The coolest event of the year

Summer is here and with it a rise in temperature of the bustling city, Dhaka. We are swamped in our day to day activities battling with our never-ending workload, traffic, and of course, the sweltering heat. And, if there is anything that our heart craves most, it would be dessert.

FoodBank, an online forum for all food lovers around the country fulfilled that longing by proudly presenting The Dessert Factory. The coolest event of the year happened throughout 12th and 13th May at the Six Seasons Hotel from 11 am to 11 pm.

The idea came to Shish Shapnik, the founder of FoodBank, and he shared it with his fiancée Lazina Mona. Together with the rest of the admins of FoodBank, the event was carried out successfully with a handful of well-known dessert stores around the city. They received a massive response from all the dessert lovers around the city. After all, one can hardly deny coffee or waffles to start their day with. Renowned dessert stores included Yellow Submarine, Tastebud, Dipsydo's, New Zealand Natural Bangladesh, Bellissimo Creations, Icecream Rolls, Chewy Junior, and many others. 

After the colossal response from Foodland that was carried out last year, FoodBank decided to raise the stakes and invest in the best dessert, ice-cream, juice and chillers all under one roof, and it paid off.  It was worth the joyful faces of the customers and the store owners. The crowd enjoyed themselves in good company, great music and of course, with delicious desserts. 

Lazina, one of the organisers of The Dessert Factory and admins of FoodBank, explained that one of the many reasons for carrying out this event was also to give exposure to the online bakeries such as Banee's Creation, Jinia's Kitchen and Brownie Hut. These dessert stores are flourishing on social media yet sometimes they may fall behind due to the lack of retail stores. It was a very noble gesture for FoodBank to reach out to these homemakers and give them an opportunity to showcase their creations.

Besides dessert, there was also a huge crowd of coffee lovers who relished the presence of Antatouille Coffees, Coffee from East, and Coffeelicious Coffee. My personal favourite was the store Root for selling fresh fruit juices in a very unique style. 

The fun didn't simply end at the event. Cold Stone Creamery, event partner of The Dessert Factory provided 'buy 1 get 1 coupons' for the first 500 people to arrive on each day. There was also a raffle draw on the last day and the winner won a chef special exclusive dinner for two at the Watercress Restaurant. 

To promote the event, Radio Shadhin 92.4FM was heavily involved and founder of Instafoodbd, Sabit Hossain provided free entry for 25 of his followers on the last day.  

For those who missed the event, keep an eye out on FoodBank's official page –www.facebook.com/groups/ foodbankbd/ for more events such as Foodland 2. 

By Mayesha Raidah