tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-411033348662345242024-03-19T15:24:23.950-07:00Macaron ParlourSimonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06076062329056459077noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-23753751150079739822014-09-01T09:15:00.000-07:002014-09-01T09:15:20.933-07:00Risky BusinessWhen we first started, we didn't want a store. It was too risky. We were afraid of all the issues that came with a store like rent costs and equipment breaking down. We were worried about the variables and the unknowns.<br />
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Things changed for us in 2011 when I went back to school to study Culinary Management at ICE. Throughout my six months there, we worked on creating a business plan for our future business. Since I already had Macaron Parlour, I wrote a business plan for a tiny store somewhere out of NYC. I pictured us in Hoboken. Even though we got our start in NY, I was just afraid of the seemingly cutthroat environment and the idea of failure loomed too heavily over me. Even though my teacher told me that I had a very reasonable business plan with very reasonable financials that showed us to be profitable, I couldn't believe that we would ever make it in NY.<br />
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While I was writing this business plan, Simon and I got it into our heads that we should be at the Union Square Holiday Market. It was four months away, but we felt like the next step from being a business that was at one weekend market and doing wholesale for maybe 2 stores into one that people take seriously was to participate in a serious event. It would test our ability to run a business - like a test run for a storefront. Before, we had like 5 days to plan for a weekend of sales, but never anything to challenge us to spend every day engrossed in the business. To do this, we applied to Madison Square Eats (owned by same company, Urban Space) and Simon swung by the office to try to convince them that we were a serious business. I quit my job, and suddenly had incredible amounts of time to dedicate to making the worst photoshop diagram of what I thought our booth would be. The diagram had no depth, perspective, and it did not (AT ALL) show our aesthetic. I'm pretty ashamed of how it looked, but someone liked it enough to give us a booth.<br />
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Our booth was less than 25 square feet, but it was still a real challenge to keep it stocked. We had to hire our first sales employees and beg to borrow pastry cooks from our fellow food friends at our commissary kitchen. We'd be filling macarons until 3 am and I would have a lot of difficulty in making it to our booth by 10 am. Nights when we weren't at the kitchen were spent trying to figure out financials and forecast production. It felt like we were selling out every day and unable to keep up, but in reality, we always had macarons to sell and our booth was always open. It was a totally new and amazing challenge and we ended up being able to participate in the Union Square Holiday Market.<br />
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Participating in long term markets put us in touch with customers on a daily basis and they asked us for a store. Forgetting all our fears, we started looking in the East Village. It's close to our home and we figured that there are no other macaron shops there. I found our spot quickly, but Simon hated that I chose a 1100 sq ft space because he felt that it was too big. Our space is made of two storefronts and he wanted us to take just one to minimize our costs. The price was right and with two storefronts, I pictured having a kitchen on one side and our retail space on the other. I wrote a business plan, did the financials, had everything checked over by my teacher at ICE and it just made sense for us. I knew it was too big for us at the time, but I hoped we would grow into it. For the first six months, Simon was right. We used half of the kitchen, our menu didn't seem big enough to cover the whole display counter, and I couldn't get my act together on developing our classroom. Even family started to intervene and say that we were wasting space. Other small businesses started coming by and asking to rent space, but I was adamant that one day, we would use all of it.<br />
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We were very pleased that as we grew our staff, we grew into our space. It wasn't until we started having days off that I realized that the true benefit of having the bigger space was the fact that we were able to get the staff to allow us the time off. If we had only half of the space, we wouldn't have been able to really train people. Training a large enough staff to cover all of our needs while we're absent is a blessing. We were even able to take two trips since opening. We had more vacation days after opening than we did before we opened.<br />
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This all could have gone poorly. We could have gotten too large of a space and never grown into it. It was a real risk we took and it paid off. It was a big financial risk and we were lucky enough to have an existing reputation that helped us speed through the process of growing. Perhaps if we were opening for the first time and no one knew about Macaron Parlour, things wouldn't have gone so well. It could have taken us over a year to grow into the space. While St. Marks Place is busy, excitement about our opening helped people get in. When we first started, we couldn't afford to fully staff our place because of our rent costs so Simon and I worked like crazy. Once our business kicked off, we were able to hire more people and scale back our own hours at the shop.<br />
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Now, we're really grateful for that seemingly poor decision. If we didn't have the larger kitchen, we never could have continued to participate in markets because we would not be able to get the staff to do enough production. I love that our retail side has enough tables in it to be packed on a Friday night and to hear the excited voices of people as they eat through a box of 12 macarons. Now we have a second store and over a dozen staff members. Simon and I get two days off a week (not consecutive, yet). We bought our first car together for our business (macaronmobile?!). I have enough people in the kitchen and they're capable of producing so much that I don't need to be there as much as I used to. I'm pleased with how things have turned out for us.<br />
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I generally live my life on the safe side. When it comes to our future, we had to take a risk and it paid off. As a business, we have to weigh every single decision we make. We have to look at the upsides and the downsides and see if the upside is worth the difficult journey it's going to take to get there. For example, our second store cost more to make than the first store despite being less than half of its size and it's in a neighborhood with high rent and very little food options. It seems risky to be in a place where other businesses have not survived before, but we hoped for the best. It's been 6 months since we have opened and it's been a great decision so far.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-86592381807178281352014-05-28T16:09:00.000-07:002014-05-28T16:09:30.504-07:00Learning from OthersSimon and I just took a weekend trip out to LA for a friend's wedding. We carried over 300 macarons with us on the plane to do the wedding favors and we got "ooohs" and "aaahhhs" wherever we went. It was really nice seeing our macarons on the west coast and giving gift boxes to some of our old friends that we met up with. So many of our friends out there had only seen the pictures of our macarons so it was great to finally let them have a taste.<br />
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We really cannot leave NY without looking up bakeries. For me, it's fascinating to see what works in other demographics. We love visiting tiny places where you could find the owner working at the shop and we like looking at large businesses and chains. There's a lot to explore at every different level of business, from the smallest to the largest and we wonder what we can learn from each one. Every business starts differently and it's all just so interesting to me.<br />
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The way that Macaron Parlour came to be is a very NY story. In 2009, we were in the midst of a recession. Simon lost his job and I got a pay cut at my job. The recession gave us an opportunity to rethink our careers. Do we want to do more of the same or do we want to make a change? I wasn't making a lot of money and I was in a low position, so why not finally make that leap into a career that I would like more? Simon and I didn't meet until the end of 2009, but we had things in common. We were itching for something new. We were young and we had no responsibilities. We did not have any excuses to not do what we want.<br />
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Meanwhile, the food scene was starting to explode. The Brooklyn Flea was born and tastes were moving towards more artisan foods. I know that I suddenly became interested in having better food. It was really a great time to start a new food business.<br />
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We were lucky to start when we did. We took a leap when it was very risky and it panned out. We had a tiny budget and it worked for us. Now that we have 2 stores, we have a bigger budget and the money seems to disappear just as quickly. We used to work 12 hours to produce 200 macarons, which would last us a week, and now we can do that in only a fraction of the time, but we cannot keep up with our sales. We have a lot of good problems, but sometimes I feel very alone in them.<br />
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One of the nice things about visiting other places is seeing if they share similar problems and seeing how they may be coping with them. I've seen places sell out of flavors, but in bigger businesses, it feels like the flavors reappear miraculously within hours. I wonder how big their staff must be, how many hours a day they are producing, how big their facility is, and how they figure out what to produce next. I like trying to peek at the systems in place in large chains, watching the flow of customers or how the menu is laid out. I figure the people who're in charge of operating large chains also pay to get the right research done. I notice environments where the staff is friendly and when they're standoffish. There's a lot of things to notice and learn from other places. I get ideas for not just menu items, but things like where to place an air vent if I were to get a new piece of equipment.<br />
