Anna Kuznetsova: The HRC Grad Behind Mishka Bakery

Anna Kuznetsova, a graduate of HRC Culinary Academy’s Culinary Arts program, has turned her passion for baking into a thriving business. Originally from Moscow, Anna is now the proud founder of Mishka Bakery – a charming, family-owned pastry shop in Sofia, Bulgaria. Today she shares with us her journey from her hometown to HRC, and how her time at the academy helped her build the skills and confidence to open her own bakery and follow her dreams.

How did you come up with the idea for Mishka Bakery?

At the time, we were living in Belgium. I was waiting for my documents to be processed, and Dani, my husband, was working. Without documents, I couldn’t get a job. Back in Russia, I had taken a pastry course focused specifically on cakes. One of my friends supported me and ordered a cake for her baby’s 6-month celebration. It turned out to be a complete disaster – the ganache was over-whipped, and pretty much everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. But despite that, my friend was supportive and had such a great reaction that she shared it with her friends.

Through word of mouth, more and more people started learning about my cakes. At a certain point, I thought it was time to grow. Then me and Dani, my husband, decided to open Mishka Bakery.

Why did you decide to study Culinary Arts instead of starting your business right away?

At the beginning I didn’t know what a professional kitchen was. I just knew I loved home baking and cooking, it was like a passion. I thought studying at the academy was an opportunity to get a great base. There you get a glimpse of everything. For me the academy was a great start, I learned enough as a beginner chef.

I had two wonderful internships that gave me even more opportunities to grow.

What is your favorite thing about your time at the academy?

My favorite thing was everything which involved hands-on experience and creativity which we were given quite a lot of and for that I’m thankful.

How do you deal with the hardships that you face as a business owner?

You just tell yourself you need to push. You have people that rely on you, it’s not just the two of us like in the beginning. You have responsibilities, you have a whole team. You just tell yourself you need to move, invent and become creative in every single way that you can.

Then magically people feel, understand and they support. We owe it to our guests that right now we have a huge kitchen and we’re opening two new places soon.

Can you share what it’s like to have your life partner also be your business partner?

Well, of course, it’s not easy. I never pretend otherwise – it’s very hard. More than once, we’ve reached the point where we say to each other: “This can’t go on. It’s either the business or the family!” But somehow, we manage to balance it and make it work.

Yes, sometimes we argue and raise our voices, but we know that we have to grow together. We keep going forward.

How are you handling the staffing crisis that’s affecting the industry in Bulgaria and abroad?

This is definitely the hardest part – finding the right people, your people. Whenever Dani and I conduct interviews, it only takes us 5–10 seconds to know whether someone will feel comfortable working with us.

It really helps that we’re in this industry and have a lot of contacts among chefs and pastry professionals. That’s how we found Desi, who’s been with us the longest and, like us, is a graduate of the Academy. The rest of the team are people who found us in one way or another.

Of course, like in any kitchen, there’s tension sometimes, but we try to take care of our team so they feel comfortable here. We organize team-building events and most importantly, we want them to know we’re all human and that they can rely on us.

What’s your vision for the future of Mishka Bakery?

We’ve already reached the point where our current location is limiting us. That’s why we’re now putting a lot of effort and investing all possible resources into opening two more locations in Sofia. This will allow us to expand our selection even further. We want to offer more complex pastries like croissants, ice cream, and, of course, continue to develop our macaron and bento cake production.

We want to surprise our customers with creative and unfamiliar things! We truly believe our customers are the most important, because they’re the ones supporting us. We don’t want to be just another pastry shop where someone comes in, picks something from the display, and leaves. We want to create a feeling that our customers are part of the brand, to give them gifts and surprises.

Since summer is usually a slower season for us, we’ve taken on an exciting new project – multi-tiered wedding cakes. Our dream is to create a production hub, where each of our locations has a different purpose.

Our imagination knows no bounds, and someday we hope to make it all a reality.

What advice would you give to young chefs?

Don’t be afraid. It’s going to be hard. Don’t expect a 9 to 5 job because it’s not that kind of job. You need to be prepared for 12-15 hours shifts and you need to be really passionate about it.