bright saturated color. When painting gingerbread (believe me, 90% of those on sale) artificial gel food colors are used. And yes, they color the tongue. By the way, bright mastic cakes or green or blue candies also color the tongue. Edible gouache also colors the tongue. But this does not mean that all these products are inedible.
To avoid staining the tongue, choose gingerbread with white icing or check with the manufacturer for the origin of the dye. By the way, a bright glaze with a fruity taste is in 99% of cases a dye plus an artificial flavor.
3) Why are gingerbread cookies so small?
Indeed, gingerbread cookies are usually quite low - about half a centimeter, and the size in width and length can reach 15 cm, with a larger size, the gingerbread very often crack. If you want to order a tall and large gingerbread, it is better to opt for gingerbread with filling. On our website, we indicate the sizes of gingerbread and gift sets on the individual page of each product.
4) Why is there no filling in gingerbread?
Because you obviously ordered gingerbread, which doesn't include a filling.
5) The icing flew off the gingerbread over time.
This happens if you store gingerbread in the open and dry air - the reason for this is the high dryness of the air. Often this happens if the packaging is leaky (although very beautiful).
6) Why is it so expensive?
A common complaint: “A gingerbread is only 10 cm in size, but it costs 100 rubles, what kind of golden gingerbread is this, I’ll buy a whole kilogram in a store for 100 rubles ?!” The reason for this "gross injustice" is manual labor bakers, artists and packers. However, we note that some manufacturers sell gingerbread with a very large margin even for a product with a high cost, which is handmade gingerbread. Often the price for the same gingerbread from different manufacturers can differ by 2-3 times. Is it true that where it is more expensive, better and better, you need to understand in each case, but in 50% of cases the price is too high compared to competitors (competitors, if anything, sorry! ;)).
7) Why such small discounts? We order 5 thousand gingerbread, give us a discount of at least 50%.
Making 10 different gingerbreads is indeed more difficult than 10 identical ones, but the difference between twenty and two thousand identical ones is not so obvious, because. each gingerbread still does not draw itself. Moreover, we even thought about making a markup for thousands of copies, because. you need to have serious perseverance and iron nervous system to draw the same snowmen or ducks for a whole week for 8 hours.
8) Gingerbreads are not at all the same as on the site / photo.
9) I can make gingerbread better myself.
Great! ;)
10) I gave a gingerbread to my six-month-old child, and he developed an allergy, what do you put in gingerbread???
Please do not give gingerbread to small children - they contain spices, and the glaze contains dry protein and dyes that can cause allergies.
So, as you can see, it all depends on the expectations of the buyer, who is often confused about what product he is ordering.
To avoid disappointment from the purchase, check all the details with the manufacturers in advance.
For example, when placing an order at Cookie Craft, you can arrive in advance and see / try samples of gingerbread, the tasting is absolutely free.
And we also want to say that by ordering handmade gingerbread from domestic manufacturers, you give the opportunity to work for girls (and sometimes boys) artisans who love manual labor, try, give their best and are very happy when the customer is satisfied (and sad, if anything) - that's not the case).
All the best and delicious (and beautiful) gingerbread!
Your Cookie Craft.
P.S. For those who are not accustomed to observe copyright - any reprint of this text or its passage is prohibited without the written permission of the project management.
Before pregnancy, she worked at the Jaguar/Land Rover service center as a service coordinator and now bakes and sells gingerbread.
START. When Anya was expecting a child, her husband died. Ideas about the ideal family collapsed. Anya needed an occupation in which she could express herself. This is how the idea to go into cooking came up - to make gingerbread cookies.
It took several months from conception to implementation. Anna baked her first gingerbread cookies when her son Seryozha was three months old - now he is almost six months old.
COOKING. Zakharenko tried several dough recipes found on the Internet. I settled on the one I liked the most. It contains honey, butter, cinnamon, ginger, egg, flour and sugar.
Dyes are imported, they do not spoil the taste of gingerbread when painting.
