IVOIRE
A pastry shop in Việt Nam is changing the world, one boob-shaped cake at a time.
Words by Nhi Vo
In a corner of Hồ Chí Minh City, Việt Nam, there is a pastry shop founded by a woman and dedicated to uplifting women and challenging prejudice. IVOIRE was founded by Kasey, a young Vietnamese pastry chef, and Nigel, her business partner and baker.
Baking has always been Kasey’s greatest passion. After six years living in Melbourne and exploring its vibrant food scene, Kasey and Nigel were eager to bring new and interesting desserts back home to Việt Nam. In 2016, entremets were not a common dish in Việt Nam. So, seeing a gap in the industry, they looked to fill it. They opened IVOIRE in 2018 with a simple goal: to make good desserts. What started out as a passion project has since become a prominent name in Hồ Chí Minh for dessert-lovers.
IVOIRE’s desserts are nothing short of creative. By blending international and local flavours, the team at IVOIRE strives to push the boundaries of your palate. From pandan, longan and young rice flake, to fennel, pepper and miso paste—things you wouldn’t expect to find in a dessert, you might find at IVOIRE.
Desserts are at the heart of the business. Everything else, from the other menu items to the design of the shop itself, exist to complement and enhance IVOIRE’s desserts. The drink menu is deliberate and minimal. Unlike most cafes in Việt Nam, IVOIRE doesn’t have Vietnamese-style coffee as the characteristically strong flavour would overpower the desserts. The team at IVOIRE favours medium-roasted coffee beans for an acidic and fruity note that pairs well with their cakes and pastries.
The service at IVOIRE is genuine and bespoke with no fixed formula. Staff members maintain professional customer service, but are encouraged to let their unique character shine through. Many local cafes are streamlining their businesses by taking orders through QR codes and touch screens, but Kasey and Nigel were determined to keep their business feeling genuine. By maintaining human touchpoints throughout the store, they ensure all customers enquiries are attended to by a friendly—human—staff member.
Breaking the stigma
IVOIRE is equally dedicated to empowering young women.
Customer facing jobs usually prefer women over men, but not many of those women are given the opportunity to take up management positions within these businesses. It’s not uncommon to see hiring posts for service staff positions in Viet Nam that explicitly preference ‘young’ and ‘good looking’ women. These girls are sometimes called ‘flowerpots’, an implicit suggestion that their purpose is solely decorative. As a result, women working in the service industry are victim to a lot of unfair assumptions. They are considered unintelligent and shallow, and are often underpaid by their employers who cite their supposed limited physical capabilities.
IVOIRE uses a flat hierarchy business model consisting of supervisors among the crew, a front of house manager and a kitchen manager who report directly to Nigel and Kasey. By keeping a minimal communication chain, there is less risk of miscommunication and no one is too small or too unimportant to be ignored. Opportunities for leadership positions within the business are provided equally for capable employees no matter their gender. Most of the employees at IVOIRE are women, and many hold leadership positions.
Most girls working in the industry don’t get the respect they deserve from their male colleagues or from customers. They are usually targeted by rude and abusive guests and friendly interactions with male customers are often misinterpreted as flirtatious or suggestive.
At IVOIRE, staff are encouraged to speak up about these issues and build their confidence through communication. For a business that prides themselves on empowering women, IVOIRE ensures that their employees feel like they have the power to speak up and feel safe.
The TITI cake
Every women’s day, IVOIRE brings their passion for desserts and their women-led philosophy together into a dessert: the TITI cake—small cakes shaped like women’s breasts. The TITI cake is a bold statement that advocates for the normalisation of feminine traits and the female body.
Debuting in 2021, the TITI cake is IVOIRE’s dessert-shaped reimagining of the ‘free the nipples’ movement, it boldly challenges the scrutiny women face over their bodies, and encourages women to step up to break stereotypes and question how they are perceived. IVOIRE’s central aim with the TITI cake was to challenge the notion that women’s bodies are inherently, and almost exclusively, sexual. IVOIRE asks, ‘how can breasts, which are essential to life, be so scandalous?’
The TITI cake received plenty of reactions upon its debut. Some customers were intrigued, some scandalised, others made fun of the cakes. All of this was the point, conversations were sparked, awareness was raised. Since then, TITI cakes have become an iconic signature dish every Women’s Day at IVOIRE.
Women’s bodies are sexualised all the time. Girls are expected to dress modestly and cover themselves. Society has failed to help young girls find confidence in their body and femininity. IVOIRE argues that it shouldn’t take immense courage for a girl to wear what she likes even if it is deemed suggestive or revealing by others.
In developing countries like Việt Nam, women are still struggling to break free from patriarchal expectations and IVOIRE is doing what they can to erase the prejudice against women and advocate for equality in the industry.