Aaliya Safdar’s labour of love Happy Donuts is creating waves in Karachi, rapidly making its way to people’s heart and of course taste buds…
desserts
When things are made with love, they surely make their way to one’s heart easily. We often associate baking with a form of art which not only requires good taste and the right amount of ingredients, but also exudes extraordinary creativity – people who bake can easily relate to this notion.
Following the same vein, Aaliya Safdar’s labour of love Happy Donuts is creating waves in Karachi, rapidly making its way to people’s heart and of course taste buds… Hailing from Lahore, Aaliya, the Co-Founder of this emerging donut brand has always been into baking and cooking. “Ever since I was a little girl, I loved creating things in the kitchen. My mother was from Belgium and my earliest memories are of watching her in our kitchen in Lahore baking European delicacies. As I tried my own hand at baking and cooking, I started receiving rave reviews from friends and family, and they would often say ‘We would pay good money for this if you would sell it!’”, shares Aaliya Safdar who is based in Karachi now.
Karachi is a city where people normally find pleasure in either eating out, going to cinemas or doing shopping. Apart from that, sadly the city doesn’t offer many leisure activities. People specially love to indulge in new kinds of eateries and places which offer amazing cuisines or even desserts. So, there is always a room for introducing spaces that offer great food and hit the right chords. However, Aaliya has a different (and more personal) view than that. “As to why donuts? Having lived a long time in Europe and North America, when I returned to Pakistan, I missed the fresh, light and fluffy donuts that I would have abroad. I also didn’t want them overly sweet.
So, I set out to create my own! Once people tasted them and gave me rave reviews, the decision to sell them was only natural!”
While commenting on the art of making donuts she explains, “Donuts are actually surprisingly difficult to make - as I found out when I embarked on this quest. But I’m not one to shy away from a challenge so I kept trying till I got them just right: light, airy, fluffy and moist. Here I have to give a big shout out to my co-founder and business partner Hassaan Warsi - not only is he running all aspects of Happy, he is quite the creative soul and both of us spent many months in our test kitchen till we got the donut perfectly right.”
We asked the entrepreneur what is the idea behind the name of the brand on which she tells, “The idea is simple: it’s about the emotion we want people to feel once they have our donuts. Life has many challenges, many ups and downs. There’s so much stress, so much worry, and what all of us want is a moment of happiness. That’s what we are trying to offer: an experience that leaves people happy. A shared moment with friends and family, a little treat after a long day, a sweet indulgence - which brings a smile on our customers faces. That’s why we are called happy - because we make people happy!”
Happy Donut’s unique selling point is that their donuts are huge and generously filled with ridiculous amounts of delicious and light cream, chocolate and other fillings that are truly unique. Additionally, these donuts are made fresh every few hours and delivered repeatedly throughout the day to its outlets across Karachi. The brand wants its customer to experience the freshest, lightest and most delicious donuts they’ve ever had! For this, they use the best ingredients, make all their fillings and toppings themselves and they are fanatical about quality and hygiene.
Let’s come to the part we all are waiting for! The flavours… As Aaliya likes to think of the flavours as her babies, she expresses, “Let me start with our latest babies Chocolate Dream and Lotus Love. The Chocolate Dream donut has a chocolate ganache filling that is silky and creamy without being overly sweet. It’s a dream come true for chocolate lovers! We just launched it this week. The Lotus Love as the name suggests, will make you fall in love with its light texture and generous lotus biscoff topping. Some of our biggest sellers are the Salted Caramel, Naughty Nutella and Brilliant Boston. I could go on and on but an easier way would be for readers to visit our website, happydonut.pk, to learn about all our flavours.”
Apart from taste and presentation, people often think about the price point while trying any new snack. And when it comes to donuts, people often compare the prices with the competitors and brands they are loyal to for so many years. Since Happy Donuts offers comparatively high prices, we inquired about it on which Aaliya replies, “We at Happy, feel really proud of what we have created - donuts that are unique in flavours, freshness, size and generous fillings. We do not compare ourselves to any donut brand in Pakistan, we strive to exceed the quality and taste of artisanal donuts sold abroad. And our rapidly growing fan base is clear evidence that our customers find it an excellent value for their money!”
While talking about the brand’s future endeavours, Aaliya concludes, “Starting from a cute little stall at Karachi Eat 2020 we have expanded to 4 outlets and 6 retail partnerships in 8 months. All of this growth has happened during the most difficult environment of COVID-19 and lockdowns, when many businesses closed down. We can’t thank our fans in Karachi enough for their encouragement and support without which the happy story could not have happened. We are bullish about the future and our mission is to spread happiness to all corners of Karachi - so stay tuned!”
