A cupcake business that began in a college corridor with just Rs 5,000 has grown into a gourmet gifting venture serving more than 500 clients. Bengaluru entrepreneur Megna Jain started selling homemade cupcakes at the age of 18, decorating them during college breaks and turning a personal passion for baking into a source of income. Years later, she founded Dream A Dozen, an all-women kitchen that has built a business around cakes, cookies and customised corporate gift hampers. Her journey, however, was not a straightforward rise. From facing resistance within her college to dealing with operational difficulties and shutting down for six weeks during the Covid-19 pandemic, Megna had to repeatedly adapt her business model. One of her biggest turning points came when she identified an opportunity in corporate gifting and began delivering curated food hampers to companies across India.
From college breaks to a baking business
Megna's entrepreneurial journey began when she was studying at Christ University in Bengaluru. At 18, she started baking cupcakes and bringing them to college to sell to her classmates. During breaks, she would decorate the cupcakes with frosting before selling them. What began as a hobby gradually attracted attention, with fellow students supporting her small venture. Not everyone, however, approved of the idea. One professor reportedly considered selling cupcakes on campus inappropriate. Her classmates stood by her, while some other professors encouraged her to consider building a business around her baking skills. The experience gave Megna an early glimpse of entrepreneurship. She was not only learning how to bake and sell but also understanding customer preferences, managing orders and balancing business responsibilities with her studies. After completing college, she gained professional experience by working with food startups InnerChef and Cakewala. These roles helped her understand the food business beyond the kitchen, including operations, customer expectations and delivery. In 2018, she decided to take the next step and launched Dream A Dozen with an initial investment of just Rs 5,000.
A difficult beginning tested her determination
Dream A Dozen's early growth came with its share of challenges. After starting from her home kitchen in January 2018, Megna had to shift to a separate premises within six months as orders increased. However, the new workspace brought unexpected problems. According to a 2021 YourStory report, the building's caretaker allegedly created difficulties for the team, including cutting off electricity when orders were at their peak and disrupting the business premises. In March 2020, Megna and her team moved to a larger space, hoping to expand operations and accommodate walk-in customers. But the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted those plans. The business remained shut for six weeks. With regular operations affected, Megna began taking online classes to support the venture and decided to shift entirely to an online business model. Instead of waiting for the situation to improve, she started looking for a different customer base that could keep the business running.
How Covid-19 pushed her towards corporate gifting
The turning point came ahead of Diwali in 2020. With companies looking for ways to send gifts to employees and customers across India, Megna identified an opportunity. She approached corporate clients and began offering curated gift boxes. However, serving customers across different cities required more than preparing good food. The team had to quickly understand packaging, logistics and delivery processes to ensure the products reached customers safely. The experiment proved successful. Dream A Dozen delivered approximately 1,500 gift boxes during the festive season, helping it recover its losses and record nearly double the sales it had achieved in previous years, Megna told YourStory. The shift also opened doors to a new business segment. Instead of depending only on individual customers ordering cakes and cupcakes, the company began catering to organisations looking for customised gifting solutions. Its corporate clientele eventually included companies such as Yahoo!, Accenture, Mediatech and IndiQube. This move helped Dream A Dozen establish itself as a corporate gifting brand while retaining its roots in baking.
Building an all-women kitchen and expanding the business
As the business grew, Megna focused on building a team and strengthening its operations. According to YourStory's 2021 report, Dream A Dozen had a 15-member team, including eight women working in the kitchen. Today, the Bengaluru-based venture operates as a gourmet gifting company with more than 500 clients. Its product range includes customised gift hampers featuring cookies, gourmet teas, crackers, cakes and other baked treats. Cupcakes, which started Megna's entrepreneurial journey, continue to remain an important part of the business. The company also operates through a centralised kitchen in Bengaluru, with its corporate gifting model allowing it to serve customers across the country. Megna's entrepreneurial journey has also included opportunities to learn from established business programmes. In 2021, she completed the Goldman Sachs-sponsored 10,000 Women Entrepreneur programme at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.
Her business, which began with an investment of Rs 5,000, went on to report revenue of more than Rs 1 crore, with FY24 figures crossing that milestone, according to the information shared about the venture. What started with a student carrying baskets of cupcakes on a BMTC bus has evolved into a business serving corporate clients and customers across India. Megna's journey demonstrates how a small passion project can develop into a sustainable enterprise when combined with persistence, customer understanding and the willingness to adapt. The six-week Covid shutdown could have ended her business, but the decision to explore corporate gifting gave Dream A Dozen a new direction.
