#LocalBrandSPOTLight: Lesson Hut Bakers

It all started with her YouTube channel, LesEatGood.

On her channel, Lesley shows you how to make anything from Korean pickles to no-bake cheesecakes. The videos are crisp with warm, saturated colours and of course, all manner of good food. There are even supplementary instructions if you turn on the captions, for the truly kiasu. Enamoured by her videos, her friends urged her to set up a shop to sell her food.

That was what eventually led to the founding of Lesson Hut Bakers.

Here’s the rest of the story, from our interview with Lesley, one half of Lesson Hut Bakers.

Hello Lesley. Thank you so much for agreeing to do the interview. First of all, can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I have a full-time job as a purchaser. But I also love photography and making random videos. Traveling was something I used to do quite often but now nobody can travel because of COVID-19. Let’s hope the situation will improve soon so we can all fly again!

Are there others behind Lesson Hut Bakers? Tell me about them!

Yes! My partner-in-crime is actually my husband.

He also has a full-time job in the F&B industry. He has always been extremely passionate about his work which, in turn has made me more confident about starting our own business.

Your brand name is so unique! Is there a story behind it?

It’s actually really cheesy. It’s an amalgam of both my husband and I’s names.

Take the first 3 alphabets from my name, Lesley and the last 3 from his, which is Jason and now you have “Lesson”!

The “Hut” in our name refers to our home, since we are baking from home.

Once we came up with our brand name, the whole concept of our theme just came naturally.

Each product a customer receives with us comes with a gift card with a random quote written on it, in both English and Mandarin. Think of it as the free “lesson” that comes with all of our bakes.

As the saying goes – 吃一口甜，听一堂课 – which translates literally to “eat something sweet, listen to class”.

How did Lesson Hut Bakers come about?

Early last year, when COVID-19 was just becoming a thing, I started a YouTube channel, called LesEatGood. It’s basically a kitchen recipes and tutorial channel and our friends kept telling us how good the food looked and how we should start selling our food.

I think that was what first got the ball rolling.

You also have a certain brand aesthetic when it comes to visuals that is very old school. Tell me why?

Thanks for noticing that!

The look and feel of our packaging takes after the aesthetics of goods packaged during ancient Chinese times. The same applies to our gift cards and thank you cards.

There’s a part of me that loves old school and “obiang” things. I love how quirky it looks!

What’s your favourite item on your own menu?

It’s so hard to choose!

When it comes to brownies, my all-time favourite is the matcha white chocolate flavour.

If I may have another favourite, I also love our classic basque burnt cheesecake.

What made you decide to focus on burnt cheesecakes and brownies?

It all comes back to asking myself what I love to eat the most.

Since everybody’s tastebuds and preferences vary, I think the best plan is to make what you love and hope those who love the same type of food will also enjoy it!

I promise that our menu is going to continue to expand!

What are your best-sellers?

Currently, that would be our seasonal item for Chinese New Year – pineapple tarts!

Do you have any favourite bakeries in SG that inspire you?

Mad about Sucre.

I love how they present their desserts like works of art.

Is there anything about baking from home that you’d like to tell our readers? Maybe something that most people might not know?

Starting a home baking business seems deceptively easy.

It’s not just about the Instagram account. You also need to sink an enormous amount of time into R&D when it comes to recipes, the design of your packaging, product photoshoots…

For the business to thrive, you really have to love it.

What really motivates me is when a customer tells me they enjoyed our food and when they become a returning customer!

So please, don’t be stingy when it comes to feedback. Be generous and tell your favourite home baker what you think. Any feedback is better than no feedback.

Visit Lesson Hut Bakers’ Instagram page here.

Already know what you want? Order from Lesson Hut Bakers’ here.

Level up your kitchen skills and impress your boo by visiting Lesley’s YouTube channel here.

That’s all for this week’s #LocalBrandSpotlight. If you enjoyed this, don’t forget to give us a follow on Facebook and share this article 😊

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