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I look at fixtures and think about things I would get if I had the money to buy it. It's odd that when I fantasize about an unlimited budget, I imagine that I would still be glued to Macaron Parlour and I would still be working 6 days a week. Our kitchen would have Central Air and we would have a walk-in freezer. I think about a display fridge with marble in it and shiny new fixtures. I fantasize when I walk into really fancy cafes about being able to afford to do the same. But I appreciate the creativity of businesses in situations more like ours. Fantasizing will get me no where, but adjusting to reality will improve our business. For example, in the beginning we weren't able to afford custom boxes, but after visiting other places, we realized that we could make do with custom stickers until we could afford the boxes (we have the boxes now!). <br />
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I liked visiting LA because their issues are very different from ours. A lot of our business is from foot traffic - it's usually not a "destination," but Los Angeles is not a walking city. I can't imagine starting a small business there without the goal of becoming a destination. Parking there is nowhere near as difficult as it is in NY, but since more of your customer base would be driving in LA, you need to be sure that parking is available nearby. I also wonder about the sense of competition in a place where all the good places seem to be so near and so far from each other - as in 10 minutes away seems far for me, but it doesn't seem that far when you're in a car with the radio blasting. There's a lot of different challenges and it's something I think about with each new city I visit.<br />
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At the end of the day, there are a lot of adjustments that can be made. It's easy to become comfortable, but we have to change if we're going to improve. Our biggest problem right now is the best kind of problem - we're selling a lot and we don't have the best storage situation. I suspect that what I really need to do is to move into a larger kitchen, but the idea of becoming separated from our East Village store is heartbreaking to me. If we did that, our staff would be out of touch with the production of the product and our kitchen staff would not see the end result of our hard work. I can see it already with the UWS location. Some of the staff who work there have never seen our kitchen in action and they wonder why cookies don't magically appear all the time. Those who work in the East Village know how many hours we spend working and how futile it seems to be in the fight to keep ahead. For now, the best I can do is more shifts and keep trying to improve the flow. Until we can afford to make the big changes, I still have to figure out what we can do with what little we have. It's important for me to remember that the problems I face as a business owner are not unique to me. Many other businesses have been through this before and come through victorious on the other side. Remembering this is comforting to me.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-50813705806652259922014-05-05T18:14:00.001-07:002014-05-05T18:14:40.289-07:00A New Career in Five YearsThis past weekend, I celebrated my 10 year high school reunion. I've kept in touch with only a handful of friends, many of whom did not make it to the reunion. For some of the people I saw over the weekend, I haven't seen them in ten years. For others, I last saw them at the 5 year reunion.<br />
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Five years ago, I was still working in the world of PR. I had just graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology and finished my first year at the Maison Sapho School of Dressmaking & Design. After finishing undergrad, I was convinced that I would spend the rest of my career in a fashion related field so I jumped in full-force with the job, a second degree, and of course, dress-making skills. I have no regrets about any of them, but it's interesting to see that I did not end up in fashion.<br />
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At the 5th year reunion, I spoke to former classmates about my job and how I had just taken the Introduction to Baking course at ICE. I told them how much I loved it and that I liked baking more than my real job. Even some of my classmates commented on how I was in a transition period during 2009 with a lot on my plate and no idea where it would take me.<br />
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By the time I met Simon, late in 2009, I was planning my next steps. I considered moving to California to go to the Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena. Meeting him kept me from moving and I chose to go to school locally. We knew quickly that we were a serious couple. It took longer to figure out that we were ok working together as business owners (um, we still fight about it to this day).<br />
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In five short years, I made a complete life change. I'm not wondering about a different career, I'm wondering about whether I can do my job better. I used to hire a trainer to help me lift 10 lb weights and now I carry around 50 lbs of sugar on a daily basis. We own two bakeries!<br />
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In the weeks after my last post, Simon and I have trained our staff
for the UWS location and phased ourselves out. I'm no longer there every
morning and Simon is there 3-4 times a week. I go in unannounced to
check things out and see how everything looks. Nicole helped us put a
lot of great systems in place in the new location and they're so great
that we're working on implementing them downtown.<br />
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Our
kitchen team is getting faster and more efficient. We're
testing out a new schedule. I'm coming in with another member at 6 am to
try to get a set of macarons made by the time everyone else arrives a
few hours later. In return, I get to leave early. It makes me feel
really uncomfortable to leave while people are still working, but I felt
like pulling away is something I need to do. I fight myself every day
to stop micromanaging so I can focus on the bigger picture. For me, the
bigger picture is to make sure we have enough macarons for what we need,
take the opportunity to test things, and to actually have a work/life
balance. Some people believe it's impossible to have that balance while
owning a business, but four years in, I'm still optimistic that one day,
I will have 2 days off! <br />
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I hear a lot of other
stories about how difficult it is to be in food. It's fascinating how
it's different for everyone. Some people commit to a life of working 80+
hour weeks. Some people work really hard for a little bit to get their
business off the ground and others involved - a great sous chef, a
co-packer, etc. - to keep things going, which frees up their time to
pursue other things. I've never wanted to hand off all of the work to
someone else, but I feel like if I'm still working this much 5 years
from now (aka 9 years into being a business owner), then I have not done
things right. I love working, but I'd like to actually have the time to
do things like actually use the gym membership I paid for, eat more
Shake Shack, learn how to fry eggs over-easy, and buy a new couch. It's
hard to figure out what is the right balance where we're not
micromanaging, but we're not so hands-off that we're losing quality.<br />
<br />But we'll see what the future holds. I can't believe we have a second store and it's all been so seamless. Being in business is so much easier when you have great people to help you and it wouldn't have been this easy without Nicole.
The classes wouldn't have been as smooth without Simon to help ease up
the mood with jokes to fill in potential awkward silences. Our customers
have been incredibly sweet and receptive to our new store. We only have
"good problems" and that is not something to complain about!<br />
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In five years, I went from being an employee who wasn't sure about my future to a business owner. I wonder what I'll be able to chat about during my 15 year reunion.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-32917734323349930532014-03-06T20:06:00.002-08:002014-03-06T20:06:41.533-08:00First Day Off!!!Today marks the 3 week anniversary of our store opening at 560 Columbus Avenue. We have been testing out the new oven (hate it!), figuring out the neighborhood (everyone is so nice!!!), and trying to just get the flow down.<br />
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In some ways, opening this new store has been easier. We have Nicole, our new store manager, helping us hold down the fort. She has been beyond amazing with her cheerful personality, and more importantly - strong organizational skills. This opening could not have been as smooth without her. I cannot even imagine what would have happened without someone like her to lead our great team. Now that we have two stores, we can't devote our entire energy to the new location. Simon and I are splitting our time between the stores. I start uptown to bake at 6 am and then make my way downtown to our kitchen in order to help with our regular production. Simon spends half of the day driving back and forth between the two locations while trying to tackle every challenge one step at a time. The three of us are exhausted, but so pleased with the outcome. Today is the first day that Simon and I have had off since we opened and I'm really happy that we managed a day off before the 1 month anniversary.<br />
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Expanding is a very scary thing to do. On one hand, we took the scariest plunge of actually opening a business. We've made it this far, but we could still fail. We're not made of money...we took what we could from the first store to invest into opening a second because we believed that it would be worth it. We reached out to our fans and asked them believe in us enough to donate to our Kickstarter (we got the espresso machine!!). If the UWS doesn't work out, then we're out a lot of money and time. People assume that it's easy to expand once you have one location down, but every additional location is another risk. We're obviously in the very early stages, but I have a good feeling. We have a really nice landlord and while we're a little north of the regular beaten path of the Upper West Side, people have been bursting into our store to let us know that we're a welcome addition. The funny part is that they do this without actually tasting a single thing. I guess we picked a good spot if people are so excited that they'll declare their love without actually testing it out first!<br />
