Today we’d like to introduce you to Babita Verma.
Babita, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
At BeBe’s Kitchen, we serve cultural experiences through food.
We love to celebrate everything food — be it food from different cultures or its power to engage, connect, and include and spread joy.
‘Bebe’ is primarily grandma in North India, especially among the Punjabi and the Sikh communities. And grandma’s are mostly about warm love and stories dished out with generous helpings of food. Women elders of the house, not necessarily one’s grandmother, are often called bebe as well. My story started with my BeBe – my mother. I grew up in North India and as a child, I would spend a lot of time in the kitchen watching my mom cook, asking questions – absorbing the sounds and smells around me. My job in the nonprofit sector in India took me around across different parts of India.
During my travels, I met these amazing ‘BeBe’s’ who opened their heart and kitchens to me – I witnessed the power of food to make strangers feel more included.
When I came to the United States 6 years back, I had to adapt to a new culture – it was challenging. I got the opportunity to meet these amazing refugee and immigrant women who were facing tremendous pressure to adapt quickly to American culture, language, relevant professional skills and personal constraints often remain a challenge. But there’s one skill in these women’s favor. Many are accomplished chefs in their cuisines, having learnt the finer aspects of heritage dishes from their BeBe’s.
And the idea of BeBe’s Kitchen was born.
Our BeBe’s get the opportunity to wet their feet in the food industry and gain exposure without an overhead cost; strengthen their craft and boost confidence; generate income for their family, and integrate into the community faster.
We showcase the culture and cuisine of our BeBe’s through various immersive experiences – cooking classes, food pop-ups and supper clubs.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It’s been a very challenging journey specially due to COVID. Just when we started in early 2020, Covid happened and we had to cancel three big events. Eventually later that year we tested a pop-up (food to go) to see the feasibility. We got an amazing response as people were eager to try new cuisines in the safety of their homes. All our pop-ups featured a new cuisine with a set menu. The food was paired with a Spotify playlist to enjoy the sounds and tunes from that country. We also added a trivia – a fun way to learn more about the culture featured in that Pop-Up.
In the last one year, BeBe’s has worked with eight women chefs and hosted over 15 Pick-Up Pop-up events, five online and in-person cooking classes and participated in three food events. Our Pop-up events were intentionally kept small due to challenges during COVID.
We introduced the Traveling Chef services to provide customized experiences to our clients – private cooking classes or catering. Due to challenges during COVID, many of our events kept getting canceled and we had to constantly adapt to the dynamic market.
BeBe’s does not have a physical location. We rent spaces for our supper clubs and cooking classes. This is both a challenge and our strength. Customers are drawn by the ‘secret location element’ as it adds a bit of exclusivity and thrill to the whole experience. It also helps us test out different geographical locations in Atlanta, but at the same time, our regular customers find it challenging.
Another big challenge is scaling up operations by identifying a commercial space/ kitchen. We can meet the growing market need if we are able to work out of a bigger kitchen. We are currently looking at investors/ loans to help us be able to financially afford the commercial kitchen.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
BeBe’s Kitchen is a social enterprise that curates immersive food experiences to promote global culinary traditions and empower aspiring refugee and immigrant women chefs. From curating special menus that capture the essence of where these dishes originate from to crafting perfect environments that complement the food — we go the whole nine yards. Through Supper clubs, Cooking classes and Pick Up-Pop Ups, we promise to our customer’s unmatched experiences.
Our mission is to offer welcoming and unique immersive experiences that go beyond food.
What We Sell
1. Cooking Classes: We conduct in-person/ private and online classes on different cuisines all led by our amazing women chefs. These classes seek to introduce some new flavors in everyday cooking and offer an intimate experience with our chefs and the group to cook and enjoy the family-style meal.
2. Dine in: Our supper clubs are hosted at different locations and feature authentic cuisines prepared by partner chefs who dig into treasured diaries of home and family recipes to craft uncommon flavors from scratch.
3. Pick-Up Pop-Ups: For those who like the adventure of discovering new cuisines — especially from the safety of their homes, and for those who look forward to trying flavors different from the rest-of-the-week fare, we host Pick-Up Pop-Ups that are true to the cultures they draw their flavors from. These come with music and accessory suggestions — perfect additions for an immersive experience.
4. Traveling Chef Services: that offer customized experiences/ menus to suit our client’s needs.
We reach out to our customers through Social media (Instagram and Facebook), Nextdoor, email campaigns and participation in food events.
Points of Difference
1. Atlanta’s global food scene: Atlanta offers myriad examples of foodways from around the world. The secret of the fast-growing dining scene here lies in its diversity and fierce entrepreneurial spirit. While restaurants and underground dining pop-ups focus on specific cuisines, there are very few places that offer experiences on different global cuisines with the option of dining or learning the recipes. BeBe’s seeks to tap this opportunity and create this much-needed space that offers a range of food experiences from all around the world.
2. Clear understanding of customer needs: In the last one year BeBe’s has worked with eight women chefs and hosted various Pick-Up Pop-up events, online and in-person cooking classes that showcased cuisines from Persia, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Egypt, different parts of India, Country Georgia and more. We have been able to develop a good understanding of our customer needs and business opportunities in the market and also have a strong client base.
3. Location: BeBe’s does not have a physical location. We rent spaces for our support clubs and classes. This is both a challenge and our strength. Customers are drawn by the ‘secret location element’ as it adds a bit of exclusivity and thrill to the whole experience. It also helps us test out different geographical locations in Atlanta.
4. Nostalgic flavors: In our customer discovery, we found that almost 80% of our existing customers feel that our menus provide comforting dishes and nostalgic flavors that transport them to their childhood.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
BeBe’s vision is to build a stronger community by promoting global culinary traditions and cultures; and inspiring our customers to make deeper connections.
Our Core Values
Educate Empower Connect Inclusive Community
These have been essential elements for our growth. The fact that we offer a range of food experiences from all around the world and help our customers feel a part of a bigger community.
Pricing:
- Pop -ups – $40-65 (pre set menu-meal for two)
- Cooking class – $55-85 pp
- Supper club – $65-85
- Private cooking class – $250+
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bebeskitchen.com
- Instagram: bebeskitchenatl
- Facebook: bebeskitchenatl
Image Credits:
BeBe
