June 03, 2024

Jana´s Family and The Story Behind Pècora Café

In the heart of Barcelona, a family has transformed their passion for baking and community into a thriving family business. In this interview, we meet Jana, the creative force behind @pecora.cafe and @masmeriendas, who shares how she balances motherhood and her love for cooking. Join us as we discover how a visit to a nursery to choose flowers turns into a delightful baking adventure that enriches both their lives and their neighborhood.

" I'm Jana,a mother of three, living in Poblenou, Barcelona. Malin is 10, Jakob is 7 and Elion is 4 years old.

I studied architecture but then chose to start a business as a pastry chef. Since then I bake cakes @masmeriendas, and I recently opened @pecora.cafe, selling my sweets and making coffee."

Can you tell us how you became a pastry chef and started your own business @masmeriendas?

" I was looking for a way to work without having to compromise time with my small kids; that's how the idea of my own small business was born; a project that I could start very small and slowly and then grow with time.

I've always loved to work with my hands, and I love food and cooking and baking. A cake business was a fantasy that kept coming up,so I decided to give it a try.

Also, the specialty coffee scene in Barcelona was starting to grow at that time, so I started to sell my products to these new coffee places, the first one being Espai Joliu, which had just opened its doors in front of my house, and I took that as a sign."

We see that your cakes are decorated with flowers and they are so beautiful. How creativity takes an important in your cakes?

" I feel the biggest challenge of my work is to make food with the best ingredients, but also give it a touch of beauty, colour, so you can enjoy it with all of your senses. I think one really important aspect is the joy and the love you put into what you do, in this case even more because people are actually eating it! "

Recently you have opened Pècora cafe. Can you tell us a bit more about this project.

" Pècora is like my fourth child. It had been a dream for many years to create a space to sell what I make directly to the people, create the ambiance, make them a coffee with their cookie...and I'm so happy it has come true recently. For me it was really important to find a place in my immediate neighbourhood, I love to think I'm contributing in some way to my direct surrounding in that way. I'm loving the feeling of building a small community and meeting point, and the feedback the clients give me. "

And to finish this interview, how can you manage both projects and being a mother of three kids?

" Lots of Magic. I think motherhood gives you superpowers, but it's also really hard work to divide your presence and energy between areas of your life that are so different. You have to be gentle with yourself...and find the balance I guess. It's a work in progress really. "