Christmas Specials

It's been a wonderful Christmas season for Bittersweet Corner. We received an overwhelming response for our cakes and it's gone from anywhere from Menteng all the way to Singapore. I believe in 2 weeks we have made almost 50 carrot cakes. Below are some of the Christmas specials that we have customized. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and an even more amazing New Years! 

Lots of love, E

Carrot Cake

Christmas Cupcakes (vanilla & chocolate)

Christmas Hampers 1

Christmas Hampers 2

X'mas Hampers

Finallyyyy we're able to present to you our Christmas Hampers for Dec 2010. It's that time of the year again and we're ecstatic that Bittersweet can bring the sweet in someone's christmas:) For customized requests and info, please email orders@bittersweetindonesia.com or call us at +622198723661

Royal Doulton Coffee Set

Rp . 689,400

Royal Doulton Tea Set

Rp. 955,000

1 Can of TWG tea (10 mixed sachets) + 3 small jars of cookie selections*

Rp. 300,000

2  large jars of cookie selections*

Rp. 225,000

A Bridal Shower 4Ps: Pose, Poise, Purple and Party

After a courtship of four years, my best friend, T, finally tied the knot with the man of her dream (who is confident that he has got a great breast, well I would probably agree, but he did not go around saying "Hey, I have a great nice chest..."). So, I thought to hone my so-called but now-defunct event organising skills, conjuring up a civilized bridal shower among the bridesmaids and T the bride-to-be by catering cupcakes for T's countdown to her last singledom. So five bridesmaids and the bride-to-be trotted along home happily with Bittersweet carrot & red velvet cupcakes :)

Trust me...it was not easy being the mother hen, guiding fellow bridesmaids who flew all the way from London, New York and Bangkok. Nevertheless, I really should have tried to surpass my worries in the future because everyone had fun. Roars of laughters, silly Truth & Dare games kicked off the girly night..

As much as we have kept the series of event last Sunday to be PG-13, some of our photos proved otherwise. Of course, it wouldn't be appropriate to blog about this here...hopefully some of these evidence would put a little thinking cap to your imagination.

Thanks to Anne Luntungan Photography who had been ever so patient and made this all possible...
Also thanks to Allura by Nasya Marissa for the coupled amazing hair accessories. Fluttery feathers with flowers are any girl's best friend!

Small things are long remembered...
Did I not mention all the girls loved our cupcakes ?

Bittersweet Corner is officially open!!!

It's officially been a week since Bittersweet Corner @ Plaza Indonesia Extension opened! The response has been amazing and although we're still not familiar with the walker-bys at PI, our catering has been getting an overwhelming response. And those who actually drop by the store, loves it to bits. From the warm, welcoming service, cozy and homey decor, great music, and of course the home-made and fresh french pastries! We're so happy with all the responses and can't wait to meet more people at the store! XOXO E

Bittersweet Corner
Plaza Indonesia Extension Lvl 3, #E18
Louis Vuitton Lobby , above Kopi Luwak

The products changes everyday! So be sure to check in often!

We have a wide variety of cookies as well. Crispy? Crumbly? Chewy? We have it all!

The first customers enjoying Bittersweet Corner

My favorite corner of Bittersweet Corner:)

In time for the X'mas Season!

Some of the red touches in the store

We serve AMAZING latte. Available with Soy as well!

Bittersweet Packaging 2

A few weeks ago, we showed how our catering packaging looks like. This is what we'll be putting our sliced cake and cupcakes in when bought in the store. Once again we kept constant with our "classic with a modern touch" and our trademark red ribbon. Hope you love it as much as we love it.:)

Teasers 1

As we're counting the days till our baby opens, I thought I'll post some teasers of things around the store that create our environment. But for pictures of the complete store? You just have to check it out yourself on the 20th of this month! ;)

Bittersweet Boys

As mentioned by R in the previous post, meet the Bittersweet boys Ahmad and Ragil. The rest in the team, Asri (Office Assistant), and Bayu (Kitchen Assistant) will follow this post. (Asri says she wants to dress up for the photo op;))

Hi! My Name is Ahmad
General Manager

Hi! My name is Ragil
Head Cashier

An inch closer towards that dream...

Disclaimer: EM has strictly forbid us post any renovation updates. I have opt for other means otherwise.....

Aren't these pretty?

On Monday, we have officially started training our in-store servers (ladies & gentlemen, please meet Ahmad and Ragil :), who will be the constant faces present in our store), getting feedbacks on their past service experiences and also educating them about the history of Bittersweet. From their bright faces, they seem to be beaming in excitement in our product tasting sessions, which will be held this coming week. Our personal assistant, Asri kept on saying "I can't wait till we are finally open..."...oh on some other random notes, we also managed to scout some antiques during our recent supplies&decor trip to Singapore...so goodie good!

I guess things have come a long way since we started putting our dreams into reality since July this year. Still, there are many odds and ends that we need to resolve (like fixing that tiny downlights) but, we are pinching ourselves that this will become into a reality. We are grateful and blessed that despite the shortcomings all of us have faced, we are seeing a little light at the end of the tunnel. Thought that I would quote Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) in The Shawshank Redemption (1994) movie before he escaped from the prison that "hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies".

I hope that this store will be a wonder...

18 days till opening...and counting...