Painting is done with glaze. Anya cooks it herself. Working with icing is the most painstaking: you need to carefully apply the drawing, there is no room for error, otherwise the gingerbread will be spoiled. If Anya applies a decoration or letters from a glaze of a different color to a layer of glaze of one color, then she first waits for the base to dry. The drying process of all layers lasts 12-14 hours.
Because of this, many surfaces are required on which gingerbread can lie. Therefore, the family of Anya Zakharenko allocated the largest room for her to work. It has several tables and shelves.
Price. Depends on the size and complexity of the design. The smallest cost 40-50 rubles, the largest - 300 rubles. You can buy a set, for example, Easter costs 600 rubles.
BUSINESS. Anya Zakharenko makes gingerbread cookies by hand, she does not use traditional forms for cutting out dough. Her assortment includes gingerbread in the form of the emblem of football clubs, strollers, bottles and nipples, cars, bees, tulips. The novice confectioner posted photos of gingerbread in social network Instagram. There, these photos were seen by her friends and colleagues. They were the first customers.
Anya asks customers to order two days in advance. Usually gingerbread is ordered for birthdays, Easter, March 8 and February 23, weddings. The author thinks over the design of future products, bakes and paints them. All this time, her mother is babysitting Anya's son, Seryozha.
“Sometimes I get so carried away with work that I forget about food. I remember only when my mother reminds me that I need to eat so that there is milk to feed my son, ”says Zakharenko.
The whole family is involved in making gingerbread. Dad, along with Anya, goes to buy groceries, mom nurses Serezha and sometimes delivers orders to customers.
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“Mom scolds me for low prices. But I don’t want to bully them for more profit, ”the girl notes. The cost of her gingerbread is really lower than in the market.
Anya earns an average of 25-30 thousand rubles per month on gingerbread. The maximum so far is about 45 thousand rubles, which fell on the celebration of Valentine's Day and on February 23. This is net income. In addition, she spends an average of about 30 thousand rubles on ingredients.
Now the young mother is thinking about staying in business after the end of the decree. “I would really like to open my own confectionery, where everyone could buy my gingerbread. There is something to work on,” says Anya.
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Olga Kuzhnenkova, 31, founder, owner and director of an online shop for painted souvenir gingerbread "GlazeMania". Was born in Moscow. Graduated from Moscow State University of Transportation "MAMI" (department "Automobiles and tractors", specialty "Service and technical operation of motor transport systems"). Before launch own business Worked as Senior HR Manager management company"GK Independence". Married, raising a son.
How "GlazurMania" started
Olga Kuzhnenkova considers her education “not characteristic of a girl” - probably, the choice of the university of mechanical engineering was influenced by frequent visits to her father’s car service: “ He can still sort out the engine of some racer until three in the morning, because it's a passion, how interesting. Actually, dad is a manager in a car service, but he can’t help but work with his hands - this is our family.”
In Olga’s case, “working with her hands” was preceded by a typical search for herself: studying at a university, independent the study labor law, advanced training, seven years in the human resources department, senior manager position, maternity leave.
“Suddenly I had free time, a lot of time. Olga recalls. - I remembered my creative interests, which somehow gave up - everything was too busy. Exhibitions, drawing, embroidery, sewing, a sea of recipes... At some point, I realized that I would probably never return to the office.”
Business at that time was not even in my head. There were gingerbread. The first who thought that money could be made from gingerbread were the friends of the young mother. “Listen,” they said over and over again, “how can you eat this? This should be sold as souvenirs!
Friends, of course, flirted - in the sense that they ate Olga's gingerbread with pleasure. However, they planted an interesting thought in the head of the hostess. Fortunately, at the same moment, Olga's nephew urgently needed gifts for teachers on March 8th. The deadlines were running out, there were no ideas, and then the schoolchild's mother grabbed the idea to give the teachers sets of beautiful gingerbread cookies. The name of the future Kuzhnenkova's shop - "GlazurManiya" - she also came up with. She also made beautiful labels.
So, thanks to friends, daughter-in-law, nephew, Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxembourg, Olga felt herself in an unusual role - the role of an entrepreneur: “I did not plan to earn a conditional million. And I still don't plan to. It's just that I love doing two things more than anything - cooking delicious food and painting. Painted gingerbread successfully combined both. The movement from hobby to business began with the fact that, figuratively speaking, I felt cramped in my kitchen - I wanted to go beyond it.
