• Tom Rees is, along with Irina Stăncescu, the soul of the Pain Plaisir bakery in Bucharest. He was kind enough to exchange a few words with us, to give Arta Albă readers the opportunity to get to know him better.
1. Tell us in a few words: Who is Tom Rees the man?
Tom Rees is an English baker, pastry chef, confectioner who came to Romania 11 years ago. I am a co-owner of the Bakery Pain Plaisir from Bucharest, together with my business partner Irina Stăncescu. I came to Romania in 2012, with the aim of opening this business.
Before coming here, I spent 8 years in France, in Paris, where I specialized in this profession of baker, pastry chef, confectioner, also learning a little gastronomy, chocolate and gelato. The job in Paris with the biggest impact on my career was a restaurant with three Michelin stars, where I worked for almost 5 years.
2. Then you discovered your passion for this field of bakery and pastry?
And before going to France I was attracted to this field. Ever since I was 15 or 16, I liked to cook. Little by little, this affinity for cooking led to a passion for baking. I started making bread at home, or at the restaurant where I was working at the time. My father owned a small hotel in England, with only 11 rooms, which also had a restaurant for dining. I worked in the kitchen of this restaurant, helping the experienced Chef there and learning a lot from him, from how to make bread, or certain cakes, to devising new recipes.
3. How did the idea of choosing Romania for your business come about? Why not another place in the world?
This idea was born when I was living in France and I met her Irina, in the restaurant where we both worked. A few years after we met, we decided to open a business together. After 8 years in Paris I was already thinking of changing the scenery.
The first time we proposed to open this business in England, but the area where I come from is an isolated area, near the sea, which is only more populated in the summer. One option would have been London, but we quickly realized that our budget was not suitable for a bakery in London. That's how we started to consider Romania, especially since in 2012, when we came here, there were very few artisan bakeries. I think only one or two. This aspect made us see an opportunity to develop something special here, in Romania, in Bucharest.
4. What did you think of the Romanian market? How have the customers received the products with French specificity in a market with tradition and a rich assortment of bakery products?
It made us think a little at the beginning, we had some emotions, because, really, in Romania there is a long tradition in this field. The bread the one I make, as is traditionally done in France, is the one with a crispy, deep-fried crust and a moist core. We thought that this kind of bread, which seems burnt at first glance, might not be to the customers' taste. But, if necessary, I could make other varieties of bread: softer, fluffier.
We also took into account the customers' particularities, offering them less crispy versions, but we continued to make the traditional French bread. Somehow it was necessary to educate both the taste of the customers and ourselves to adapt to the reality of the market. We have also introduced variants of bread with a softer crust, more in the Romanian style, so to speak.
5. Why Pain Plaisir? What inspired the name?
From the XNUMXth century Romanian word "Pamplezir"! With the meaning of whim, pleasure, caprice – "Par plaisir", "for pleasure". A Romanian-French pun, also used in Caragiale's writings. More precisely "the bread that brings pleasure".
6. What was the biggest obstacle you overcame on your way to success?
We still find obstacles! Every month - a new obstacle, so I don't even know which one to choose. I think that's when we made the decision to expand. Three years after the first location, we increased production capacity by opening a new location. Then, after five or six years, we again realized that even more space was needed.
Last year we opened a bakery with a space of 1000 square meters in total, being our biggest project so far. We wanted to open a mini artisan bread factory, a larger laboratory to produce bread and bakery products. The whole process, from planning, designing, authorizing, installing equipment was incredibly difficult.
Closing the lab at one location, moving equipment to the new location to continue production – the whole process was incredible. It all started three and a half years ago and it's still going! There are still new situations that need to be solved, and this while we make sure that production goes well, so that we can supply the stores.
7. How important do you think high-performance equipment is in the activity of a bakery/patisserie?
More and more high-performance equipment is needed! Because we want to develop the product range, increase the production capacity, but we don't want to make massive hires. That's why we need automated lines to replace manual work, equipment that can be set to obtain uniform, standardized, high-quality products, machines that increase productivity, generating time and savings.
8. How much is the current economic climate affecting you and what do you think the long-term effects will be?
The previous year was a big shock. The beginning of the year, more precisely, was one of the hardest moments for us. We had just made very large investments in the new production laboratory when the crisis triggered by the conflict situation began, immediately after the pandemic period. This conjuncture forced us to increase the prices of products, analyzing in advance the prices of raw materials and energy.
Since in the first six months we were preoccupied with moving to the new production laboratory, we could not develop new products. But gradually we found the necessary time and started introducing new products to the range offered to customers. We are still bringing news to the market, here is the positive impact we have in this area. The richer our range of products to satisfy the tastes of as many customers as possible, the better we manage to get through the difficult economic period globally.
9. What do you think will be the evolution in Romania for the artisanal bakery?
We started from the idea of having a central laboratory and several artisan bakery shops. I met this model for the first time in Austria, but also in France. Probably this trend will also reach Romania. The owner should own only one laboratory, employees and high-performance equipment. From this unique laboratory to supply fresh bakery products to the stores.
Artisanal baking is on the rise. We will open two more stores this year, in two neighborhoods where we are not yet. One location is almost an hour away from the space where we produce. We try to go as close as possible to our customer, because we see that the market is growing and people are looking for fresh and handcrafted products.
10. Do you have a specific person who motivates you, or a motto that guides you in life?
The motto behind Pain Plaisir is "Bake in the heart of the city". This motto is written in every store and on the packaging in which we put our products.
As for me, the person who inspired me, who motivated me, was the Chef I worked with in my father's restaurant, the chef from whom I learned most of the secrets of the trade. Now, I realized that I, in turn, have become this the person for those around me, for my team. So, I have to find the resources within myself to rise to the demands of this role.
Audio version of the interview:
Interview conducted by Gabriela Dan, Editor of Arta Albă
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