Set up 20 years ago, Gigays, a confectionery shop in Fatorda, has on its shelves sweets and pickles of unmatched quality. George D’Souza, the proprietor talks about sweets and more
An aroma of a mixture of flour, egg, sugar and vanillaextract wafts through the air as George D’Souza, the proprietor of Gigays(pronounced jiggays) , a popular confectionery shop in Fatorda, folds in theingredients for the Christmas cakes. The shelves of the shops are laden withGoan sweets including Christmas sweetmeats such as neureo and dodol. Peopleflock to Gigays for these and the mouth-watering lime, mixed vegetable and mangopickles. The taste of the sweets and especially the pickles is second to none.
This Goan-born entrepreneur who had a successful interiordecoration business in Ahmedabad besides being the sports editor for Times ofIndia, Mumbai, returned to Goa in 1991. “As a young boy I used to help mymother to make cakes and Goan sweets. So that’s where I learnt the delicateartistry of sweet making. When I returned, I saw there was not much scope forother businesses and I started this,” says D’souza. He set up shop thefollowing year and used the combination of his daughters’ names – Giselle andGaye – for the naming the shop. The beginnings were in Fatorda, and he beganwith only cakes which moved very well. “I then began making doce and graduallyincreased the number of items in the shelves. Now we have around 25 items,” heclaims.
The cakes and biscuits are made at the shop and the rest ofthe confections are made at his home in Nuvem with his wife and employed help.“Labour is very difficult to find. This dearth inhibits expansion,” D’souzasays. Yet, he supplies to outlets in Panjim, Porvorim and Mapusa. The sweetshave also found their way out of the state and the country – people fromBangalore, Pune, Delhi and Canada, London and Europe have flocked to Gigays.
Except for the biscuits whose recipe was invented byD’souza, the rest of the confections are made from recipes handed down by hismother. The pickles were the creation of his wife who perfected the recipe overthe years. Not certain about whether his children will continue the business,D’souza goes on to cater to a customer who asks for bolinhas, batica and guavacheese.
