Munch bakery is one of those places where you can see the success of creating and developing a Saudi brand from scratch right in front of your eyes. What’s Up sat with all three partners to talk about their aspirations, experience, and how they managed to cut their way in the market, to bring their shared dream to a tangible reality, a dream that encapsulates a lifestyle brand bakery.

What’s Up: Let’s start at the very beginning, how did you come up with idea behind munch?

HH Hala Bin Mishari bin Saud Al Saud: Well as partners we have always discussed doing business together, we have always wanted to start a new business, but we never knew what. When I came back from the UK in 2007 I felt that it was time to start something, we thought of opening a retail store, when we shared the idea with Ibrahim, he didn’t think it was a great concept from a business point of view.

Myriam Ghandour: Plus everyone back then was getting into that type of business, so we never thought that we would be adding anything new to the market. Another thing was the difficulty that was surrounding that type of business which was an added challenge besides competing with everyone else.

Hala: I watched how those business worked and operated and I discovered that it takes a lot to keep it running, since in Jeddah you won’t find many people who would get the idea, and understand what this whole fashion movement is all about.

WU: So how did all this evolved into bakery business?

Hala: I have a passion for cupcakes, so I suggested that we start a business around the bakery business focusing on cupcakes, but Ibrahim pointed out that to have a successful business formula, you need more then one product to sell, in order to support and sustain the business.

Ibrahim Al Shimemry: I told them that the Saudi market isn’t ready yet to digest a one product store, that’s why we needed more the cupcakes. So instead of getting a brand name or a franchise, we decided that we should start our own brand and build it up from scratch. It was a challenge, but we can make things and create brands just like any company around the world.

WU: You started from zero, how did you gather all the info you needed?

Hala: We started by researching online all the cupcake bakeries around the world, then we did a local market survey of what was around us in Jeddah.

WU: What were you looking for in terms of information?

Ibrahim: Basically the good, the bad, and the ugly based on specific questions that we designed, to gather intel on the demand, customer behavior, age, and the most important question is how do you sell, is it in single serve or full portions.

Myriam: We spent about two weeks gathering all this data, after analyzing all of it we decided that we will start this business, but we were facing another question. Should we start it small or go full fledge with big stores. We ended up starting a hip bakery, we wanted Munch to be an experience rather then a traditional bakery.

WU: How did you manage to do that, I mean reach a level where Munch is an experience?

Hala: Well we have an open kitchen where people can see and smell what we are baking, plus inspecting the quality and cleanness of the store, we have a very friendly staff, which includes us as workers in the store, we added products that we are fond of and support like books, hand bags, accessories, paintings and photographs by Saudi artists hanging on our art wall, we have the Munch box where kids would get a cupcake or a cookie with a Much surprise gift, we also created Munch purses, which are a collage between being hip and trendy in Jeddah.

Myriam: You forgot candies, everyone loves candies.

Ibrahim: We wanted Munch to encapsulate the whole experience of the brand as a lifestyle bakery.

WU: Alright this question might be odd, but I am sure some of our readers thought of it. What is the difference between a cupcake and a muffin?

Myriam: Cupcakes are smaller in size then muffins, plus they have frosting, muffins don’t. Another difference is that cupcakes are fluffier then muffins, we offer both here in Munch.

WU: How did you come up with the name Munch?

Hala: I was sitting with Myriam the other day going through tens of weird name, we were trying to focus on words that meant eating with pleasure, in the end it hit us. Munch was the word, we asked Ibrahim if the name was registered anywhere and luckily it wasn’t so we ran with it.

Myriam: After that we started to create catch phrases to support the brand name, like “Thank you very Munch”, “How Munch is it?”, “I love it very Munch!”, and “Munch your way through the day” it turned out to become hip phrases that people like to use, and that connects back to the store and the vision behind it.

WU: You have one of the most unique stores in town, how did you come about the interior decorations?

Hala: We needed to cut cost at the beginning of the project, so instead of hiring an interior designer, we started imagining how our store should look like, and from there we added all the accessories. This poster you see on the wall is called La Virge which was made for us by one of our best friends Norah Hamrani.

Myriam: The whole store you see now started as a white canvas, then we added color as we went along. In the end we managed to create a unique collage between a Victorian design and modern contemporary design, everything fell into its right place naturally.

Hala: I am not saying that we are the most amazing bakery on Earth, but what I am saying is that I believe in what we did, I believe in this dream that became a talk that made us take an action which resulted in this shop, and we will do all it takes to keep it up to the standards we had in mind since the first day we opened our doors.

WU: I remember when Munch first started a friend of mine visited it, and kept on raving about it and the fact that the owners themselves are working and serving clients in side it. He found this to be fascinating. I find it to be charming.

Myriam: Many people commented on that, and they liked the fact that Ibrahim was handling the casher, while both myself and Hala were serving customers orders. To us it’s a family business. But what really concerns us is keeping a high standard of quality and hygiene level in the bakery at all times.

WU: Is that why you have decided to create an open kitchen?

Ibrahim: Well other then being stylish with the whole layout and design, it shows the freshness of our cakes and the high level of hygiene to the customers, and that we have nothing to hide from them.

Myriam: We even have clients who would bring their kids to see how cakes are made, it is a show, and I think this should be a trend where your customer can trust you and your products 100%.

WU: What about the menu, how did you come up with it?

Hala: We have been reading and experimenting with different types and styles of baking and frosting, we spent a lot of time in our homes trying different things, and what people like will stay there in the menu and what they don’t like will be removed. We are very flexible and we want people to enjoy Munch.

Myriam: You can fairly say that 90% of the menu is genuinely created out of our own experiments, trial and error, or personal recipes if you will.

WU: WOW! That must have taken you guys a lot of time to come up with this menu.

Ibrahim: And a lot of eating (Laughs).

Hala: We are still working on improving our menu even further with many surprises coming in the very near future.

WU: You opened in an unusual place, most new boutiques are far from here, what made you take such a risk, keeping in mind that you might loose everything with such high stakes.

Hala: Well we found that rents were extremely high on those districts, when we saw this place we found something delightful about it, we simply loved it, so we thought if people wanted us they will come for us. Since we opened every one of our neighbors have been very helpful and supportive since the days we started working on the store. What we discovered is that now we have our own community and we love that.

Ibrahim: The whole project was taking everything to another level and choosing the hard way, including picking the location, but the success we got out of all that was rewarding. We proved that it’s not the easy way that will bring you success, it’s believing in yourself and giving people what they want.

WU: What is special in Munch for Ramadan?

Hala: We have new packaging, we will focus on portions and flavors, with lots of dates, cardamom, pistachios, and of course Konafah. So for this Ramadan we offer Munchoo, Munch White, Munch Tan, Munchnafa, Munchmoul, MunchRolls, and MunchBoosa. Of course you would have to visit the shop to get to see and taste how yummy they are, since we have been working hard to get these new recipes ready for Ramadan.

WU: What are your future plans?

Hala: We’re planning on expanding this store first, we are also planning on opening another branch in Riyadh.

Ibrahim: We have many customers in Riyadh who needs to munch, and opening a branch there would be the least we can do to thank them for loving Munch.