“As for cooking, I can honestly admit that I am obsessed. For example, once I decided to make gingerbread cookies, I was faced with a choice problem: dozens of recipes were offered. I chose for a long time, painfully, and finally left four. As a result: four different tests, five hours at the stove - and a mountain of cookies to the delight of friends and relatives "
Roe deer: own, relatives
Olga decided to specialize in painted Arkhangelsk roes. Due to the composition, this Pomeranian delicacy can be stored for a whole year without loss of quality. B Thanks to a bouquet of spices, roe deer have a pronounced taste, and in general - “their own, relatives”. Their cost is low, but painting takes time, diligence and skill.
According to Olga, the market for painted gingerbread in Moscow is quite saturated so that the buyer is not left without goods, but there is also a place for new masters. The main thing, as in any handmade- find your style.
"I know other crafters - I find the gingerbread fairy community very friendly, although anything can happen." Olga learned the art of painting from one of these fairies - even before the memorable first sale. Of all the tried and tested gingerbread recipes, Olga liked the recipe of craftswoman Victoria Bredis the most - she also posted a description of the painting technology on the Internet. Olga caught fire: “I want to learn the same way!”. To the general joy, it turned out that Victoria was conducting face-to-face master classes, so the desire of the young mother soon came true.
Where do gingerbread come from
The cost of gingerbread starts from 30 rubles. It depends on the size of the product (the gingerbread can be both 8 and 30 cm long, limited only by the size of the oven), on the amount of glaze. A few days before baking, the master makes the dough - it takes one hour. From 50 gingerbread cookies are baked at a time - another two hours. The painting depends on the complexity of the drawing, it is usually done in two stages and takes from 10 to 40 minutes per gingerbread. The cost of one gingerbread is from 100 to 1500 rubles, depending on the size and complexity of the pattern.
“I use natural ingredients,” says Olga. - For the gingerbread itself, this is flour, sugar, butter, honey and spices. No amplifiers, substitutes and stabilizers. Glaze - professional confectionery. Dyes - professional, synthesized, very high quality, brought from the USA. This is fundamental for me - I myself devote a lot of time to finding quality products for my family.”
If Olga worked 8 hours a day, she could make 50 gingerbread “per shift”. But such a load does not exist in reality. The little son is nearby 24 hours a day, so working time the craftswoman is not standardized.
“I didn’t count the percentage of marriage during baking, but I think it’s no more than five. I have a big family: husband, son, parents, brother and family, grandparents, aunts, uncles - a total of 15 people. We all often meet and talk at family lunches and dinners, so there is no problem of “marriage disposal”
Olga's working toolkit is quite extensive. So, the confectioner Kuzhnenkova needs: an oven, a stove, pots, spatulas, a rolling pin, a non-stick mat, a million and one molds (recess) for cookies, drying trays. The artist Kuzhnenkova needs pastry bags, nozzles for them, cornets (she makes herself from special film), toothpicks. Entrepreneur (aka packer) Kuzhnenkova uses boxes, bags, ribbons, a computer, a printer, a camera and a telephone.Holidays and weekdays: how to build a promotion
“I can make a gingerbread for any event, be it New Year, February 23, wedding, christening, professional holidays, but in the end - it's still the same gingerbread. the businesswoman explains. - Difficulty determines the pattern. The simpler it is, and the more identical gingerbreads are required, the more profitable the party. A group order is, as a rule, corporate gifts for state and professional holidays. I also see - they order gingerbread with company logos. I really haven't had any yet."
Olga draws ideas for painting from everywhere. There are classics, which are made by many masters, there are author's sketches based on various motives. It can be a picture (in favor of art deco and art nouveau), knitting on a sweater, monograms on a fence, fresh flowers. So, one of the Easter series was inspired by Slavic Easter eggs, there are Indian stories in the plans. Ethno is a fashionable theme, with such products you can go to specialized exhibitions and fairs.
