Stories in the Kitchen - Wendy Chan, Tai Zhan

WENDY CHAN

IN CONVERSATION WITH JANICE JANN

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEN LO

Wendy Chan and her partner Keith own and operate Tai Zhan, a bakery in Saratoga, CA. The bakery stands out from the crowd in that it only opens on Saturdays each week and the menu consists of plant-based pastries reminiscent of classic Chinese treats, from 菠蘿包 'bo lo bao' (pineapple bun), 蛋撻 'daan tat' (eggless tart) and mooncakes (pictured), to creative creations like the barbecue mushroom bao and black sesame kouign amann. Wendy will be the first to tell you she’s not one for the spotlight but here she is, in her own words, about the ins and outs of being a working mom, baker and small business owner.

We chose to operate [our bakery] very differently to maximize our time with our family.

Our kids are quite young and I think as they grow older, I will expand the hours but currently, we are just opening one day a week [Saturday] and it takes us almost 70 hours total to prepare the pastries. My mom helps me at the bakery, which makes a big difference, but if I were to expand, that workload would grow, and I'm just not willing to lose my family time currently at the age my kids are at.

At the moment, maximizing profits isn't our primary focus.

I was at a crossroads two years ago in deciding what to do with my baking journey and this is what we’ve decided to do for now so that I could continue my baking journey with my young family.

We make about 400-500 pastries per week and when it’s gone, it’s gone.

Sometimes we don’t sell out and it’s disappointing but I see it as a way to pivot, reflect and grow. Like, why didn’t something sell out and what can we alter or change to make it better? You have to be aware and have a lot of reflection.

My partner [Keith] and I are behind the counter and in our shop every Saturday when we open and we were very intentional about this.

It’s really rare these days in this business for the customers to meet the makers so we wanted to do that; to be here and meet our customers. We feel like those relationships are really lost these days. You don’t get to talk to your customers.

Tai Zhan was a popular name back in the day when my grandfather had his shop.

It meant rest stop or pit stop. I remember visiting them when I was young and the snacks of choice were gizzards and barbecued pork. So we’d chew on that and sit outside the shop for the afternoon.

[Tai Zhan] actually started when I was pregnant and I was craving pineapple buns like the ones in the Chinese bakeries.

I started messing around with recipes. I was working in a sourdough bakery [at the time] but I didn't grow up tasting sourdough so I wasn’t nostalgic about it. There was a huge fire in Paradise, CA and four of our relatives lost everything. So I talked to my partner about doing a bake sale. We did a bake sale at Vegan Republic, a vegan marketplace, and then we just decided to continue doing it. We saw so many alternatives in the vegan world. The creativity seems endless.

I used to be really bummed when people are like, “oh this doesn't taste like the real thing,” but then I realized it shouldn’t taste exactly like the real thing. I'm not using milk, I'm not using butter. I don't think I've ever sought it to be exactly the same because the ingredients I use are not exactly what it was. With my pastries, I'm giving you an option of tasting my childhood. It’s an alternative choice with the premium ingredients I choose to use.

Part of the reason why we haven’t expanded our team and we don't grow this project is because if I choose to do that, I'm choosing to be a manager and I'm not quite ready to do that.

I still want to just be the baker.

Instagram: @taizhan.bake
Website: www.taizhanbake.com
Bakery Location: 14572 Big Basin Way, Saratoga CA