Brunei's Local News - Brudirect.com

Bandar Seri Begawan - Home bakers are feeling the pinch of rising costs of ingredients for biscuits and cakes for the upcoming Hari Raya festive season, which is expected to be a costly affair this year.

Some home bakers said they had no choice but to raise their prices in order for their business to break even.

One baker, Hjh Faridah from Jangsak, said that with the rise of prices and high demand for her sarang (honeycomb) cake, she had to raise her price from $24 to $32 per cake.

She said that she will only accept orders from 50 people this year, compared to 87 people with more than 200 orders of various cakes last year.

Apart from limiting her clients, she has also set a deadline for accepting orders, so that she has sufficient time to prepare for the festive season.

Hj Faridah said that the most popular product is the tapak kuda rolls, which is now charged at $10 instead of the usual $8.

"Competition is not as fierce as a few years ago," she said, addi,ig that there has been a decrease in the number of people making orders of cakes and biscuits due to the surge in food prices.

Hjh Edah Hamid from Maraburung in Tutong, said that she will not be selling biscuits this year, due to the increase of prices in ingredients.

She said that butter, the ingredient that was needed the most to make biscuits had its price increased the most.

One butter bar used to cost $3.40, but now it has risen to $4.80, said Hjh Edah, who started selling her biscuits in 1980. She added that she decided not to raise the price as she felt it was not fair for her clients.

However, she has given her recipe to her son for him to sell at his small corporation in the capital.

She said those 20 years ago, people would only buy from shops, instead of ordering from home bakers.

Hjh Edah calculated all her profits and losses and realised that this year the profit does not even break even.

She also said that she now prefers to relax and spend time with her grandchildren. "In trying to keep up with the times, the names of the cakes and biscuits have changed to attract the clients, like Mawi roll cake and blueberry freeze roll, instead of the usual durian cake roll and so forth," said Hjh Edah.

Another baker, Linawati Hj Saman, said that she does not blame the bakers for raising the prices of their products.

She added that prices for the biscuits and cakes vary as the ingredients bought from different shops have different prices. Major restaurants also offer biscuits and cakes for Hari Raya, but restaurants do not offer the traditional cakes and concentrates on delicacies like chocolate mousse cake instead.

Linawati also added that this year she will be ordering from both home bakers and restaurants to ensure a variety of food.

"Times have changed and so has food preferences, nowadays, people prefer to eat Western-inspired cakes for Hari Raya," Linawati said. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times