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For me, the most stressful part has been the menu. It's hard to guess what people want and I have to hope that they eat like I do. I love my food rich and with a lot of texture. I want my brownies to taste like deep chocolate and my croissants to have a crunch to it. We had to add many new items to the menu to accommodate an earlier schedule and while a lot of it was fairly easy, part of me knew that adding more savory additions would be a wise choice. I eat a lot, but I don't have a savory background and I don't cook. We have a few pieces up there like a pesto pretzel, chipotle scone, and morning bun. Our neighbors have asked us to make more, but it's a tough thing to do right now. I still schedule myself into our kitchen production for 6 days a week so it's hard for me to pull away to test new things out. I feel like I'm burdening the team if I don't put in my share of the daily tasks so I tend to do my other duties like paperwork and recipe testing either really early in the morning or after everyone leaves. With the long days we already have, I don't really want to stay too long in the kitchen. I know it takes me a while to unwind when I get home before I can go to sleep and sleep is precious. The good thing about a menu is that it's always a work in progress. It's never done. We just have to keep going, keep doing, and see what makes sense for us. I like the idea that this is an open-ended task that everyone participates in. I got the hard task of coming up with an opening menu down so once we figure a few more things out, I think I'll have the time to keep testing and tasting. <br />
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No one ever asked us why we opened another shop. Only our attorney asked us if we still liked each other enough to do this. Simon thinks we're crazy that we opened another shop without ever setting ourselves up to have at least 2 days off a week. My parents keep calling to tell me that they think it's exciting that we're taking risks because they were always too timid to do so in their own careers. His parents are still reeling from the risk we took by getting such a large original space, but still incredibly supportive when we told them of our wishes to open another. My original business plan said that we did not want more than one store. It just happened organically. Obviously, it's a scary thing to do when you don't have everything figured out perfectly, but who ever does? It's like saying that you're not going to have a second kid until the first one turns 18 and you've already learned what you need to do in order to get that child through to adulthood. We had a good feeling about our business and the direction of our company and we went for it. I wrote a new business plan and we all agreed that it made sense. I think that we were starting to get really comfortable with our first store now that a lot of the kinks have been worked out and we needed more challenges to keep us at the top of our game. We're certainly pretty tired from all of this, but I think it'll all be worth it in the end.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-54025635553288131132014-01-23T10:38:00.000-08:002014-01-23T10:38:48.454-08:00The Secret's Out! We're Coming to the UWS!It's been hard to keep it a secret for the last few months, but we're opening a second location in the Upper West Side. Starting next month, you can find us at 87th and Columbus.<br />
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I'm really excited about this new store. It's easy to believe that we could just do the same thing in the East Village in the Upper West Side, but that's not true at all. Every neighborhood comes with its own personality. The East Village has a really cool downtown vibe, great evening crowd, and a lot of tourists. Simon and I suspect that we'll have a lot of people in the morning and during the day in the Upper West Side so that alone sets it apart. I'm not sure about all the other differences yet, but we'll find out when we get there.<br />
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To accommodate all of those differences, we get to produce a modified menu for the different stores. While we cater to the after dinner crew in our first store, we'll have something we've never done before - a morning crowd - at our new location. We'll have breakfast pastries!! That alone is super exciting! Our sales team is thrilled to learn that we're getting a new espresso machine for the new store, too. Starting next week, they're going off to Blue Bottle to train on an espresso machine and learn the Blue Bottle way of life. <br />
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Our new store is quite a bit more expensive than the first place. You would think that since we've already done this once before, we would have figured out a way to do it for less. Here's the thing, we cut enough corners the first time around that we got the work done for the budget we had (this is also why we never got an espresso machine downtown). Our new location is smaller, but our space didn't come with the same character as we have for our first store. Our Saint Marks Place store has these beautiful brick walls and the original wooden beams are exposed on our ceilings. The building is over 100 years old and you can feel all the history when you walk into the store. The new store came as a blank empty canvas and while it was amazing to not have to repair termite damage in the ceilings or discover collapsed brick walls behind the drywall, it also meant that we had to build in the character. We bought reclaimed wood for our ceilings. We brought in tiles from the first store. We looked for ways to add texture to the space while keeping it clean and ways to invoke the same feelings at the different locations. Also since the space used to be the lobby for the building and was recently converted into a storefront, we had some challenges with bringing in plumbing and heating/AC (this part alone accounts for 2 months of headaches!!). Each new space has its own quirks and trying to create consistency isn't cheap! Even though we didn't have to build out a kitchen, we somehow ended up spending more on it than we had for our entire first store. The last few elements are our display case and espresso machine. Deposits are down on both so we're halfway there, but we're raising the rest of the funds through <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mpnyc/macaron-parlours-second-store">Kickstarter</a>.<br />
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We set up a <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mpnyc/macaron-parlours-second-store">Kickstarter </a>to help raise money for all the last minute
things at our store. We have the location, we're done with the majority
of the build out, but we still need help. It was a hard decision to ask for additional funding through Kickstarter when we already have one store open. If we were going to do this, then we probably could have raised a lot more if we did this before our first store. We chose not to then, because we weren't sure how we felt asking for funding we didn't necessarily desperately need. Last time, we didn't pay ourselves for 6 months while we got the store off the ground, but we can't make those same sacrifices this time around because we have responsibilities to our
employees and vendors. Now that we have actual employees, payroll, insurance, etc, and all these other constant running expenses while we're preparing to open, the way we value money is different. As we reach our crunch time, we're feeling the effects the wacky weather had in slowing down our holiday sales. We were fortunate enough to have beautiful weather the previous holiday seasons, but the holiday shopping season last year was a week shorter and the weather was much colder than we would have liked. We're reaching out to you because we need your help. We're 90% there, so we just need a little push to get us those last 10%.<br />
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I also feel better about being able to actually produce on our rewards. In the months before we opened our first store, we were still working on developing our packaging and shipping methods for it. We were unsure about the format of the classroom and it still took me several months to actually have my first class. Our menu wasn't fully done yet. There were so many variables up in the air that I would have been too nervous about putting up rewards on Kickstarter that we may not have been able to follow through on for several months. Now that we have a store that's been open for over a year, I'm very confident on our ability to deliver! I think our rewards are really reasonable in terms of price and value. We hope you can participate in helping us get our espresso machine and get this new store open!<br />
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<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mpnyc/macaron-parlours-second-store">http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mpnyc/macaron-parlours-second-store</a>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-46017160627738104172014-01-11T20:09:00.000-08:002014-01-11T20:09:34.416-08:00Open for over a year?!We've been open for over a year now. The past year just flew by and I can hardly believe that we're once again finished another holiday season.<br />
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So much has changed since last year and they're all good. I can't believe I own a store. I can't believe I own a store with my husband. Most people can't believe we're still married to each other. For us, marriage is easy. Even owning a store isn't as bad for us as it seems to be for some other people <br />
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For the first 8 or so months that we were open, I was at the store from before opening to after closing. Thankfully, I don't have to do that anymore. We have such a good team in place that we don't have to be there all the time. It happened just in time, too. I think I finally reached the bottom of that endless well of adrenaline that I had when we first opened. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It just means that my body is saying, hey, take care of me! Simon's well still seems full, but I know he's exhausted and sometimes all the things going on seem overwhelming. We have so many things to worry about that it's easy to forget that we're just human.<br />
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I'm really proud about what we accomplished this past year. I worried that we would sacrifice quality in order to produce quantity. We're producing more weekly than we ever had and for a second, we slipped on quality. Some macarons that normally wouldn't pass my test somehow slipped through the cracks. We never changed ingredients, but the product didn't look as good as I wanted it to look. It made me realize how easy it is for a company to cut corners. I don't want us to make money off of something that I wouldn't want to pay for. While our team has grown, I've had to reassure each of our employees that I think it's more acceptable to throw away a bad macaron than to try to sell it (or if you're lucky, bad macarons that make it as far as the display case are given away). I'm proud to say that our store has been open for a year and while I'm sometimes a little sad about how many macarons we had to get rid of, I still care a lot about the quality. It means a lot to me and I hope that we are able to maintain this level of quality throughout the years.<br />
