Iman Habib is a self-described over-extender: 9-5 job, wife, mom of two boys, a side cake business. She did them all. At the same time. Needless to say, she slept in the car during her lunch break.
Before she quit her full-time job as a bioanalytical scientist, she used her last steady paycheck to build a pastry studio (rather, a “lady den”) in the basement of her Fredericksburg home. Because, she says laughing, she already spent the money from selling cakes to buy more cookbooks.
Bonn Boni, meaning candy or something sweet in Arabic—Habib was born in Egypt and moved to the United States as a baby—expanded from an at-home cake business to offering more desserts (tarts, cookies, cupcakes) and savory baked goods (Lebanese-style flatbreads, quiches) at farmers markets and from her Arlington food cart (falafel, shawarma).
Next year she hopes to bring carrot jerky to retail.
After being diagnosed with multiple autoimmune diseases when she couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t losing pregnancy weight, she turned to CrossFit (and traditional medications) and adopted a paleo diet. Looking for a beef jerky-like snack, but sans meat and the accompanying nitrates, she turned to kitchen scraps. With leftover carrots from juicing, she mixed the fibrous pulp with dates and coconut, rolled it out into a thin sheet and dehydrated it to form jerky. Other flavors include one with apricots and flax, and another with za’atar and figs.
Habib’s side hustle is now her job, but her ambitious streak hasn’t ceased. She’s opening a second food cart this fall. // Carrot jerky is available for purchase at bonnboni.com
