80 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM Azarmeen Pavri has spent a lot of time in laboratories: in high school, in college and as she worked on a PhD in public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. But today, she’s not an academic or a researcher. “Unknowingly, I had been honing the skills of a baker,” she says, as we sit over iced drinks at a cafe near her industrial kitchen in Redwood City. Those skills have since become a business— and for good reason. The treat Pavri specializes in requires nothing short of scientific precision. Her artisanal confectionery, Délice Glacé, makes meringues—delectable, melt-on-your-tongue swirls in rose, lavender, passion fruit, chocolate and vanilla, some bedecked with sprinkles. The desserts are {food coloring} start selling the meringue cookies she’d been tinkering with. Laughing, she describes the pop-up’s success: “I sold out really fast!” The retailer asked her to come back again, closer to Christmas. She did—and the customers came out in droves. But when a line formed out the door, the store shut her down. Customers loved those meringues too much; they weren’t buying the store’s seasonal peppermint bark! That experience gave Pavri the confidence she needed. She started visiting local grocers with bags in hand, asking their buyers to give her treats a try, learning what she needed to about bulk orders and barcodes. “You’ve got to put yourself out there,” she asserts. “If you’re not willing to promote, if you’re not willing to go into stores and say, ‘Hey, buy this! You don’t have it on your shelf! Taste it!’, then you won’t succeed.” Today, Délice Glacé has found success. The company distributes in about 50 stores locally, including Whole Foods locations as well as smaller local markets like Sigona’s, Robert’s and Draeger’s. “I’m so fortunate to be working in an area and at a time when people are valuing the small maker,” Pavri says. She also sells directly to consumers online, and wholesale to other national retailers via a San Francisco company called Faire. There’s a reason, other than deliciousness, for the demand. Not many companies make smallbatch meringues. The treats are “clean,” meaning they are gluten-free, dairy-free, nutfree and low-calorie, made with just a few simple ingredients. They have no fillers, no starches and no preservatives. (That said, they’re shelf-stable, and will keep in your cupboard for months at a time.) Meringues can be dressed up with layers of fruit and cream…or you can pop one (or two, or three) in your mouth, just as they are. Délice Glacé means “frozen delight” in French. It’s a nod to how Pavri got her start, baking frozen meringue cakes. Those desserts were tasty, but prone to melting, difficult to transport and far from shelf-stable. So when a major lifestyle store asked her to do a popup, rather than carting in coolers, she recognized an opportunity— MERINGUE delectable dollops words by KATE LUCKY • photography by PAULETTE PHLIPOT
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==