This Saturday 4th December is known as Small Business Saturday. It’s a grass-roots, non-political, non-commercial campaign that encourages people to support small businesses in their communities.
Though the campaign usually culminates with one specific date, the intention behind the campaign is to have longer-lasting effects and encourage shoppers to be more aware of the benefits of supporting small businesses all year round.
Small Business Saturday 2021 marks the ninth year of the event in the UK, and the campaign has grown significantly each year. In 2020, £1.1 billion was spent with small businesses across the day.
The first Small Business Saturday took place in 2010 in the United States, and was an initiative introduced by American Express on the first Saturday after Thanksgiving.
It was first launched to help small businesses recover from the recession and was an immediate success, leading to the Senate passing a resolution in 2011 to recognise the shopping holiday.
It first took place in the UK on December 7, 2013 and American Express remains one of the biggest supporters of the campaign in the UK.
In the spirit of this celebrated day we wanted to tell you a little about us and how we started.
Mon Dessert started in 2016 by founder Samina, specialising in helping customers make exquisite desserts with ease.
Samina’s food journey has been an amazing and unique voyage of self-discovery and teaching, which has formed her to be an expert at her craft. She has been influenced by some of the most important patisserie chefs in the world. Such as the very first Antoine Carême, the Michelin starred Raymond Blanc who is also self-taught and the Scottish/French/Japanese stimuli of William Curley. Samina has bad circulation resulting in very cold hands, which her husband hates, but her pastries love!
A born and bred Londoner, her parents originated from Pakistan. She grew up with elegantly spiced dishes from Southeast Asia, The Middle East, China, and Malaysia. Not forgetting many European classics too, such as hearty shepherd’s pie, yum yum! Her Mother is an expert cook and opened up her eyes to world flavours. From very early on she knew she loved cooking, especially desserts, which her mother generally left to her. Desserts were a little more precise and harder to master. If there were ever desserts needed, she would always be asked to prepare something for her friends at university or her parents’ lively dinner party guests. Now she is married to a French man. This French love affair has catapulted her expertise to a whole new level, to the beautiful, masterful and luscious world of authentic patisserie.
Mon Dessert started as a small thought that Samina had whilst she was still working in digital marketing and busy being a mum to 2 children. But, it did not really take off until she decided to leave her job and pursue this adventure full time. And now, her husband Johann has also joined the business!
If it wasn't for the cultural food influences, career in marketing, passion for science and love of seeing her children take up the baking baton, Mon Dessert may have never come to fruition. Funny how life's jigsaw puzzle of experiences come together…
If you’d like to find out more about Mon Dessert please visit our About Us page here.
In honour of supporting small businesses, if you love our story (and hopefully our products too) take a look at what kits and bundles we have online.
In celebration of the release of our collectable tins we are also having a weeklong promotion. Buy 2 Gift Tins get a 3rd for half price- whilst stocks last! Take a look at each of our Tins below, which can easily be modified to vegan, flexitarian and gluten free diets:
- Christmas Macaron Gift Tin - This version is our limited edition Noël kit, where each macaron is decorated like a mini Christmas pudding and filled with delicious cinnamon and brandy buttercream (you can leave out the brandy if you prefer)!
- Chocolat & Gold Macaron Gift Tin - They are frequently listed as one of the best flavours when it comes to the humble macaron we have spruced our up even more- with a touch of gold dust! This recipe is advanced and takes 2.5 hours. Great for those who want to push their pastry chef skills to the max!
- Mille Feuille Gift Tin - This is an advanced recipe designed to challenge you and develop your pastry chef skills. You'll be making rough puff pastry from scratch and learning how to create the distinctive chevron icing and layer this classic Mille Feuille. Includes all the tools you need to make rough puff pastry from scratch we even show you how to make a vegan version of this classic dessert if your diet is 100% or part time plant based.
The tins also make wonderful keepsakes and gifts for loved ones during the festive season.
You could buy three different kits or three of the same to enjoy over and over!
*Enter code KEEPSAKE at the checkout to redeem.
Want to explore the full Christmas range? Click here!
Happy Dessert Making!
The Mon Dessert Team x
All recipes can be adapted to a vegan diet using flax eggs and non dairy butter.
*Offer runs from 1st to 7th Dec 2021