<br />
I also cared a lot about being more than a macaron shop. I wanted us to be a place people could go to daily, even if it's just to say hi. I wanted us to have a menu that we could be proud of and I believe we accomplished that. I'm proud to say that we're a friendly neighborhood bakery now. A lot of it has to do with our staff. Being a boss terrified me. I wasn't sure if I would be able to manage a team. We started by hiring really well and we have an amazing kitchen team that I look forward to working with every day. Our sales staff include some of the nicest and funniest people. I'll stay at the shop later to hang out with them when I'm not too busy. There's still a handful of things that I'm having a hard time handing over, but they and I are getting there.<br />
<br />
As we work on trying to figure out what the next steps are, our team
is growing. I had worried a lot about how we would find good staff. In
my mind, I was afraid that we would have difficulty finding people who
wanted to work at a small bakery. I didn't have to be scared because we
found such a nice team of people. The people in our kitchen work really hard and I believe we do really enjoy working together. We gossip while filling macarons, or talk politics while piping them. We talk about cats while scooping cookies and show off the latest new meme during lunch time. Simon is amazed at how well we all get along and how the team has grown. When we have a lot of work to do, no one complains and we all just put our heads down to get things done. For me, it's always been important to show them that I'm not just hiring people to pass work off to, I want to work beside them and with them and I think they can see that.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, our sales staff hangs out in our store when they're not even scheduled to work. We can't figure it out, but they seem to just wander in on their days off to just hang out, do homework, or wait for their friend to get off work before heading out. Simon and I joke about how they volunteer to show up without us paying them, but really, it's a huge compliment. They hang out with each other outside of work, text us pictures of things that remind them of us, and write us notes about funny things that happened after we left the store that day. How could I not be happy with them? One of our team members told us that she's never worked at a place before where no one had any real complaints. Sure, there's a few things that could be better (ok, a lot of things), but at least we know we have a team that will be with us to get there. <br />
<br />
During the holidays last year, we were working 14-16 hours a day in order to keep up with production. We were panicked about our packaging being stuck in a warehouse and we had actually run out of boxes for our macarons while playing phone tag to coordinate delivery. Simon had to work the counter for the majority of the day because we didn't have enough staff. We were half as stressed this year even though we're doing two markets, our menu is twice the size as it was last year and we took on a huge wholesale account. That's how I know we're doing well - we're handling growing with less stress.<br />
<br />
Since last summer, Simon and I somehow became cat ladies, but it's made a
really big difference in our lives. We went from treating going home
like it's just a part of our day to being excited about going home
because three little faces will greet us when we opened the door. I
never pictured myself as a cat person, but it's been really good for both Simon and me - for our relationship and our sanity. I didn't think about how important it would be to be motivated about balancing work and our personal life. I think anyone who opens a business needs to remember to find something that they like doing outside of work. If I didn't have a reason to go home, I would probably continue to spend a ridiculous number of hours at work. When Simon and I found Mr. Socks outside of our apartment building, we started working faster, cleaner, and more efficiently at work so that we could get everything done and then run home to play with the cat. Motivation is a big deal.<br />
<br />
It gets easier with time. Simon's family comes from a place where they don't understand how we could let other people open or close the store when we aren't there. My father is the only keyholder to my parents' store and if he's not there, then the store is closed. To us, we couldn't be a good business or good bosses if we didn't put a little faith in others. People step up to responsibility if you show them that they're important to you. So far, everything has been great and I know that the future holds more exciting things.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-49338237584351849642013-09-11T05:30:00.000-07:002013-09-11T05:30:43.658-07:00Macaron ClassesWe finally launched our classes last Friday. We had been promising classes for years and it just never happened. In the beginning, we tried having classes at the Hester Street Fair, which would have involved lugging out a toaster oven and Kitchenaid stand mixers, but they never quite happened. So many things went wrong - either not enough people signed up to make it worth it or it poured and the idea electrical wiring in the rain terrified us. For a while, we didn't have a kitchen that was accessible enough for the public to take classes in. So, when we decided to open a store, we designed it so that there would be a classroom space built in. When we first opened the store, we were so overwhelmed with having a new store that I pushed it off for January, thinking it would be slower then. While it was slow in January, I was so exhausted that I spent the entire month just trying to recover. <br />
<br />
After being open for about 11 months, I finally felt comfortable about a lot of things. We were in a good spot with our production, we didn't have a lot of things going on, and we had a restful week in the kitchen. So it was time to stir things up and start teaching classes - finally.<br />
<br />
I remember how difficult it was when I first started making macarons. Trying to figure out how to make them without any baking experience and without any idea how to make meringue was a mess. It wasn't until I took the professional class that I started to get an idea of how the whole process works. Getting the opportunity to see them made in person was really the stepping stone to learning how to make them myself. Taking the class was so valuable to me that I was nervous about making sure <i>our </i>class was good enough for our students. I know a lot about macarons, but would it be enough?<br />
<br />
Since then, I have helped teach all of our employees how to make macarons. Even our sales team has spent a few hours in the kitchen learning how to make macarons. So far, all of the macarons have turned out. After teaching a dozen people how to make macarons, my kitchen team and I were ready to get started.<br />
<br />
I'm really happy with how our first class turned out. We were able to be super comprehensive and our students made some beautiful macarons. Each student got to go home with over 60 macarons and hopefully they're able to make their own macarons at home, too.<br />
<br />
So, we offer classes now in our kitchen at 111 St. Marks Place. We can
fit about 4 people comfortably for some hands on instruction with a great
student/teacher ratio (4 students, 2 teachers!). We get to teach
our students how to make French & Italian meringue macarons and a handful of fillings. <br />
<br />
Click on the photo of the macarons we made from our first class below to sign up for a class.<br />
<br />
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<br />Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-92161827577572707582013-08-19T19:37:00.001-07:002013-08-19T19:37:54.590-07:00Growing Up!We started in 2010 - around the same time as many of our other food friends. We started at a single weekend fair and expanded to other markets, online shipping, and now a store! But when we first started, we worked all of the events ourselves and we made all of our friends at the markets. We brainstormed issues with our friends who were going through or just went through the same things. We lamented on the weather and how much it sucked for sales or high-fived each other over being mentioned in the same article. Our businesses were small enough that we had the free time, but not enough money to go on a vacation. We bonded over the many things we had in common.<br />
<br />
Walking through markets now have a different feel. We see the names of our friends' companies, but we often don't recognize the person working there. Sometimes I feel sad that I didn't get a chance to see my friend, but mostly, I am happy that it means that their business is doing well enough to not be there. We've all grown - some have stores now, some have cookbooks out, and more importantly, they all have staff to help them grow. I can't think of a single friend we made who decided to quit his/her company. I've seen some start up companies appear at markets and disappear. I have shared kitchens with people who had bad attitudes and wasn't surprised to see them close shop after a few rough weekends. I've watched stores under construction for 5 months, only to go out of business within 3 months of opening. So, I'm proud to say that the food friends we've made over the years are now stronger than ever. We can now afford vacations, but have the difficulty of planning them due to how busy we are. We're quitting our corporate jobs to make our business our full time job. We're navigating the world of payroll and healthcare for our staff and on the prowl for bigger and better opportunities. Our businesses have grown and we're now proud business owners.<br />
<br />
I think what really helped us was having each other to rely on. We were lucky to start around the same time as dozens of other businesses - people who found an opportunity to take a leap of faith at a time that the artisan food scene was exploding in NY. We met our friends by spending long hours with them, sharing stories about our struggles, and gossiping about where we felt the food scene was going next. We had late nights at our commissary kitchen during the holiday season where we chatted about how much we were looking forward to having a day off in January. We borrowed employees from each other and shared information about vendors and potential wholesale clients. It was important for us to make those friends and to have those friends to count on when we needed them. We got our first wholesale account through Scratchbread, and one of our biggest from Robicelli's Cupcakes. Talking to Liddabit about their holiday plans two years ago made us realize that we were thinking too small and that got us to imagine the big picture. If these people weren't so generous with their information, where would we be now?<br />
