A 30-year-old bakery in Sydney's Little India

Topic: Small Businesses

Kevin Bui has served baked goods from his Vietnamese bakery for over 30 years in Harris Park.

A Vietnamese bakery has outlived numerous restaurants and grocers in a suburb that is defined by its South Asian offerings.

Kevin Bui has served baked goods for more than three decades on the corner of Wigram Street in Harris Park.

The area was Filipino, then Greek, and then Lebanese, and then the Indians came over, said Mr Bui.

He has seen the suburb take shape over recent years.

At first, I was worried if the business would collapse, said the bakery owner.

Keeping the bakery afloat in the heart of Harris Park took quick-thinking from its shop owner.

An Indian street food staple

The business, Jason King's Bakery, survived the Indian retail growth in Harris Park with a steady flow of demand.

What Mr Bui sold as a soft bun, many South Asian business owners called a pav or dabeli bun.

The soft buns from Mr Bui's bakery are used in many dishes sold by Little India's street food vendors.

The soft bread roll is a staple to any street food menu, often served with a vegetable curry or stuffed with potato and chutney.

All the restaurants from Pendle Hill, St Marys, they buy the buns from me, said Mr Bui.

Mr Bui's weekends are the busiest, where he starts work at about 8pm and bakes until the morning.

The bakery produces thousands of buns on weekends.

Lebanese sweet shop adapts to survive

A Lebanese sweet shop has been family-owned for over three decades and survived the area's changing demographic.

SweetLand Patisserie manager Anthony Elkadi said the store had to adapt when the Indian population boomed.

The majority of them are vegetarian, and they don't have egg, and what we did is we've created a cake without egg.

SweetLand Patisserie has changed some of its recipes to cater for the demographic.

Mr Elkadi plans to take over the store from his father to keep it alive.

It's a beautiful thing to be able to not only give sweets to the community but give them that sense of having another home.

Serving cakes, baklava and coffee, the patisserie has been fuelled by cake orders from Indians and regulars.

Diverse traffic from all over Sydney

Sanjay Deshwal spoke of the impact of Little India on Australia's South Asian community.

Sanjay Deshwal, president of the Little India Harris Park Business Precinct, said small businesses on Wigram Street brought a large amount of foot traffic.

The Indian grocery shops opened first, then the Indian restaurants opened, and then a lot of Indian consultancies and garment shops opened.

Despite increasing rents as the area's property value grew, Mr Bui said the influx of Indian businesses brought the area up.

For me, I have to work hard, but I'm not stressed about the business, said Mr Bui.

The small businesses on Wigram Street have brought a large amount of foot traffic to the area.

Not ready to sell

Mr Bui has run the bakery with his wife, Julie Bui, for more than 30 years.

My boy was only three when we opened the store, he used to run around the shop, said Mr Bui.

In our culture we work for our children.

Mr Bui named the bakery after his son, Jason, which he said was a common practice back home.

Mr Bui and his wife are not yet ready to hang up the oven mitts of their bakery.

Despite offers from his customers to buy the bakery, Mr Bui was not ready to hang up the oven mitts.

If I sell the business, I'll stay at home, and it's boring, said Mr Bui.

Most of the Indian people in the area, they know me, I'm happy with the business, my stress is gone.

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A 30-year-old bakery in Sydney's Little India

Topic: Small Businesses

Kevin Bui has served baked goods from his Vietnamese bakery for over 30 years in Harris Park.

A Vietnamese bakery has outlived numerous restaurants and grocers in a suburb that is defined by its South Asian offerings.

Kevin Bui has served baked goods for more than three decades on the corner of Wigram Street in Harris Park.

The area was Filipino, then Greek, and then Lebanese, and then the Indians came over, said Mr Bui.

He has seen the suburb take shape over recent years.

At first, I was worried if the business would collapse, said the bakery owner.

Keeping the bakery afloat in the heart of Harris Park took quick-thinking from its shop owner.

An Indian street food staple

The business, Jason King's Bakery, survived the Indian retail growth in Harris Park with a steady flow of demand.

What Mr Bui sold as a soft bun, many South Asian business owners called a pav or dabeli bun.

The soft buns from Mr Bui's bakery are used in many dishes sold by Little India's street food vendors.

The soft bread roll is a staple to any street food menu, often served with a vegetable curry or stuffed with potato and chutney.

All the restaurants from Pendle Hill, St Marys, they buy the buns from me, said Mr Bui.

Mr Bui's weekends are the busiest, where he starts work at about 8pm and bakes until the morning.

The bakery produces thousands of buns on weekends.

Lebanese sweet shop adapts to survive

A Lebanese sweet shop has been family-owned for over three decades and survived the area's changing demographic.

SweetLand Patisserie manager Anthony Elkadi said the store had to adapt when the Indian population boomed.

The majority of them are vegetarian, and they don't have egg, and what we did is we've created a cake without egg.

SweetLand Patisserie has changed some of its recipes to cater for the demographic.

Mr Elkadi plans to take over the store from his father to keep it alive.

It's a beautiful thing to be able to not only give sweets to the community but give them that sense of having another home.

Serving cakes, baklava and coffee, the patisserie has been fuelled by cake orders from Indians and regulars.

Diverse traffic from all over Sydney

Sanjay Deshwal spoke of the impact of Little India on Australia's South Asian community.

Sanjay Deshwal, president of the Little India Harris Park Business Precinct, said small businesses on Wigram Street brought a large amount of foot traffic.

The Indian grocery shops opened first, then the Indian restaurants opened, and then a lot of Indian consultancies and garment shops opened.

Despite increasing rents as the area's property value grew, Mr Bui said the influx of Indian businesses brought the area up.

For me, I have to work hard, but I'm not stressed about the business, said Mr Bui.

The small businesses on Wigram Street have brought a large amount of foot traffic to the area.

Not ready to sell

Mr Bui has run the bakery with his wife, Julie Bui, for more than 30 years.

My boy was only three when we opened the store, he used to run around the shop, said Mr Bui.

In our culture we work for our children.

Mr Bui named the bakery after his son, Jason, which he said was a common practice back home.

Mr Bui and his wife are not yet ready to hang up the oven mitts of their bakery.

Despite offers from his customers to buy the bakery, Mr Bui was not ready to hang up the oven mitts.

If I sell the business, I'll stay at home, and it's boring, said Mr Bui.

Most of the Indian people in the area, they know me, I'm happy with the business, my stress is gone.

More NSW news

Topic: Kidnapping

Topic: Courts

Analysis by Jason Om

Promotion

Top Stories

Topic: Organised Crime

LIVE

BREAKING

Analysis by Ian Verrender

Top Stories

Topic: Organised Crime

LIVE

Topic: World Politics

Analysis by Ian Verrender

Just In

Topic: Courts

Topic: Shared Transport

Topic: Greyhound Racing

Topic: Missing Person