Janet Mascarenhas
Across Goa, young people are finding their own creative ways to bring Bomboloni, Italian filled doughnuts, to the streets. These light and airy desserts, filled with a variety of fillings, allow the doughnuts to melt in the mouth while their flavours delight the taste buds. What started as an idea, a recipe or a social media trend has grown into small ventures for these youngsters. While some are balancing it with college and other commitments, others hope to take it up full-time. From home kitchens to roadside stalls, they are experimenting with different flavours, learning through trial and error and steadily building a customer base of their own.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
As Bombolinis are constantly gaining popularity on Goa’s streets, young sellers are giving the sweet treat a local presence of their own. Their ventures are growing through word of mouth, and social media, where they share new flavours, location changes, and other updates. In a small but growing presence, the Bombolinis are making room in Goa’s evening tea-time culture. For these young entrepreneurs, it has resulted in an opportunity to explore, experiment, learn, and also build something of their own, one batch at a time.
From lecture halls to bomboloni batches
Aariz Shaikh is a 19-year-old second-year BCom student. He wanted to start something of his own. He had tried Bombolinis in Mumbai and noticed a few vendors selling them in Goa too. After several unsuccessful experiments, he now has customers in his hometown at Taleigao, eagerly waiting for his next batches. He hopes to grow into a proper business someday. The biggest challenge for him has been balancing everything while studying and working. “But the biggest learning has been that consistency matters, and you just have to keep going” he shares. While he hopes to broaden his reach in the future, he now offers chocolate, oreo, vanilla custard and nutella flavours, with the vanilla custard being the most popular. His friends and classmates have also been very encouraging and supportive of his venture.
From his mother’s kitchen to Mr Bombolini
Sai Naik from Porvorim had the idea to start his brand from his very kitchen. He has grown up watching his mother cook professionally for over a decade. He saw an opportunity after an online post, to create his own version. He now offers seven flavours after several failed attempts. He says, “People like pistachio kunafa, nutella and dark ganache the most. I also offer biscoff, white chocolate, blueberry and mango flavours and an additional three more are planned.” The three new flavours will be Tiramisu, Cashew and Cookies and cream which will be out this coming week. He now sells at two locations, Porvorim and Margao over the weekends. He has seen a good response that led to pre-orders for gatherings and celebrations. His mother continues to be involved and offers her expertise and handholding as he grows with Bombolinis.
Baking it all, one stall at a time
Muskan Shaikh is a home baker from Cuncolim. She had often made the sweet before it became popular and reintroduced it as the interest in Bomboloni grew. She constantly experiments and improves her recipes based on her experience and customer feedback. She explored various recipes and techniques and was thrilled when her first stall sold out in around 30 minutes. “Some of my later stalls even sold out within ten minutes, which was really exciting for me,” she reveals. She sets up her pop-up stalls in Navelim and offers chocolate, custard and blueberry flavours. She also offers other sweet desserts and custom cake orders. Her biggest challenge is managing everything herself from planning the menu, preparing the products, deciding quantities, and packaging, setting up the stall and handling orders, she does it all. In the process, this has helped her with time management, teaching consistency, patience and how to deal with customers. “I’ve also realised that every batch and every stall teach me something new. I can be in the kitchen for hours making bombolonis and trying new desserts and not get tired,” she says.
From Instagram reels to pop-up-stalls
18-year-old Karthik Shetty from Santa Cruz hopped on this trend as the idea came along after watching several reels. Perfecting his recipe on the sixth try, he learnt the importance of using precise measurements, proper proofing, and frying techniques. As he began selling, customer reviews encouraged him to wholeheartedly take up his pop-up stalls. On constant requests, he now sells at Mapusa, Porvorim, Bambolim, and even at Taleigao. Alongside creating Bombolinis in flavours such as Blueberry, tiramisu, nutella, milk and dark chocolate, and custard, he also offers chocolate bowls, sera-dura, and brownies. Running pop-up stalls can be challenging, with some people being unsupportive. However, the response from frequent customers has remained strong, with crowds gathering and requests for stalls at new locations. “I am hoping for that day when they all will sell out in just five minutes,” he says.