<br />
It's important to have a good attitude when you start up a project this big because there's going to be a tough road ahead. That good attitude will lead you to other people who also have good attitudes. Having the strong network really helped us grow. Since I'm an introvert, it also really helped to have a friendly husband help make those ties. It's hard to strike out on your own and not ask for help and it's a mean thing to not help others when you can.<br />
<br />
I had fantasized about opening a business for years. In college, I pictured myself owning a tiny bakery and just being happy. Back then, I didn't know how to ask for help and I didn't know what it would take for me to get there. As a reflection, my dream was small and probably too small to be sustainable. I was lucky to meet Simon at the verge of my career change - just 2
months before starting pastry school - because he had dreams about a
bakery food truck so it made sense for us to work together as we fell in love with each other. He helped me make connections and grow my dream until it became sustainable. Today, Simon and I work far harder than I ever imagined and together, our business is greater than what I dreamed of when I was alone. I really believe having friends with big dreams has helped inspire us to push for more and to be bigger. We and our fellow business owners use each other to assess where we are and where we could be. Without realizing it, as all of us grow, we bring our friends with us through recommendations, good gossip, and by taking their lead. The success of our friends is a big win for us as a group and we all dream of being able to say about the other, "I remember when..." I truly believe that one day, we'll be able to say that about one of our friends and I hope that they will be able to say that about us.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-21917139316453364822013-06-16T07:42:00.002-07:002013-06-16T07:42:21.458-07:00The Difference As An OwnerI am a store owner now. For the first few months, I thought nothing of working 90 hours a week. I didn't mind working 7 days a week and being there from 9 am to 2 am. However, no matter how much time I put in, it just felt like there was more work to be done. Simon tried kicking me out a few times to go home and get some rest, but I would always find something else to do. I could prepare stuff for the next day! I could make a small batch of macarons so we could have 21 flavors the next day instead of 20! In my mind, there were plenty of things I could do and even though I was physically tired, mentally, there were a million things going on.<br />
<br />
I complained about a lot of things. Most of them were complaints about the results of good problems. I whined about getting a last minute order for 500 pieces the next day and how we would have to stay past 2 am to fulfill it. Since we were so broke from all the delays related to our opening, we needed the money and it had to be done. We were buying breakfast, lunch, and dinner for our employees b/c we were working so much. I was gaining weight from not leaving the store. Simon never slept. Our home became a mess and we never saw our friends or family. There were plenty of things that a lot of people would complain about.<br />
<br />
But my complaints were only superficial because they weren't really gripes. The truth is that I complained just to complain, but I could do it because so many things were going well. I wasn't complaining about a lack of sales or a fear that the business wasn't going to work out. I was complaining about things employees complain about. They <i>can </i>complain about the long hours and the loss of their personal life, but none of ours did. We tried what we can to try to minimize these sorts of issues on our staff because even the best employee is nowhere near as tied to this business as we were. <br />
<br />
I went through an opening before, as an employee. I was very committed to the work for the first few months and I worked crazy hours to fulfill all the demand. I was very proud of what I was accomplishing, but I burned out. That didn't happen when it was my place. Even when I felt burnt out, there was an internal well that I could tap into and suddenly, it wouldn't be as bad. But even though I didn't burn out this time around, I knew that no one else, besides Simon, had that same internal well. So we were careful with our staff and asked them if they could just do us a favor by working some overtime because it's Christmas, or it's someone's birthday so they requested a day off, etc. We made the environment fun so even when they got tired, they understood that it's not our intention to run them down. <br />
<br />
Simon and I have our lives invested in Macaron Parlour. Even when we were tired, it was
do or die for us. We had to do it, first because we were in the
business of doing well, and because if we didn't do it, how could we ask
someone else to help us? Our future success depended on working
through the difficult issues for the first few months and so we were
willing to go through it. As owners, we had to be the first to do the
dirty work and we had to guide our staff to help us.<br />
<br />
When we first opened, we had a very lean staff because we didn't have a large budget for payroll. I am so thankful for the people we did have who helped us get through such a tough time. We made it through Sandy, we made it through the holidays, we made it through a lot and no one really complained about being tired or miserable. We hired well and everyone understood that we were going through the bumps of opening.<br />
<br />
Yet there's still so many bumps in the road. I guess it's never-ending. It's funny that even when I couldn't pull myself away from the store, there were still so many things that went undone. We had a black pole in our store that I used as a measure of how overwhelmed we were. Our store is mostly white, but for some reason, we had this pole that was 1/4 black only at the top and I hated that it was unfinished. No one noticed it, but I stared at it every day. It was one of those things where I said that I would tackle the pole one night after all the customers left. This didn't happen until about 5 months in and it was only because I was in the alone store one night after Simon went out to dinner with some friends. If I didn't have 2 hours to kill, and only 1 hour of work to do, the pole would still be unpainted today. Now that the pole is done, I planted a peach tree in our backyard, and I bought a new flour bin, and etc etc. There's only going to be more and more things to tackle. I guess since it's my place, I stare at it a lot and wonder about how to make it better. I like to think that I'm not so overwhelmed anymore because I tackled that pole.<br />
<br />
I had never felt this way before, not in any jobs I had. I liked the fact that I could leave to go home and specifically not think about work. Unpainted poles weren't my problem. I cared about my jobs, but I didn't lie at night thinking about whether our neighbor chained his bike to our railing again or if I ordered enough ingredients for the next few days. My heart goes out to all the small business owners out there, who've been through a lot of difficult days and nights, wondering if they've really made the right decisions. It's really tough when you've got your entire life invested in something and you have no promises that it's going to work.<br />
<br />
So, 8 months in, Simon and I had our first day off. We didn't go into the store for an entire day. It felt really strange, yet it felt so good. It almost felt like we had grown up. I'd still work 7 days a week, 14 hours a day to help the business work out, but being able to step back and say, "I don't have to be there all the time," feels incredibly good. It took longer than we thought it would, but I'm proud we finally did it. Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-42096933011413508192013-04-01T11:51:00.001-07:002013-04-01T11:51:54.994-07:00My Parents and My BusinessI don't think my dad has ever been on vacation. As far as I know,
he's never been on a plane since landing here from Korea over 30 years
ago. The only passport he has is from when he was a young man and even
though he became a US citizen a few years ago, I don't think he's had a
need to get a new passport. He's not a man of many words and every now
and then, I get a glimpse of the kind of person he is. A man tried to
mug him once with a knife and my dad kicked him. He did not get
mugged. He taught me how to ride a bike and accidentally helped me be
one of the best free-throw shooters in my middle school, even though I
can't dribble a basketball. I learned how to draw under his guidance. I
remember testing out slides with him for the two-story playhouse he
built, complete with monkey bars and a sandbox. He did all this while
working 6-7 days a week for the past thirty+ years. He hasn't taken any
sick days, not even when he got stung by over a dozen bees or when he
got bit by a spider and his entire back turned black. Some people my
parents knew decades ago stopped asking about him when I was in my teens
and I wonder if it's because they were afraid it was a delicate subject
since they stopped seeing him around. My dad just works a lot and
works hard and has helped give us a wonderful life.<br />
<br />
In
the meantime, my mom has been by his side, helping hold down the fort.
They own a business together and while my dad holds down the business
end, my mom had been juggling the business and the kids. The idea of
taking a maternity leave probably blows my mother's mind. I remember
how tired she was after having both of my younger sisters and how she
would wrap up the babies and take them with her to work. She'd spend
all day with a baby tied onto her back and no one in my family found
that unusual. She used to drive home in the middle of the day to pick
us up from our various after school activities, drop us off at home or
at Kumon or at piano lessons, then go to pick up my dad. Now that we're
all older, all adults, I hope that one day, they can go on a vacation
together.<br />
<br />
I think about this a lot as a business
owner. I think about the sacrifices my parents made and Simon's parents
made for us to get to this point. My parents always took the
responsibility of their business upon themselves and were reluctant to
trust others. They saw employees they cultivated over two years
disappear and reappear with their competitors. They heard stories about
friends who taught the business to their most trusted employees, who
then opened up the same business next door, but with better prices.
