Baker Street Boys carving their own niche online
Sixteen year-old twins Shennon and Shevon Colombage are not your typical teenage boys who’d usually indulge in gaming and sports after their O-Levels. Instead they are interested in being young entrepreneurs, as they set off their culinary journey by launching their online dessert shop ‘Baker Street Boys’ from where they create and sell the most delectable varieties of Sri Lanka’s favourite dessert, chocolate biscuit pudding.
When asked about their shared passion for cooking, they laugh as they tell the Mirror Magazine, “it may seem unusual, but we had the same grandma!” It was their grandmother who inspired them with the ‘modifications’ she made to the ‘ordinary’ desserts until they reached perfection and Shennon and Shevon wanted to replicate that feeling of happiness that they had with her desserts by serving people “beautifully crafted chocolicious recipes,” that woud make anyone smile.
Having started Baker Street Boys during the COVID-19 lockdown, Shennon and Shevon were willing to take the initiative and gain experience early on while facing the real life challenges that businesses posed.
Putting in a lot of thought for their brand name as they hoped to create hype while standing out, they wanted to work with something that broke away from the norm of it just being ‘women in the kitchen’ and instead reflected themselves.
“We kept thinking ‘baker boys’ and then it struck our mind. We realised that it was something we’ve heard before, it rang a bell. Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock and Dr Watson, the Baker Street Boys. A famous TV series that would probably ring a bell in other peoples minds too,” the twins share.
Despite just starting out, the Baker Street Boys have already made their mark by supplying online, through Uber Eats, Canteens of educational institutions including Oxford College and Jade Education, and are in the process of supplying to a few restaurants in Colombo as well.
Their signature chocolate biscuit pudding was a heavenly combination of decadent chocolate cream and biscuit that simply melted in your mouth with the flavours being quite rich as it lingers on your tastebuds. It’s no surprise when they tell us that this is a crowd favourite with customers.
Other bestsellers are the coffee chocolate biscuit pudding and they are also experimenting with flavours such as brandy and salted caramel as well. The next dessert they hope to master are brownies. “We want to make them to perfection, because we haven’t really tasted brownies that have satisfied our chocolate cravings,” they tell us.
It is not just their desserts that are sweet but their mindsets and personalities as well. Shennon and Shevon donate part of the profits to charity and it is not just a one-off gesture as they hope to continue throughout to elder’s, orphanages and to anyone who needs it.
“We need to remember that not all of us are privileged. There are people out there that really would do anything to have what you have today, so remember to give back.”
Follow their Instagram page @baker.street.boys_sl to place your orders now!
Twins Shennon and Shevon. ix courtesy Baker Street Boys