Meeting_in_Turkey - Activity_10-Visiting a successful Company - “Karaköy Güllüoğlu Pastry Shop”

Visiting a successful Company - “Karaköy Güllüoğlu Pastry Shop”

In this activity, you visited a successful company which is very famous in Turkey.

The unchanging taste of Karaköy

            Güllü Family has been in baklava business since 1800’s. It is known that Hacı Mehmed Güllü who is called “Güllü Çelebi” is the first in the family to start to production of baklava.

            Making and selling desserts has always been important in Gaziantep. When Güllü Çelebi entered this business he went to Damascus and Aleppo which were very famous for desserts to learn more about the details making baklava. He stayed there for 6 months and learned a lot about baklava. When he came back he set up his own stall . After his death his son Hacı Mahmud Güllü continued his father’s business and started making baklava with a thin sheet of dough made by a roller. When Hacı Mahmud Güllü’s four sons continued their father’s business the making of baklava became a family tradition.

              In 1930’s Güllü family started to send baklava to other nearby cities. This made the family known in wide area. The grandson of Hacı Mahmud Güllü ,Mustafa Güllü , thus decided to carry the business to Istanbul. The first shop in Karaköy in 1949 is also the first baklava shop outside Gaziantep.

             Karaköy Güllüoğlu which started as a small shop in Karaköy in 1949 now is the owner of the first baklava factory in the world. Still in Karaköy on Mumhane street no.171 it can produce more than 2.5 tons of baklava.