They heard too many horror stories and worried about it happening to
them. As a store owner now, this, too, makes me so reluctant, but I
know that we can't run the business by ourselves. We did that for two
years and believe me, Simon and I work great together and we can
hand-pipe thousands of macarons in a day without saying a single word
between us, but we can't do this forever. I think working so much has
started to take a physical toll on us and on our relationship. We've
hired some great employees, but even now we realize that if we ever want
a day off, we need to be able to put our trust in more people. I would
like to be able to take a sick day if I were to get bitten by a spider
and I don't want to have to rush back to work within a week of having
kids and baking all day with a baby strapped onto my back. I'd like to
take my parents on a vacation and force them to do something crazy to
them - sleep in and not work.<br />
<br />
It's time now, to expand
our team even further. So we're hiring more members. We need both
counter staff to help with managing the many macaron fans out there and
kitchen staff to grow our menu. I promise that we really do have a lot
of fun at our store. Even when we're really tired, or it's been a bad
day, it's still a better day than a decent day at some of the other jobs
that I've held. At the end of the day, we bring strangers onto our
team that become our friends and that's what makes it such a good
environment. We're going to spend long days together, so we need to all
like each other and be in a place where we can encourage each other to
better, both in the store and out of it. If you're a good person, who's
friendly and willing to put in some hard work and you're looking for a
job, or even an internship, we're looking for you. Help Simon and me take my parents on vacation!<br />
<br />
So
send us a message through our website: macaronparlour.com or email us
at macaronparlour(at)gmail(dot)com. Hopefully you can understand that
email address. I just know that there are weird robots out there
looking for someone to post their email up so they can send us spam.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-76487507633102077592013-02-20T18:59:00.000-08:002013-02-20T18:59:59.643-08:00How long have we been open for??Hm...This is a question we get a lot. In the beginning, there was a sense of beaming pride as we said, "Two days! We've been open for TWO DAYS!!!!" Now it's more like, "Is it 4 months? Four months and how many days? Well, October 11th is when it happened." It's still exciting to have people just stumble into the store, surprised that we exist. I wonder if the enchantment will continue to last years down the line or if we'll be scratching our heads, thinking to ourselves, "Well, it has been like 7 years...are we still a hidden gem?"<br />
<br />
I think this is the longest stretch of time I have gone with working continuously, 70+ hrs a week as in without any days off. I'm not sure how Simon does it. He gets up early each day, regardless of what time he went to bed the night before, and he's just ready to go. I spend the first hour of each day fighting to keep both eyes open at the same time and then fighting to get them to focus properly. Simon is the endless well of energy and I'm so happy that he's up front and I'm hiding in the back. <br />
<br />
As tired as I get, it's hard to step away, still. I had imagined that we'd smooth things out sometime in January and we'd be taking at least 1 day off a week to take care of things or relax or something. I sleep in one day a week and I spend the first hour or two of that day
thinking about work, what needs to get done, should I help in the
kitchen or do paperwork? I think about work, but I make an active
effort to not work until I actually show up at the store. Simon slept in for the first time this week, but I think he still made it to the store within the first hour it was open. There's still a real sense of guilt for me to not actually work and I think that's normal, for now. I think it'll be normal for the first 6 months, but if I can't manage a day off a year from now, then I know that there's some serious issues going on. Either I don't trust my staff or I'm a huge control freak.<br />
<br />
The thing is, I am a control freak. It breaks my heart to look at bad macarons, even if they're not mine. I am sad looking at them online. I am sad when I see it in pictures. I am sad looking at them in a store. I am especially sad if they're in my oven. Three years later and I still feel really proud when I make a really good-looking batch and I still feel really bad when I have one that came out less than stellar. I think that starting off with 6 months of really bad batches has primed me to feel proud about good ones for the rest of my life. I still strive for that perfection and thousands of macarons later, I still care. I care about the other items, too, and it's still hard for me to give up that responsibility. There are a few things I still make on my own because I'm still trying to figure out what method is the best. I really care about what we make and the pride I have over our products trumps any desire I have to compromise quality for the sake of profits.<br />
<br />
I think people have noticed. I know how much the French care about the quality of their pastries and for them to even suspect that I am one of their own tickles me. I love the idea of waltzing out of the kitchen like, "I am not what you think I am." However, when I waltz out, it often turns into me feeling really small, young, and totally awkward. I'm not gifted at small talk so my pimp walk is really all I have and there's nothing to back it up. So at best, I poke my head out, smile, acknowledge that I am not French, and hide back into the kitchen. I've used this walk maybe 3 times and then decided that I don't have enough swagger for it. I feel awkward calling myself a chef, so I suppose I have to nail that first before I can try to brag.<br />
<br />
Four months feels like a lot of time, but it really isn't. I pushed so many things off when we first opened, calling them "January Problems." The January problems are now February problems and maybe soon March problems? We're still a little overwhelmed with being new business owners. To the point where it took us 3 weeks before we looked at one of our signs and noticed that while writing it, "earl grey" somehow ended up as "oorl orey." Just yesterday, I realized that our kitchen could really be reorganized to improve our efficiency. We're still trying to figure out how to fit in our classroom. Our architecture drawings suggested we could fit 8. Now I'm not sure we can fit 4 and those 4 people would have under the age of 13 to avoid feeling cramped. I want to get tables to force ourselves to really figure it out. Simon wants to wait on the tables so we don't get the wrong size. This debate can go on forever. We made a few compromises because we couldn't afford what we wanted and still open on time, but now that we're open, we have to go back and readdress those compromises to see if we're ok with what we have or would going back to the original plan substantially improve our experience. I had thought 4 months was a long period of time back when I was a naive non-store owner. Fortunately, it really hasn't been that much time. People are still surprised to see us. I am still surprised we actually have a store. I think we have enough time before that surprise wears off for us to address those February/March/forever problems.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-28548568045949041732012-11-21T19:58:00.002-08:002012-11-21T19:58:53.791-08:00Happy Thanksgiving!This year has been a very busy year for us. Simon's niece was born in January. We signed a lease in February. In March, we went to Paris and Simon had Sadaharu Aoki's macarons for the first time. We got married in April. May was our first spring at Madison Square Eats. The paperwork was finally filed and we were well under way with our construction in June. In July, ConEd went on strike for 6 weeks. They didn't come in to upgrade our power until August. In September, we were back at the Hester Street Fair and Madison Square Eats. By October, we (finally) opened our store. Sure, there's a lot of things we didn't expect (ahem, ConEd strike..), but I definitely did not expect that Hurricane Sandy would be strong enough to knock out power for lower Manhattan for several days.<br />
<br />
Ever since we got married, a lot of people have asked us when we're going to get started on the kids. This store is our first kid. Right now, it requires all of our attention and over time, we won't have to baby it all the time. I'm here all day. I have left the store for a total of 3 hours while we were open ever since we started over a month ago. I get up in the morning and look at the weather to decide how many cookies to bake each day. I spend 12-14 hours here a day (I'm at the store now) and then go home to continue working on paperwork. I sometimes have bizarre dreams about the store. I sometimes sit at the store for hours, doing nothing but unable to leave. It's my baby and I'm a first time parent, worried about doing things wrong.<br />
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We weren't fazed at all when Hurricane Sandy came in on Monday, October 29th - partly b/c we're not open on Monday. We closed up an hour earlier the night before because the streets were getting eerily quiet. I slept in all of Monday morning and Simon hung out with friends in Chinatown. He bought us food and we fantasized about cooking dinner for the first time since the store opened. I was in the middle of catching up on our accounting when our power went out. When it didn't come back on 15 minutes later, we broke out the flashlights and the portable radio. We checked Twitter to see what others had to say. As we came across pictures of cars underwater on Avenue D and a Tweet from Crif Dogs about the power going out, Simon and I went from considering the blackout as an adventure to worrying about our store in the storm. Our store is 5 steps down from street level and I had taped up the door in the event of flooding, but I wondered if it was enough.<br />
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Simon paced for two hours, unable to sleep because he was afraid for our store. I told him that if he went, I would go, too. So, we went down 15 flights of steps in the dark, hopped in our car and drove to the store. We saw lights from flashlights, downed trees, and people running across the street like zombies. It felt like an apocalypse movie. Our friend used a hand crank flashlight to check out our store and we were relieved to find that our store was safe from the flooding. We were able to go to sleep that night.<br />
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But I was unable to stay asleep. I woke up at 5 am with a feeling of dread. The power didn't come back that night, so it would probably be out for a while. I woke Simon up and we started calling around for dry ice. We weren't able to reach anyone who could help us. We drove around to visit the closest dry ice locations and none of them were open. I called Lowe's in Brooklyn and they said they had 2 generators. Somehow, we snuck onto the Brooklyn Bridge, probably during a shift change because for some reason, it wasn't blocked, and we were the only ones on it. Btw, Lowe's had more than 2 generators.<br />
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Getting back, Simon had to name drop his cousin and flash his PBA card since the bridges were blocked for emergency personnel only. We got back to Manhattan, with generators for us and our friends at Melt Bakery.<br />
