Customers will receive a warm welcome at Gloria’s Café which opened recently in the city centre.
Based in Baker Street, the café serves delicious homemade baked goods including cupcakes, Swiss rolls, tarts, cakes, brownies, tiramisu and Hungarian desserts.
There are also tasty croissants, pastries filled with ricotta and spinach, bagel toasties, paninis and soups to choose from as well as a wide range of Italian coffee and other drinks.
The cafe is run by Gloria Sanna, a Hungarian and Italian woman who moved to Scotland in 2012, and recently graduated from university with a Language Studies degree in French and Spanish.
Gloria, with help from her talented home-baker mother Edit, creates all the bakery items and savoury goods.
It was a dream come true for her to open her own business and she’s enjoying the experience so far.
She says: “I work in the café every day and since we are open seven days a week, it can be tiring and a little overwhelming but extremely rewarding and amazing at the same time.
I’m determined to make it a success and we’ve had great feedback so far from customers and some lovely five-star reviews posted on Google.
Gloria learned a lot about cooking and baking from her mother and has worked in a range of hospitality venues over the past few years.
She initially planned to move into a career using her language skills but found her love of baking and the hospitality industry led her to a new role – launching her first business venture to run her café.
She says: “Throughout my university years and during my last year of high school, I worked in hospitality at the various cafes and food outlets at the University of Stirling and really enjoyed it.
After I graduated, I looked for a job using my language skills and went to work as a project manager in translation but realised it didn’t really suit me, so I found a job in a barber shop which helped me discover more or less what it takes to run a business. I then left and returned to hospitality working at Stirling’s Monterey Jack’s restaurant.
I then decided to take the chance to open my own café and after seeing a few possible venues, my partner, Batuhan Coskun, found the perfect little shop in Baker Street which we viewed and fell in love with.
I’m only 24 so it’s a bold move but hopefully one which will pay off and I’ve had great support from my family and from Batuhan who also helps out at the weekends.
We’ve been open for almost two months now and it’s going great so far and the first weekend was really busy, which I didn’t expect as we didn’t advertise it, and which was wonderful with lots of family and friends coming in to support me. I’m very motivated for the future and delighted to have the opportunity to work for myself.”
The majority of the food served in Gloria’s café is homemade and includes some amazing cake and cupcake designs which are often created to celebrate special occasions, like Easter or Mother’s Day, and which can also be ordered and custom-made for birthdays or other celebrations.
Gloria prides herself on the café’s warm and welcoming atmosphere and the high-quality food on offer which customers can either eat in or take-away.
She currently has three tables accommodating around 15 people inside and has permission for some outside seating which will be a fantastic addition to the café as the summer approaches.
Gloria’s Café, which is dog-friendly and based at 4, Baker Street, is open daily from 9am until 5.30pm Tuesday to Saturday; 9am to 4pm on Mondays and 10am to 5pm on Sundays.
More details about the café and photos of the amazing baked goods on offer can be found on the Facebook page – www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090049283667 and on Instagram – www.instagram.com/gloriascafestirling/