Bittersweet Corner Store Front

So the countdown has started until the first day opening of Bittersweet Corner! It's less than a month until the day we open our store to our dear customers! 

View from the corridor

Can be seen from the Thamrin Street

Also viewable from our downstairs neighbor (Kopi Luwak)

Bittersweet Packaging

Despite the saying "don't judge a book by its cover", you have to admit the cover is pretty important. Thus the long thought process behind our packaging. We wanted to incorporate the "classic with a modern twist" concept that we are consistently pursuing right into our packaging. And finally we've come up with the perfect cake box. Fuss-free, simple, yet elegant and sophisticated. With a touch of our trademark red ribbon, it's the perfect presentation (if we may say so ourselves:)) to give your friends and family, both guys and girls, cakes from who else, but Bittersweet:)

Cupcakes Galore

Need something cute and classy for your party? Order our cupcakes from our variety of unique selection.

Minimum of 16 pieces per order 4 cupcakes for each flavor.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Icing topped with Icing sugar and Fresh Strawberry on top

Rp. 22,000/each

Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemon Vanilla Icing topped with Fresh Lemon Slices

Rp. 20,000/each

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting with Dusted Sprinkles

Rp. 22,000/each

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting with Finely Chopped Walnuts

Rp. 24,000/each

Bittersweet Special Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting topped with Shaved Bittersweet Chocolate

Rp. 22,000/each

Not a shoulda coulda woulda...

This image was an inspiration of the table
setting for our store

Apologies for the long hiatus, EM, MK and myself have been busy finalizing our interior renovation of Bittersweet Corner, coming up with the company logo, finalising our lease & tenant agreements, getting knick knacks for the store from Bali, Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. On the latter, it certainly is a blessed privilege that all of us have been given the opportunity to go on mini frequent travels ever since we were young, however the Bittersweet Corner quest to find the perfect vases, flowers, shrubs and cake stands proved to be quite a challenge! On another note, we have finished our recruiting process and selected a team of wonderfuly trained & experienced staff, who will be able to educate you guys on what will be in store in Bittersweet Corner. Btw, we are now counting down to exactly one month till we open in mid-November!!

Aside from us running around all over the place (well, I am more likely behind my desk analysing Bittersweet Corner's Business Plan budget and planning), I recently came across a cupcake blog, which inspired me to write this blog entry. Sheryl has relentlessly started from an online cupcake store, turning it into a breathtaking retail store in Melbourne. Her dreams, thoughts and fears are something that I share when I embark on this amazing journey with EM and MK. I have only been introduced to EM last year in February over an Italian dinner, before MK mentioned that I have a bit of a sweet tooth and secretly dreaming of running my own dessert cafe. EM gushed excitedly about how she has been providing catering service in Boston outside of her school hours. This pretty girl initially wanted to embark in a career in the US of A, however she put off such decision to continue her passion in baking under her already-well-known Bittersweet brand. So, a year flew by, EM graduated (much to her relief) and settled in Jakarta for good three months ago. It was rather timely as well that a mutual friend had a small 20-sqm space in Plaza Indonesia, which she would wish to sub-let. We couldn't be happier that Bittersweet Corner is our first project! All of us have been inseparable (literally and metaphorically), continuing updating each other on our vision and mission.

Personally, I have been losing sleep doing market research, updating Excel model, keeping track of our investment budget and worrying about how can we streamline our and management for Bittersweet. I took a further step to learn about social media marketing through MK, but the biggest dare was braving myself to speak to small cafe owner in Subang Kuala Lumpur, with a retail store called Whisk KL. I learnt about Nora K's passion which started from "I couldn't find a decent coffee shop where I can relax and read my books, like those I found in New York (she was previously from Parson School of Design)". Let's just say that her little thought had blossomed into something picturesque...

There has been times when I shut my alarm in the morning, I drift back to a short snooze with my mind trailing over the thought "Is this all worth it? Climbing the corporate ladder seems to be much easier". Friends say I am a pessimistic, but throughout Bittersweet setting up process, I can only share that this has spurred my entrepreneurial spirit, which may have been locked up in some dark abyss within me. I was worried of taking the plunge, but I guess any business is like a relationship - there is much to learn to love and to be hurt. You can always pick yourself up if you fall because it is the experience that counts. I believe I have been blessed with amazing partner (and friends) such as EM and MK. They have been inspiring people, which made me realise my own shortcomings.

So, thank you, Sheryl for your inspirations. I believe that like her Cupcake Central, Bittersweet Corner will bring many smiling faces and satisfying tummy strokes. So folks, we shouldn't dwell on the Shoulda Woulda Coulda...because everything is within your reach...

Till we speak again...toodles~

Store Progress

It's been a pretty busy last couple of weeks thus the reason for lack of posting. Thank you for the overwhelming orders we have received. 

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting topped with Crushed Walnuts
Rp. 24,000/each
Cupcake orders (minimum of 16 pcs)

Our new packaging! Classic with a modern twist (just like everything we are aiming for)

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Rp. 22,000/each
Cupcake orders (minimum of 16 pcs)

Work station for our order of 14 Lemon Tarts

Cupcake Box
Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Chocolate Buttercream Frosting topped w/ Strawberries
Rp. 20,000
Bittersweet Cupcakes w/ Cream Cheese frosting topped w/ Milk Chocolate Shavings
Rp. 22,000
Cupcake orders (minimum of 16 pcs)