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That week was insane. We woke up early, raced around all day - chasing gas or dry ice - and going uptown to shower. Simon filled up our bathtub with water, but that was our only water at home for the 4 days the power was out. We made instant ramen for meals using a portable gas burner. We made coffee for the neighbors around our store and charged cell phones in every outlet in our generators. People said rude words to us about the sound of the generators. I got to make friends with a few of the residents of our store's building. We got complaints about serving coffee that wasn't boiling hot, because even though it was still over 150F. Two separate people decided to graffiti our awnings. The guys at Crif Dogs helped us get a gallon of gas when we really needed it. People were getting mugged outside of our store. We were able to open our doors on Halloween to hand out macarons to kids, who still dressed up despite the bleak attitudes of adults around them. It was a very intense time period that I think will really make an impact on who we are as store owners.<br />
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In the end, we were able to save a good amount of product. Maybe not everything, but we weren't devastated. Probably, if there weren't a gas shortage and lines lasting for hours, we could have saved more, but I am so grateful that we had the resources to pull off what we could do. One of the generators is now in Staten Island. Another helped keep my parents warm in NJ until their power was restored last Sunday. In the grand scheme of things, we were really lucky and we do feel a sense of guilt about others who weren't so lucky. I really hope that people rally together and support those affected out in Staten Island, Long Island, Brooklyn, NJ, and other areas that are still coping. They need help getting back on their feet, too and just b/c we feel like things are returning to normal for us doesn't mean that we can ignore the people still facing the effects of the storm. <br />
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November is the month that started off in the dark, but we made it through and even though it was a tough week, we're still standing. We're so glad for the support of everyone. Thank you so much and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-55953714186315700282012-10-22T21:02:00.000-07:002012-10-22T21:02:31.437-07:00Opening a StoreIt totally makes sense that we would open a store after being market nomads for two years. It's the logical next step, but one that we've been avoiding like the plague.<br />
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When we first started, a lot of our food friends told us not to open a store, or they shared the horror stories of having their own retail space. Things like, ovens breaking down, crazy customers, or even better, the health inspector showing up the day that your fridge decides to break. With the carefree lifestyle Simon and I had where we committed to a few events a year, a small number of big wholesale accounts, and only 3 days a week in the kitchen, we had a lot of free time. Not enough free time to go away for more than 2 days, but during slow months, we'd actually be able to go on brunch, or visit friends, or my favorite hobby, lay in bed for as long as possible We didn't have <i><b>too </b></i>much to worry about besides the business of having a successful business. We were making enough money for two people to get by on, but not enough for two + 1 tiny dog (so we have a framed picture of a dog, which cost us nothing b/c we got the frame as a gift). Even while working five weeks straight at the Union Square Holiday market, we were still able to make it to my parents house for an overnight trip on Christmas to do that favorite hobby of mine (which included a fireplace this time. I swear that the fireplace was going for 6 hours and Simon and I were passed out in front of it for 5.5). We had a business that had stressful times, but in the food world, it was still a low commitment business.<br />
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The reason we made that jump from that lifestyle to opening a store is really for our customers. We were asked countless times about our store, whether we had one, and how they can purchase from us if we don't. Eventually, we realized that we had to grow into a store, if not for us, then for our fans.<br />
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The entire process of finding the store was super easy. We got lucky in that way. It went by in a blink of an eye. For us, it was like, "Oh, there's a space at 111 St. Marks Place. Ok. That's going to be it." And it was. Construction wasn't so easy. The gut renovation probably would have taken us about 3 months, if we weren't such newbies at it. We hired a great architect to help push us along and to force us to consider everything, from the flow of service, to where the plugs should go. Our contractor turned out to be a very practical man who would ask us to reconsider certain things for the sake of efficiency. ConEd went on a strike so we couldn't upgrade our electricity for two months. We ordered a custom macaron display fridge and got the run around for over 6 weeks and after we couldn't take it anymore, the fabricator was like, "Ha ha. I made you this salad bar. I'm going to pretend this looks something like the drawing I made for you." My sister and I wandered around Bowery, looking at chairs and tables. We took turns sitting in them and pretending to eat, or modeling for photos to take to the store. Simon shopped around to find the best deal on signs. Our architect took us to pick out marble. What's interesting that it was really hard to find the right vendors, but once we did, it was fairly easy. We looked at marble at 3 or 4 places, but at the last spot, we found the pieces we wanted within 10 minutes. I looked at a dozen stores for chairs, and I walked into one store and it was sitting right by the door. Our oven and sheeter came from eBay. One freezer came from Craigslist. We got a ton of stuff from Costco. Looking back at the past 7 months, I can't believe how much we've learned and how creative we got when it came to shopping.<br />
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Did I mention that we got married in the middle? It feels like that happened years ago, but yesterday was the 6 month anniversary. We had a beautiful wedding, but even that was less stressful than the store. At least then, I knew Simon was going to marry me even if the food sucked or my shoes were ugly (food was great. I had "wedding flip flops" and those were comfy!). With the store, there's no guarantee that people are going to come. <br />
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I've been part of an opening before. With that experience in mind, it was my goal to make mine as smooth as possible, but you really can't. You can set a deadline and say, I will be open by this date. The problem is, there are so many little things popping up that the smooth opening didn't quite happen. If we kept pushing it off for things to be "perfect" then we probably still wouldn't be open now. We opened before the cushions for our benches arrived and the first batch of blondies was the first time I made that recipe that way. The first time I made a large batch of croissants was the day before we opened and the batch was so large that my sheeter didn't want anything to do with it. We had wires hanging out from our ceiling for the first few days. Our speaker system died on the second day. I didn't place the tea order on time, so we had to run out and buy some a few hours before opening. We weren't sure about our employee clock-in/clock-out system. We were still trying to set stuff up with our accountant. Honestly, it was messy. We got lucky, though, b/c we have a great team and they held our hand while we blundered our way through the opening. <br />
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I say "blundered" in regards to our opening, but that's only how it felt to me. We are like swans - lovely and graceful above water, but with our feet paddling furiously below the surface. Simon charmed everyone who walked in and I was in the back with Marissa, baking thousands of macarons. It felt like no matter how many we made, half would be gone by the next morning. It's a good problem to have, but I was stressed about the idea that we might actually run out (we didn't). It also doesn't help that now I have my own kitchen and I'm in there 14 hours a day, that I'm able to take something from an idea to production within a few hours...that's what happened to our Cheetos macaron. I looked at some orange cheese powder, thought of Cheetos, and the next day, I tested out a batch. While that particular flavor is going to only be around for Halloween, it's insane to me that I was able to turn it around so fast. That's something we never would have been able to do before. But now that there's an outlet, I'm in the kitchen even longer than anticipated.<br />
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We're open now. It took us over half a year to get here, but we're here. We're still in our soft opening, but at least our doors are open and we're cranking. For the past week and a half, we've been working some crazy hours b/c I can't keep up in the back, but now that Madison Square Eats is done, maybe I'll get ahead. One of the reasons why we decided to close on Mondays was so we can fix small errors and catch up. Soon, there won't be so many things to fix anymore
and we'll be open all 7 days of the week, and from morning to night. <br />
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Every day, I am still amazed that we have a store and one thing none of our food friends have ever mentioned is how many people want to meet the owners. Most people settle for meeting with Simon, but I get beckoned from the kitchen at least once a day to talk to the pastry minded folk. People want to hear our story and oh boy, do we have a story. I didn't think I would like it as much as I do. I like talking to people about what I'm trying to do through food or going out to talk to someone who really likes something they had at the store. Perhaps b/c I only go out for the nicest people, that's why it seems really lovely, but it makes me happy that anyone wants to have a real chat with us about what we're doing. When I'm really tired, talking to someone who has nice words gives me the energy to run back to the kitchen, keep on going, and still adhere to my quality standards. It's fuel for my soul and that alone is enough to reassure me that we made the right decision about opening a store.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-22334494170444780762012-09-10T14:51:00.001-07:002012-09-10T14:51:25.744-07:00Working with SimonPeople may wonder what it's like working with your spouse. It's awesome, really. It's awesome now, but much less awesome back in our early days. <br />
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Let me remind you that when we first started, Simon and I hadn't even known each other for six months. I suspect that most couples who decide to go into business together at least believe that they have a long term chance at survival. For us, the whole, "Will you be my girlfriend?" came about 2 weeks before the, "We should create a business and see where it takes us." Yes, Simon pushed for both (I did not ask him to be my girlfriend) and I was reluctant (to both), but eventually I caved in. <br />
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Back then, both of our roommates were business partners in the midst of launching their own food business. I pitched in by creating all the desserts and Simon was helping out with the odds and ends. In general, Simon's a super helpful guy who'll help out anyone he can. However, I suspect that since a lot of the craziness was going on at my apartment, Simon was pitching in to help so he could hang out there. At some point, he was there more than I was and I would see him whenever I came home from work or school. As we watched our roommates reviewed numbers, discussed menus, and prepared for their opening, Simon got it into head that we could set up a business together.<br />
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We started to set one up, but hadn't gone very far in the planning process before we found the opportunity at the Hester Street Fair. There were a few obstacles though. I was 2 months into pastry school and still struggling with perfecting my macarons. The Hester Street Fair was on the weekends and I was in a weekend program. Simon knew nothing about macarons. <br />
