Small Business: Café Ganache has perfected the kronut

I met Café Ganache’s owner, Sadruddin Abdulla, at the Charlotte Food Fight in early May where I was one of the CharlotteFive judges. Café Ganache is the first food truck in the Charlotte Food Fight’s five-year history to receive a perfect score on the judge’s sheets.

After tasting Abdullah’s elaborate entry into the contest, I knew I had to meet the man who designed this dessert.

Café Ganache’s entry used the required ingredient, Magnolia coffee, to create a kronut, macaroon and iced coffee that brought people over to the judges’ tables to just view the presentation.

Abdullah, 64, didn’t start cooking until he was 43 years old.

“I never baked a cookie in my life,” he said.

Abdullah started working with a pastry chef and enjoyed himself so much that he decided to pursue a degree in culinary arts at the University of Alaska in Anchorage.

From there, he, his wife and their six children moved to Rhode Island. Abdullah and his wife enrolled at Johnson & Wales University in Providence where he earned a bachelor’s degree in baking and pastry arts and a master’s degree in business administration. He taught for JWU for 10 years, the last four in Charlotte.

Café Ganache’s specialty item is the kronut ($6), but they also sell sandwiches on homemade brioche breads, bagels and croissants ($8-$10), and Bavarian pretzels ($4.25). Track them down on Instagram @sugarrmann.

Sadruddin Abdulla talked with C5 for the Small Business Series:

How much do entrepreneurs rely on family and friends to help with their business?

“It takes family and friends to just get off the ground, and to stay in the game.

“Family and friends generally have a lot of experiences in different areas. Whether they have legal experience or construction experience, or whether they have mechanical experience or whatever it is, they provide an invaluable source of information and experience that if you had to pay for, it would be very challenging. This information is essential to your success.”

What are some hidden or unexpected costs when starting a business?

“Insurance is huge. You cannot operate, especially in the food business, without insurance.

“Legal fees – very important. The worst thing an entrepreneur can do is to sign a contract without a lawyer looking at it.”

Where do you get your inspiration for your recipes? 

“My daughter, Sajeedah (SJ) is a social media fiend. She scrounges the internet and sends me things that are going on around the world at least 10 times a week.

“We found out about kronuts because my wife was searching on social media.”

Why a food truck as opposed to a brick and mortar shop?

“The truck does not replace the shop. The ideal situation will be that I will have the brick and mortar and the truck. They can work hand-in-hand together.

“There are things that you can do in the brick and mortar that you can’t do on the truck, primarily because of space. I can’t run my sheeter, [the six-foot long table with a huge rolling pin] in the truck, which I use to make the dough.”

 If you weren’t running Café Ganache, what would you be doing?

“I’d be traveling the world eating great food. One of my dreams is to just sit under the Eiffel Tower with a baguette and some fine European butter and a glass of wine.”

Café Ganache: Instagram @sugarrmann

Photos: SJ Abdullah, Niamah Abdullah

Family history and my own fascination with people and their motivations prompted me to begin this series about Charlotte’s small business owners. Industry, situation and questions will vary. Have a suggestion for a small business owner or entrepreneur to interview? Email it to vanessainfanzon@gmail.com with the subject line “Small Business Series.

This story was originally published May 30, 2017 at 10:00 PM with the headline "Small Business: Café Ganache has perfected the kronut."