Saudi Entrepreneur Rana Al-Barhoumi: When I Bake, I Forget Myself, In an Exclusive Interview with Arabisk London

Rana Al-Barhoumi, a Saudi entrepreneur, infuses the street where the “Der Bäcker” bakery sits with the peculiar aroma of freshly made and uniquely baked delicacies.

You will discover a universe of extraordinary flavours and distinctive sensations with each bite of baked products from Der Bäcker.

Al-Barhoumi remarks, “When I bake, I forget myself.”

Rana Al-Barhoumi, the Saudi entrepreneur, shared with the audience the highlights of a fascinating interview she did with Arabisk London!

Chef Rana Al-Barhoumi, could you offer an outline of yourself for followers who may be unfamiliar with you?

My name is Rana Al-Barhoumi. I have a bachelor’s degree in logistics services and a certificate in German baking.

I started experimenting in the kitchen at the age of six, coming up with recipes straight out of my imagination.

I’ve always liked cooking, therefore I never thought to undertake any projects centred on it.

Upon graduating with my bachelor’s degree, I concentrated on the fact that Germany is the most well-known European nation in the bread sector.

I chose to enrol at the oldest baking school in Germany because I wanted to learn everything I could from them about baking.

You developed a love for cooking in your mother’s kitchen at an early age. Which cuisine or meal most influenced your decision to pursue a profession in cooking?

My love of food sparked in my mother’s kitchen, and when I was six years old, I started baking.

I was able to learn a lot and investigate the chemistry of flavours and components at this point.

My grandma made the best cake, which is one of my favourite dishes, and she may have been the reason I returned to Saudi Arabia.

It is a vanilla cake composed of eggs, oil, flour, vanilla beans, and orange peel. My grandma used to prepare it, then my mother, and now I do as well.

What difficulties did you encounter when establishing your own business in Saudi Arabia?

My mother found the concept odd at first because I had worked for Bosch International, the top logistics services firm in Germany, and had returned from my trip there with a diploma and a language.

However, I was adamant about the subject, so I took out a pen and paper, sketched up the layout of the bakery, the “Concept,” the essential actions, and carried out a basic feasibility assessment.

My mother and siblings gave me a lot of support once they saw how driven I was.

I care for the business or bakery as though it were my own child, and I nurture it and raise it to be an adult every day. Of sure, there’s a lot of stress and exhaustion, but my passion and everyday happiness keep me going.

After returning to Saudi Arabia, you established a bakery, blending Western tastes with local flavours. Are there any unique products under the Rana Al-Barhoumi brand?

I chose to study at a more than a century-old baking school in Germany because it is the nation most known throughout Europe for its baked goods.

I discovered a lot of secrets in this esteemed and ancient school. The most well-known baked product from Germany is pretzel bread, which is highly popular there.

The most commonly known thing is that they use sourdough or natural yeast in all of their baked goods; this is one of the most prominent things I came across while studying in Germany.

I tried to blend the two cultures by offering baked goods from Germany and Europe in my store with a touch of Saudi appeal. I attempted to introduce and combine the more than 100 varieties of bread that I have learnt to make with the Saudi flair.

Furthermore, I sell a variety of European baked goods in my bakery, including French baguettes, German pretzel cakes, and our signature Saudi-style croissants and thyme manakish, which are also suitable for a ketogenic diet.

You decided to major in logistics services and graduated with a degree in this area. Why didn’t you start studying cooking academically right away? For instance, did the family make a reservation?

I decided to pursue my education at a German university, and since German baked goods are widely recognised, I enrolled in the oldest baking school in the country after I graduated to learn how to make them for two months.

Naturally, my education in the logistical sciences or in the field of services made it easier for me to manage the project and launch my own company.

Germany and Saudi Arabia have a very strong relationship, of course. When I turned in my paperwork to go to Germany, I gained a lot. Everything went very smoothly, and the steps were very straightforward.

It goes without saying that our two nations have a close and long-standing relationship in terms of trade, imports, and exports.

The two nations share a great deal of interests, the most significant of which is education; Germany is the fourth-most popular destination for Saudi scholarship recipients.

In several remarks, you characterised your time in Jordan as challenging. Could you elaborate on this experience and list the main difficulties you encountered there?

My job as an assistant cook in a bakery in Jordan required me to bake 100 kilogrammes of flour in eight hours every day, which was a difficult task.

Nonetheless, these challenges helped me hone my operational and time management abilities and skills, as well as my ability to maximise every second to increase productivity.

Despite the intense pressure, I work with passion and love for 16 hours a day in my bakery.

How did Rana Al-Barhoumi’s travels affect her professional life?

My travels seemed limited, but I chose Germany to study logistics, and then I attended Germany’s oldest baking school, which is thought to be over a century old.

My decision was motivated by the fact that German baked goods are some of the most well-known in all of Europe. I had made up my mind when I returned to Saudi Arabia after two months of laborious work. launching a bakery of my own.

Another issue is that I chose to offer a blend of European, Japanese, and Saudi recipes in my store after seeing the baked goods there during a visit. In fact, I now have over a hundred different kinds of baked goods available in my store.

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