Despite first airing nearly 30 years ago, the widely popular and iconic 90’s television show Seinfeld still remains relevant today. Whether it’s losing your car in a carpark, or waiting for hours to be seated in a Chinese Restaurant, Seinfeld remains the epitome of art imitating life, and now the show has extended its impact into the business world - inspiring Sydney based business, Babka Baby!
Babka Baby’s owner, the former practising lawyer Marque Owen, was inspired by the Seinfeld episode, ‘The Dinner Party’ to create his own baking business, specialising in one thing only, babka.
“We make two kinds of babka at the moment,” says Marque owner of Babka Baby!
“We make my favourite which is the chocolate, but of course there is the more traditional cinnamon.
“And never let it be said that cinnamon is the lesser babka.”
Babka is a traditional European yeast cake that is folded and rolled with layers of chocolate or cinnamon. The cake’s history is as interwoven as the chocolate layers in the cake itself. Originating in Eastern Europe, there are traditional Russian, Polish and Ukranian versions, but Marque claims the original is from Hungary.
Babka is a traditional European yeast cake that can be made with chocolate of cinnamon. Source: Supplied
“My mother originally came from Hungary, and that’s where the babka originates.”
“Except the Pols think its Polish and the Russians think that its Russian, everybody wants a piece of the babka,” says Marque with animated hand gestures, as if he was a Seinfeld character himself.
Babka Baby! is now sold across Sydney at local markets; Moore Park, Double Bay, Kings Cross, and Orange Grove. But if you’re eager to try your own, ensure you arrive early as it can sell out within only hours.
Marque had never envisioned himself to become a professional baker. Trained as a lawyer, Marque only began his own baking journey to meet his own babka fix, after tasting it in New York.
“After watching the Seinfeld episode about the babka, I needed to try some for myself.”
“We found it in this little bakery in Brooklyn and it was magnificent, I couldn’t get it out of my mind”.
“Then when I came back to Australia and I wanted some babka, I couldn’t find it anywhere.
“So I had to make it myself.”
After a year of trial and error, and testing his recipe, Marque had his family and friends hooked to his own chocolate swirled babka.
“It’s all very well and good to make one or two babkas at a time, but then I had to make more than ten just to satisfy my family and friends,” says Marque.
“But then when their friends wanted some babka, it was time to move it to a market situation and sell them”.
Since early 2018 Babka Baby! has seen huge success commercially, growing from the weekly Double Bay market, to now expanding into wholesale.
Marque's mother and uncle originally came from Hungary. Source: Supplied
“The markets have been fantastic, they’re great to do market research,” explains Marque.
“I mean they have the word market in market research.
“You get instant feedback, direct response from consumers is the single best way to tell how your product is doing”.
Marque has recently partnered with a commercial kitchen, to offload the physical burden of hand making each babka from his kitchen. The partnership has linked him with distributors around Sydney to sell the babka wholesale.
“I think the real turning point is going from baking in your home, to a commercial scenario”.
“Because then you have the chance to make some actual money,” explains Marque.
“They say that the food industry is a terrific industry to be in unless you want to make money. “Moving into a commercial sphere that’s the first time we were actually able to make some real profit because we’ll be able to make the amount we want and be able to wholesale”.
Marque plans for Babka Baby! to expand out of Sydney, across New South Wales and to send the babka interstate. His expansion comes at a time when Australians are spending more on high quality fresh baked goods. Market research company, IBIS World found although per capita bread consumption is falling, consumers are now more likely to buy artisanal baked goods and bread. As the demand for high quality baked goods rise, Marque has high hopes for Babka Baby!
Babka Baby! is available at weekly markets in Moore Park, Double Bay, Kings Cross and Orange Grove. Source: Supplied
“The future for Babka Baby! is golden, because a high-quality product will always do well all around Australia.”
“And maybe one day internationally.”
For Marque the end goal for Babka Baby! always comes back to that Seinfeld episode, sending the babka home.
“Wouldn’t it be great to send a Babka Baby! to New York, that is the end game”.
