Meet Zonu Reddy, the woman who brought Magnolia Bakery to India

Our favourite Magnolia moment is Carrie Bradshaw sitting on a bench, eating a vanilla cupcake with pink vanilla buttercream at New York’s Bleecker Street in Sex and The City. Interestingly enough, this moment also primarily fuelled this bakery’s rise to fame. Magnolia Bakery continues to have a special bond with brand collaborations, so they still create a number of special and iconic products, like the yummy Earl Grey cupcake spotted in Downton Abbey, and their recent creation for the 2020 Warner Bros film, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). Ahead, Zonu Reddy, co-founder of Spago Foods, who bought Magnolia Bakery to India, talks to Vogue about her inspirations, and the challenges of being a women entrepreneur. Excerpts below. 

You have studied molecular and cell biology, dabbled with real estate and now bakery. What are you most passionate about, and why?

I have a different type of passion for each of those areas. LI was just about 11 years old and in school when I discovered my passion for learning what makes the human body tick. I was convinced that we had not yet seen everything modern medicine could achieve, and that the best was still to come. I really wanted to be part of that journey. I am very passionate about the healthcare industry and actively invest in start-ups that I believe will disrupt the market. Besides, my family owns and runs a business in the real estate sector, so that was always in my blood. I got involved with the family business when I was 21 years old, straight out of college. My experience in this industry really gave me the opportunity to develop my leadership and people skills. I was involved in so many different aspects of the company, it was truly like a crash course in business—something that I would never have got at any business school. As for the third project… my mom is a sensational cook and I have grown watching her constantly experiment in the kitchen. In turn, I’ve developed a well-trained palate. I knew I had to channel my obsession with dessert and food somewhere. Food and travel have always been what I love the most—my free time is always spent looking up my next destination and the best food available there.

What is the biggest challenge of being a woman entrepreneur, and what’s the biggest advantage?

You face a lot of people who are underestimating you and doubting your capacity to execute. After signing the deal with Magnolia Bakery, we were looking for spaces to open here, and in the initial stages, I was met with a lot of skepticism from agencies and landlords. They seem to be in disbelief that I would want to open a dessert-only place, with a live kitchen attached to the location, baking throughout the day. They would directly tell me that this would not be successful, and would ask if they could talk to someone else, like my father, husband or brother, to find out what our actual vision was. 

I believe women tend to be more empathetic and this is our biggest advantage. We are able to inspire better results from our staff and also really connect with our customers. We really take the initiative to create a better working environment for all our colleagues.

Who is your role model in terms of women entrepreneurs around the world, and what inspires you the most about them?

My current role model is Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx. I admire her journey from being a door-to-door fax machine saleswoman to founding a billion-dollar fashion empire. I love her commitment to her vision, despite being rejected numerous times for not having any fashion or business experience. One quote of hers that especially stands out to me is her mindset about failure: “Failure to me became not trying versus not succeeding.”

Why did you choose to bring the iconic Magnolia Bakery to India? How was the journey? How many years of planning did it take?

I have been a big fan of Magnolia Bakery since the time I was studying in the US. I loved the variety of desserts they had, and everything just tasted so fresh! It became a must-visit spot on every trip to New York for me. When I found out that they wanted to open in the Indian market and were looking for a partner, I knew I had to give it a shot. I kept thinking to myself that the chance of this actually happening was very low. The application process was rather long—we had many discussions about our vision and why we wanted to do this. In the end, we realised that there was a lot of synergy and that we would make great partners. After those initial conversations, it took about ten months for the first store to go live. There were a lot of challenges along the way, the primary one being sourcing quality ingredients. Magnolia Bakery has set standards for each ingredient used, and our goal was to source as many of the ingredients locally as possible. With the help of Magnolia Bakery’s corporate chef from the US, we were able to identify a good mix of local and imported ingredients. Another big task was to build a team of talented pastry chefs and to train them according to Magnolia Bakery standards.

What’s a piece of advice you’d like to give young entrepreneurs?

It is okay to not have all the answers. Often, our vision for our companies is so big (as it should be) that we are afraid of not having the skill set or relevant experience to achieve it. I truly believe that if you are committed to constantly learning, you can always make up for it.

According to you, what is the future of Indian bakery scene?

I think the Indian bakery scene has already started shifting towards using fresh, high quality ingredients. One of the things we had to work on with our staff is changing their mindset from using preservatives to lengthen the shelf life of the product, to thinking about baking small batches every day. I think this mindset is going to catch on here locally.

What are some of your favourite pastry stores outside of India, and one dessert you like from their menus?

The DKA (Dominique’s Kouign Amann) from Dominique Ansel, the pain au chocolat from Angelina’s, truffles from Maison Du Chocolat, the Imperial Torte from Hotel Imperial, the Kuzukiri in Black Syrup from Kagizen Yoshifusa Hoten, the pistachio gelato on La Fabrica del Gelato, and the chocolate cookie Van Stapele Koekmakerij—it’s best cookie in the world!

Also read:

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