the of Ana Arana It is not the story of someone who has left everything to set up a beach bar in the Caribbean, but it is quite similar. In 2019, she decided to leave behind the hectic pace of the fashion world and her role as a designer and design coordinator for children's and youth fashion collections The English Court, to undertake a new way slower rhythms.
Thus, coinciding with the beginning of the pandemic, she decided to give life to cake: an online American artisan cake company.
Fudge cake, Tartia.
“We want to make life easier for our customers, help them save time. We want buying a cake not to be an inconvenience anymore, that's why, our sale can be done through the web and Instagram, through multiple means of payment and with free same-day delivery and no minimum order ”, Ana sums up the mission of her new project.
The young entrepreneur has the support of S. Dulce, which has a bakery from which all kinds of American pastries come out since 1993 and whose main clients are the best-known restaurant chains. And among her best sellers, we find fudge cake, the mythical American chocolate cake, carrot cake or New York cheesecake.
“We do not use hydrogenated fats or preservatives. so that the cakes have the true homemade flavor”, points out Ana, and adds: “in addition, we give a thousand ideas of how to decorate them, so that you can enjoy a complete Tartia experience”.
Carrot cake, Tartia.
At the same time that the recently released professional pastry chef emphasizes the care for raw materials, she also emphasizes care for the environment: "our packaging are 100% biodegradable and our sustainable distribution, we do not conceive of creating a future with means from the past . Our deliveries are zero emissions in electric vehicles”.
And regarding allergies and new trends her, she points out: “we take into account the allergies and you will always find the ingredients specified, so that the customer can consume them with complete peace of mind. We would love to make gluten-free artisan cakes, but it requires doubling the infrastructure of the workshop and now it is not possible. We have it in mind; also we are working on a vegan cake and we hope to get it out for sale very soon.”
Among the upcoming novelties, it also highlights, the sale of portions, the expansion to new cities, the possibility of selling cakes in foreign bakeries - for those customers who prefer the traditional purchase model -, creating new flavors and cake toppers customizable with the name facts totally by hand , “because many people have fallen in love with the decorations they have seen on the web and on IG and want to buy them”.
But, why the United States pastry and not Spanish or from another country? “When I was little I really liked to make cakes and cookies at home with my brothers, we had a couple of books Ursula Sedwick and we made one devil's cake that she was dying. My mother bought nothing but María Fontaneda cookies, so if we wanted something different we had to do it ourselves. Our family gatherings have been around these cakes, they are linked to many memories and besides, they are the best i have tasted , so, I thought that I could make other people build their own memories around them, like me”, answers the young entrepreneur.
And speaking of construction of memories she, she clarifies, almost resigned: “a cake is used for more than congratulating a birthday, you can say 'I'm sorry', 'Thank you', 'I miss you', but for now, most of my clients say 'Happy Birthday'.”
Ana Arana, Tartia.
FROM DESIGNER TO PASTRY MAKER
Despite the uncertainty of entrepreneurship in an unknown sector and the new challenges of digital sales, social networks, market research or logistics, the Ana Arana It has not been a complete leap into the void, “there are many things from my previous profession that have helped me for this new project: passion moves me for looking for the customer satisfaction, and create a product The best quality ”, she points out.
Also, fashion and pastry they are not as far apart as it may seem at first glance... “A dress has a thousand different ways of wearing depending on what you combine it with, the same thing happens with cakes, they are a blank canvas. On the other hand, there is my love for pretty things. I enjoy beautiful things, no matter what aspect: the clothes, the architecture, from the largest to the smallest detail and in that the American pastry shop has no comparison for me; the cakes all look irresistible, fun, full of color and with a lot of imaginative flavour”.
The most remarkable thing about the change? Ana is quite clear: “I have enjoyed the whole process. I made a delicious market research eating cakes all over Madrid.”