Olga does not have her own website, because it is not the most effective tool sales in the field of souvenir cooking. "GlazurMania" uses a platform promoted among needleworkers - "Masters Fair » . Another active advertising channel is profile groups in social networks. In the new season, Olga plans to test advertising in Avito and Facebook. The entrepreneur herself is engaged in filling the pages, promotion, production and sales. In fact, she is the only employee in the entire store team.
“I buy ingredients for gingerbread in hypermarkets and specialized stores for confectioners. The packaging is right there. I bake gingerbread cookies, do painting and pack myself. Of course, I keep an eye on the prices of raw materials, on finished products from other masters. I carry out calculations so as not to be at a loss, but I don’t have professional analytics.”
Bursts of orders for painted gingerbread are clearly associated with the holidays: demand is growing on the eve of the New Year, Christmas, Easter. In summer, the store is fed weddings. The painting has its own fashion, trends (for example, when the cartoon Frozen came out, there were countless gingerbread with its characters; or the color of tiffany is also a trend), but in general this sphere is quite stable.
Who cares about vegetarians?
Uniqueness, individuality, piece work - this is the specificity of the "gingerbread" business. Especially when not a finished product, made according to the author's idea, is being sold, but an order is being executed according to the sketches and wishes of the client. It is difficult to put things on stream: other hands will do everything differently.
“My client is a person who loves delicious and beautiful food. Appreciates not only quality, but also an individual approach"
The last three orders were: gingerbread for the christening from the godmother, and two sweet tables for the children's birthday.One of market advantages Olga lies in the fact that she offers not only traditional gingerbread, but also vegetarian ones - without the use of eggs in the dough and glaze. Officially, these are all souvenirs: food products it is necessary to certify, and for this - to open a full-fledged enterprise with its own production line.
“My blue dream is to open a confectionery where people without dietary restrictions, vegetarians, and allergy sufferers could have a delicious meal,” the entrepreneur admits. - I know firsthand the problems with finding delicious food for such people. My husband and son have food allergies. There is no meat or poultry in my diet.”
Olga considers the idea to expand the business, to cooperate, to reach a larger volume premature. It's not even about the client base - we are solving this issue. The craftswoman is not sure that the "conveyor" will bring her the same pleasure as working alone.
“I am very inspired by the examples family businesses with many years of history. I remember one Italian whose family has been making olive oil for over a hundred years. He told how his great-grandfather squeezed oil with just this apparatus, which the descendants kept, they did not specifically change it for a new one. He spoke with such love, with such trepidation. This is what is called spirit, continuity.
Rules for yourself - advice for others
During the year of GlazurMania's existence, Olga Kuzhnenkova made several business conclusions, which she formulated for herself as rules. Perhaps they will be useful to all novice entrepreneurs:
Don't be afraid to start something new - everyone has done it before.
Do not give up what you love when faced with an unpleasant experience - this will pass.
Be sure that your work is needed and useful to someone.
Set aside time for rest, and do not sacrifice it in favor of work.
Do not do business on what personally does not bring you joy.
Plan your time correctly.
Sofi Gingerbread Studio CEO Olga Chekhoeva removes a frame with a piece of paper under glass from the wall. "This is an invoice from our first wholesale customer she explains. “We kept it as a keepsake in our office.” The customer - the Trinity-Sergius Lavra - returned all the gingerbread a day after shipment, since there were no labels on the product indicating the composition and expiration date. And, accordingly, he paid nothing. The product was sold out. And over the next four years, the bakery's revenue increased 25 times, to 100 million rubles.
Every day, about 7,000 gingerbread cookies are removed from the baking sheets and painted. There is a characteristic smell in the director's office - the bakery is located behind the wall. “For a long time I wanted to start working for myself,” recalls Andrey Shurygin, co-owner of Sofi. In 2011, he resigned from a large metropolitan enterprise of low-alcohol drinks, where he headed the regional sales department for several years. Father-in-law and brother-in-law, who kept a cafeteria next to garage cooperative, gratuitously gave 10 sq. m for your business. With personal savings, 200,000 rubles, Andrey and Olga bought a small stove, a shop window, and a bar counter. The company was named after the one-year-old daughter Sofia.
