Meet Anita Chow | Pastry Chef and Baking Teacher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Anita Chow and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anita, what do you attribute your success to?
I love eating desserts and other baked products very much, and I care about the taste of food a lot. When I create my own food products, not only that I want them to be tasty, I also like to be able to taste the true flavor of the ingredients. To achieve that, the quality of the ingredients is crucial. The tastiness and quality of my food products are always my top priority, and I believe the products speak for themselves. My returning customers always tell me how they can tell the difference when eating my products, and that’s why they keep coming back. I think that’s also what comes to people’s mind when they think of Anita Bakery.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I was a graphic designer before, The passion of baking led me to finally gave up my designer career and pursue my bakery dream. I was mostly self-taught through trail and error, which is a longer road than maybe learning from a school, but because of that I understand the common mistakes and challenges my students would have, and know how to teach and help them.

My graphic design background not only helps me on creating the company branding and marketing, but also on the aesthetic of my food products. The designer training also helps me on paying attention to details, and understanding balances. There’s balances of colors, balances of tastes, as well as food textures. I think a designer background can be applied to everything in our daily life.

I started from sharing my home made baked products with friends and colleagues when I was still doing graphic design, to then quitting the designer job and opening my first bakery shop in Hong Kong many years ago. Starting and running a bakery business was never easy, I think I was able to overcome the challenges because I liked my bakery so much that I didn’t consider it as a job, hence I could be persistent and willing to face the challenges one after another. Even though I’ve been in the industry for many years, I am still amazed by the fact that people would come to buy my products because they like them, and that has been and still is the biggest drive for me to work on every order happily.

Many lessons learnt during the journey, I think the biggest lesson is that persistence and hard working are the keys to success. Along the way there would be many failures and obstacles and we just have to keep going and not give up.

Anita Bakery uses fine natural ingredients to create wholesome and truly handmade products. Every order is made heartily. My passion is to create food products that are health-conscious, naturally tasty, and flavorful with sensational textures. I believe the best taste is the true taste of every ingredient.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Watch a show at the Hollywood Bowl Visit the artist studios at the Brewery
Go to some of those cool farmer markets
Have some seafood by the ocean at the Redondo Beach
Road trip to Solvang or Carmel and stay at a cottage B&B
Go to LA County Fair to pet the lambs there
Drive down to San Diego La Jolla to be with the seals and sea lions right next to you
Go to the flea market at Rose Bowl
Plenty of excellent restaurants:
Republique, Bavel, Gjusta, Grand Central Market, Milo and Olive, Osteria La Buca, Osteria Mozza, n naka, Daichan,
TOT/Teishokuya of Tokyo, Lodge Bread, Clark Street, Sushi Kiyosuzu, Miyaho Uni ……

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to thank my husband for all the supports he’s given to Anita Bakery. From building the kitchen to photographing all the products, sourcing ingredients, licensing, … etc, he’s been putting in all his efforts to overcome all the challenges. He’s also a foodie, and he’s always there when I need a second opinion on my food products. It has been a challenging journey to start up Anita Bakery and I didn’t feel that I was doing that alone.

I also want to thank my dear friends and customers who supported and encouraged me when I started my bakery. Some came to help me when I needed help, some ordered my products to let more people know about us, and some taught me how to use social media for my bakery. I’m very grateful to have lots of love from them, and that has been very important to me.

Website: https://www.anitabakery.com/

Instagram: anitabakery

Facebook: @anitabakery.us

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/anita-bakery-sierra-madre