A Highlands mum of four has set up a home baking business to teach her daughters about running their own business.
Being a part-time home economics teacher near Inverness, foodie and baker Leyla Nellan has seen the impact that the pandemic has been having on children over the past two years.
With four children between seven and 16 to look after, Leyla, who set up spice business Zepice with her husband Salim two years ago, decided to take matters into her own hands and launched The House of Macarons at the end of October.
Establishing the business with her daughters Jennah, 14, and Leah, 16, the mother-of-four hopes to teach the girls how to set themselves up for the future and run their own business.
“I’m a part-time home economics teacher and I can see the impact that the pandemic is having on children. I want to give my girls an idea of what it’s like to have a business, that it’s no plain sailing – you need to know the ins, the outs, the ups and the downs.
“My daughters are doing more of the social media side and do occasionally help me in the kitchen, but not too much as they’re too young,” Leyla continues.
“I’ve let them do a bit more of the back of house things, but they also come to the markets with me so they learn how to do sales.
“Even though it is a mum and daughter business, they have to work for it. They have to know what they’re talking about.
“You need to have those cold feet while standing at the market and get soaking wet when you’re putting up the gazebo. It’s not all fun but you’ll see it’s worth it.”
Gap in the market
Making French patisserie-style macarons from their home kitchen in Muir of Ord, Leyla hopes to showcase the treats at markets, parties and weddings across the Highlands.
Leyla says: “I love macarons and you can’t get them up here. I haven’t actually seen any up here so it’s kind of a gap in the market. I love the way they look when decorated and thought they would be a good idea for wedding favours.
“We do them for weddings, parties, birthday cakes, and that’s pretty much where we are trying to go with the business.
“We’re hoping to bring a different element of French patisserie to the Highlands.”
Without a website at the moment, Leyla, Jennah and Leah are taking orders via social media and at markets, with the hopes of getting their macarons into cafes and shops across the region.
Leyla continues: “It’s all online at the moment as we don’t have a shop, though we do set up a stall at local farmers markets.
“We’re trying to contact cafes and into a couple of shops locally, as well as doing the markets and online orders.
“People can just phone or contact me via Instagram or Facebook as well, and we are taking Christmas orders that way.”
Abundance of flavour
Passionate about exotic flavours, the mother and daughter team are keeping things simple with their macaron flavours, though there are some non-traditional tastes in the mix.
“I have a knack for flavours and I can cook things that people won’t have tried before,” says Leyla.
“I like to have the standard flavours of macarons but I also like to make those that are slightly different. Being from Mauritius I like exotic flavours and so I’ve incorporated the pina colada jam that we do with Zepice.
“We have pina colada flavour, rose and cardamom, cinnamon, as well as the normal flavours such as raspberry and lemon.
“I just love melodies of flavours and I think that’s because I’ve also lived abroad quite a lot. I use the flavours that I’m used to, like nutmeg, cinnamon and all those sorts of spice flavours.
“That’s how I want it to be. I don’t want the business to be just doing the normal ones that you would expect, though customers would still be able to get them.”
Passionate about baking
Moving from Essex to the Highlands around five years ago, Leyla and her family never dreamed of having their own business. But with both Zepice and now the House of Macarons under her belt, Leyla is excited to continue following her passion.
She adds: “Baking is something I have always enjoyed doing and people have always ordered my baked goods but I’ve never taken it further or been trained professionally. I had children then stopped but it has always been a passion.
“I did part-time courses in cooking and baking but that’s really about it.
“With House of Macarons I decided that instead of being broad and baking a bit of everything, I want to be more of a specialist. I think that’s what the House of Macarons is – it’s the start of becoming a specialist brand.
“I am just using my home kitchen to make them for the moment.
“On average it takes me at least an hour for a batch. One batch can produce 40-50 macarons but you get some that don’t work out as well so it’s never 40-50 fully usable ones.”