The business was simple: pastries were prepared from frozen semi-finished products. Anything that didn't sell out was thrown away the next day. The entrepreneurial spouses completed the first year with the same amount that they invested - 200,000 rubles. Only not profits, but revenues. Andrey admits: if they paid rent, they would die in a couple of months. Once, when her husband was on a business trip, Olga baked a gingerbread house for his arrival. Andrey offered to make these for sale. “Before the New Year, many people came to us for gingerbread houses,” says Chekhoeva. “Later we started baking small painted gingerbread cookies that are suitable for a gift for any holiday.” It turned out that this is more profitable than baking from semi-finished products, and Sofi switched to gingerbread. Relatives provided another 20 sq. m for production.
Gingerbread cookies Andrey and Olga baked and painted with the help of two employees. Now the company employs 70 people (bakers, artists, packers, sales department), and the production is located on 500 sq. m. Olga and Andrei recall their confusion when in December 2012 they received back gingerbread cookies from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, which they baked without rest for 10 days. Having learned that the PIR gastronomic fair will be held at Crocus Expo, they hastily rented a place there. And they sold the entire batch, having gained twice as much as they wanted - 600,000 rubles. The money went to buy ovens and racks for drying gingerbread.
“Surprisingly, we found that none of the major competitors - Pokrovsky Gingerbread, Tsarsky Gingerbread, Tula Gingerbread - work with retail chains,” says Olga. It was impossible not to take advantage of the favorable situation. Andrey Shurygin remembered his sales experience and set up distribution in less than a year.
The capacity needed to be expanded again, and in 2014 the bakery moved to a separate building. Today, Sofi gingerbread is sold in Perekrestok, Globus Gourmet, Ya Lyubimy, AV Market, Victoria (Dixie group of companies) and 30 other chain retailers. Sales through networks bring the bakery up to 50% of annual revenue. The Victoria network sells gingerbread from Khlebny Dom, Polet, Yashkino, Mask, but it buys curly gingerbread only from Sofi (“A unique assortment with a thematic design,” Dixy explains).
Globus Gourmet, according to Olga, at first refused Sofi products, considering them not exclusive. Then the bakery came up with a separate collection of gingerbread. “The studio offers a huge assortment, every season new items appear. They are ready to quickly change the design and packaging, taking into account all our wishes, ”comments Ksenia Yakovleva, senior category manager of the Respublika chain (Sofi has been supplying her with gingerbread for more than two years, and since the fall of this year, Respublika has been ordering her sweets under her own brand ).
"Royal Gingerbread", which appeared in the mid-1990s, financial indicators does not disclose and does not comment on the activities of competitors. Its capacity is three times greater than that of Sofi - about 3 million painted gingerbread per year. General Director Anna Yosifova assures that the assortment allows to satisfy any needs of the client and the company also works with networks, such as, for example, Tvoy Dom and Dobryninsky. Soon the "Tsar's Gingerbread" and "Sofi Gingerbread Studio" will be next door on the same counter - in the souvenir shop of the Tretyakov Gallery.
“Our secret: no restrictions on distribution channels,” say the owners of Sofi. Their gingerbread is sold in book and stationery stores, theaters and gas stations. Plus corporate orders - from Russian Railways, Lufthansa, Beeline, Russian Standard Bank. “We even had a production collapse: there was a catastrophic shortage of products,” Olga recalls. - We stopped accepting corporate applications, raised prices. But people kept ordering.” The excitement, however, happens only on New Year's Eve. In November-December, the studio earns up to half of its annual revenue. To overcome seasonality, Sofi expands its assortment: it makes sweet kits for creativity, cookies and bars from dried fruits and cereals. With bars, its owners plan to go to network pharmacies and fitness centers.
“If there was an opportunity to start all over again, we probably would not agree to repeat this path,” Andrey Shurygin unexpectedly sums up. - How many nerves it took! But, of course, we are glad that we succeeded.” His words are interrupted phone call, and co-owner Sofi plunges into negotiations with a new partner - to supply a large batch of gingerbread to China.