A plant-based taste of France comes to Glasgow
Founder Marlène Mamia began the company in her home in February 2022 / Credit: Marlène Mamia
Seven years ago, a young French woman would discover plant-based eating and it would change her relationship with food forever.
Marlène Mamia credits her love for vegan food and passion for cooking as what aided her in overcoming her eating disorder and opening her bakery, TheDorkyFrench.
Mamia said: “When I thought of creating French plant-based croissants and pains au chocolat, with a strong belief that many people would be as excited as I am about these products, I was drawn to the idea and jumped right into it.”
While the 25-year-old is self-taught, she worked as a vegan chef for six months in Glasgow after she studied business and human resource management at Dundee. Mamia had the drive to start her business from home soon after.
“I sold pastries from home for six months and then stopped completely to work on the bakery shop project, using those six months of trading as a portfolio for my idea,” said Mamia.
She said she enjoyed the process behind her planning phase, creating business plans and documents. Mamia was held uncertainty during her ten months spent planning.
“I had to learn to be patient and to strengthen my faith in making the project happen,” Mamia said.
Mamia also taught French part-time to keep up with her new endeavour. She said every small win took her one step closer to her bakery, but her uncertainty grew with other vegan businesses closing around her. She didn’t want people to think she gave up on the bakery.
Mamia said: “They were many pieces to the puzzle, aligning finding five different sources of funding with securing premises, legal authorisations etc.
“The most rewarding part of the planning phase is all the people that came along the way. Little by little I wasn’t alone in this project anymore and it’s the community here that made my project become real.”
Mamia was originally set on only selling high standard plant-based croissants and pains au chocolat, but says the pastry world has changed.
“My French traditional ideas have merged with the Scottish market, and it’s given birth to a range of both traditional French pastries and more creative ones,” said Mamia.
TheDorkyFrench opened in June of 2023, and with it, the need for a vegan bakery grew as more people chose a plant-based or dairy-free lifestyle. Mamia said the love for viennoiseries (croissants and pains au chocolat) have always held popularity.
“It’s about the experience more than it is about the product – the freshness of a quality, always freshly baked French pastry,” said Mamia. “Then there’s the sustainable aspect of it, our organic plant-based butter contributes to eight times less CO2 emissions compared to dairy butter. It’s a better alternative that is sustainably sourced and doesn’t support animal cruelty.”
Sustainability is one of the driving factors behind TheDorkyFrench, where Mamia continues to use her knowledge of pastries and vegan food to bring a sustainable alternative to the Trongate community.
“My focus now still lies in making the bakery and café sustainable and in prioritising my mental health before jumping on anything else,” said Mamia.
Samantha Vega-Torres is a master’s student at Glasgow Caledonian University enrolled in the multimedia journalism program. She received her bachelor’s in communications with a concentration in journalism and media writing from Lasell University in Newton, Massachusetts, USA.
