hi there!

My name is Tanya and I'm the owner of Tanya`s Kitchen. We are based in the beautiful little town, of Skerries , Co Dublin.

I am originally from Ukraine but have been living around the world since just before my 14th birthday.

 

I grew up in Oxford, Uk where I lived until 2002 when I moved to Saudi Arabia. I am a qualified English teacher and before opening the bakery I taught and managed schools for 16 years.

I am married to the love of my life and have 4 children. We moved to Dublin in 2014 and I started teaching in an English School in the city. Later that year I became the Academic Director of that school and I consulted English schools around Ireland as a side hustle.

I have always loved cooking and baking. Baking as a business was born in Saudi Arabia after one of my closest friends lost her husband to an illness.

 

I brought some treats for them and a lady that
was also visiting approached me to make an order for an event she was having. I smiled and said that I don`t do that but she was very persistent and that`s how I was, you can say, discovered !

Within a few months of that order, we were so busy, my mum started working with me and we had one lady who worked with us who used to only make fondant(it was a big deal then).

 

Getting supplies for cake decorating in Saudi was very challenging so we made all fondant from scratch using marshmallows. Every single supermarket in the area knew me as the “marshmallow lady” who would empty their shelves.

 

I mainly worked nights as I was still working full time, in a University at that stage, and teaching exam classes in the evening, but somehow I always loved it!

 

I had no issues getting out of my very formal office wear, throwing on an apron, and keeping going till very early hours.

In 2014 we decided to move back to Europe and landed in Ireland! We settled in Dublin, the kids got on with school and I started teaching. I would do very few cakes here and there and had all my tools shipped from Saudi, but concentrated on my position as the Director and enjoyed my Consultancy gigs.

All was well until the pandemic hit and we found out that in literally a matter of weeks, my mum had the last
stages of cancer. We weren`t able to go to her and she wasn`t able to come here, no insurance company would take her, we lost everything we saved and only by the grace of God and good friends that we were able to save her. Friends had set up goFund me and endless stories on Facebook.

 

One of my dearest friends, who is the reason we ended up in Skerries said, make some cookie boxes and I will take them into work and spread the word, and that`s how we started in
Dublin. I started baking Christmas cookies from home and we had cookies everywhere!!!!

 

I then went on to making cakes again and my home turned into a bakery, while also working full time !!!! I
then went on working part-time and then completely resigned!

I had so much self-doubt, real imposter syndrome, which I do to this day, but swore to myself if I would keep similar orders for 3
full months that I would take a leap and do this full time, which I did and never looked back.

I am blessed to have found what I love and I do really love it!

 

People often ask, what is your favorite thing about my business, and the answer is, without any hesitation, is-I would happily do this for free if I had the chance, and the fact that I get to wake up every day, and do what I LOVE is priceless.

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Thank you for supporting my small business, thank you for your trust, and for allowing me to be part of your celebrations and special moments.

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- Tanya.