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So those early days were wild days. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted our product to be like, so Simon was very reluctant to make moves without me and I spent most of my week either at my desk job or in school. I'd come home from work frustrated about how little got done, from packaging, to answering emails, to putting together our orders on Etsy. Simon had to build our name on his own - he had to go to the Hester Street Fair and set up, sell, and try to open more wholesale accounts. We didn't know how to scale our production, so we were in the kitchen for 12 hours in order to make something ridiculously small...like 300 macarons. At least once a week, we wouldn't get home until after 4 am. I had my sisters help in the kitchen. Simon had his cousins help at the markets. There was much yelling, arguing, and of course, tears. We fought about money, we fought about the direction of the company, and we fought about how messy his house became since it became our home base. I cried a lot from working late until sunrise while knowing that I had to show up at work in a few hours. Generally, when it came to the business, a lot of it sucked. The redemption was in having fans who enjoyed our products - that surprise on their face after the first bite, and seeing them again week after week. We knew we had something good that could be great.<br />
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I never grew sick of Simon. Even when we fought, I never felt like I just need alone time away from him. In fact, I would get really pissed if he thought I needed alone time. During the toughest week we've had as a business, Simon would constantly tell me how much he missed me while out making deliveries, even if we had just spent 18 hours together. There is a lot of crossover between our personal lives and our business
lives. We've met many of our close friends at markets and with our
irregular schedule, seeing them at events or in our production kitchen
comprises most of our social life. If we get into a fight in our regular life, we can have a really tense day at work. If we argue at work,
there's no reason to not continue after the production is finished. We
talk about cafe furniture over dinner. We talk about dinner while
piping. We bring macarons to 90% of the social events we go to. We go
on dates to bakeries. We have never been apart for 24 hours since starting the company.<br />
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Even though things were very difficult at the start, over time, things changed. We had one really big order that changed production for us forever. We took classes where we learned about how other people make macarons. We smoothed out a lot of our issues and divided up our responsibilities for example, Simon handles all of the customer service and I handle all the recipes. I went from being reluctant about being a girlfriend, to asking when I can be a wife. We spend so much time together, that it feels awkward to be apart. We go to meetings together, we make all of our decisions together, and eat dinner together every night. We're just attached at the hip.<br />
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Things don't work out this way for most couples. Our siblings have successful careers independent of their spouses, which sometimes means spending a great deal of time apart. I've always been a very independent person, so I had envisioned my life would end up that way, too. However, things are not that way when you own a business with a person. You see them a lot. My parents still work together, and Simon's parents had a successful business and are now happily retired together. I know that my parents feel lost without the other. We grew up watching our parents spend most of their days with each other and maybe that's why it feels so natural to us.<br />
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It works for us. I don't recommend it to anyone else because it could easily go very wrong. Work stuff can become too personal and your personal life can ruin your work. I've met couples with successful business together, but I've also heard of things going not so well. I'm so happy to be able to see Simon all the time, but right now, our life isn't that complicated. We have a good job, a comfortable home, and we eat really well for really cheap (5 dumplings for $1 on our block!!). If we have kids, or the store doesn't work out, then we're in a bad position. It's not like, if I lose my job, at least Simon still has his. We have a very specific skill set and we've got a lot invested in this, so we are actually putting all of our eggs in one basket. <br />
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Although there are a few things to worry about, at the end of the day, I'm happy and Simon's happy. We're going to continue our uncomplicated bliss for as long as we can. Eventually, we'll have to grow up and be adults and adopt other responsibilities, but not in the near future and I am totally fine with that.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-68757112694592054002012-08-15T10:03:00.000-07:002012-08-15T10:03:33.802-07:00Fan Sponsored Honeymoon!When people asked us about a firm opening date for our store, I was very reluctant to give an answer. I know enough people in the industry to know that an opening doesn't always go the way you wanted it to go. Our architect aimed for June, and our contractor said early July, so I told everyone probably late July...but then filed our paperwork saying August 16th, but that's tomorrow so all I can do is throw up my hands and shrug!<br />
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I know it's coming soon, but now that we've passed all of my estimates, I don't know what to tell people. You never really know what's going to happen when you start building. When we tore down our ceilings, we saw that we needed to add some support to the structure. When we opened a wall, we found that a chimney had collapsed. When our contractor removed the tiles from the floor, he found that the underlying floor was beautiful. We took off the plastering covering the front of our store and discovered that we really liked the original building. There's so many surprises everywhere! We also found out that since our building is over 100 years old, we would need to upgrade the power supply to the whole building in order to have a working kitchen on site. It looked like it was going to happen in July, but then ConEdison went on strike. Now that the strike is over, we're waiting for them to go through their backlog of stuff and get to our store. They're inspecting on Friday, so hopefully it means that they're upgrading shortly after. Then after our electrician updates all the wiring, we can plug things in and at least get the kitchen running so we can start preparing for opening date. If you ask me when opening date is, I'll ask you if you have any pull with ConEd!<br />
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Did you know that we have the best fans, ever? When we got married in April, we had no plans for a honeymoon. At our booth at Madison Square, I put a sign on a cup and wrote, "Just got married and can't afford a honemoon. Tip jar." Many sympathetic fans, or just nice people passing by would throw change into the jar. Sometimes, a person would run up and press a $5 into the cup without buying anything. We had the nicest conversations with people about where we wanted to go, what we wanted to do, or what it was like when they got married. Couples would give us advice on a long relationship (aka I always win and Simon needs to know that). We'd talk to newly weds about how stressful wedding planning actually was and how being married is just like being in a serious relationship, but with some new bling bling. We had a great time talking to our fans and finally, everything came together and we booked a completely last minute trip to Montreal. I got an email about flight sales on Tuesday, and we were in Montreal by Saturday! With the help of our fans, we had a wonderful honeymoon filled with lots of walking, eating, and the nicest bed we have ever slept on. In fact, we called the bed "The Cloud" and could not believe how the good our sleep was on The Cloud.<br />
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Montreal was amazing. We did a lot of walking, ate a LOT of food, and just had a grand old time. I had thought it would be cold in comparison to the heat wave taking over NY, but I was wrong and I got the first tan I've had since 2009. Even with a thick coat of SPF 75 on, I still got a tan! We ate a billion croissants, ordered tons of poutine, ate at Schwartz, and watched the medieval duct tape fight. <br />
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Did I mention that my teammate, Julien, from my Pierre Herme class owns a shop up there called Point G? Based on how many shops that carry their macarons, it appears that Point G is THE shop to go to! Back in April 2009, I basically lied about my experience in food to go to the workshop in Paris. It was pretty clear right away that I was a complete amateur, but fortunately, I had been teamed up with Julien. Julien was so fast and efficient that I remember looking at him and thinking, I need to go to school to be like this guy. When we saw him yesterday, he even demonstrated to Simon how bad I was at piping and the scared faces I would make (all totally accurate). Julien taught me how to have more control with my piping bag and today, I still use his technique. Anyway, in three years, his business went from a tiny shop with a small budget to a really amazing operation. I hope that one day, we will be somewhere near as successful as he is.<br />
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One of the things I like about the food industry is that it's full of nice people. Sure, there are bad eggs in every bunch, but a lot of us are brought together by our love for food. Some of our best friends are friends we have met through food and during the rare times we do get together, we talk about our shared experiences, or throw around ideas for a new product. We wonder if there's a better way for a small business to do delivery service; we complain about how scary an 80 quart mixer is; we chat about the nice thing someone said to us that day. There is more that brings us together than tears us apart, so we love to share it. Simon met a nice couple who work at a restaurant in Pittsburgh while we were on line for a Japanese spot in Montreal and we had that common ground that made us almost instant buddies. Julien told us about how difficult the early days of his business was, which I imagine is a warning to us as future new store owners. There are plenty of stories to share. I can't wait for the classroom portion of our kitchen to open up because then we'll be able to show our fans where the magic happens and let them have a glimpse of it, too.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-83951208519138810882012-07-03T10:56:00.000-07:002012-07-03T10:56:22.073-07:00We eat a lot of macarons. Every few months or so, we go on a crazy spree and buy dozens of macarons - from NY and from all over the country. Truthfully, we've had some bad ones, but we've had a lot of great ones. We admire other bakeries for their beautiful shells, or vibrant colors, or tasty flavors. We eat a lot and I think it's really important to sit down and assess what's going on around you b/c that will only make you better.<br />
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So recently, I tried some macarons where the shell wasn't very sweet. I wondered if reducing the sugar in our macarons would bring out the flavors more. So I went into the kitchen, changed up the recipe and gave it a try. The resulting shell was pretty delicious. Because it wasn't as sweet, it had a much stronger almond flavor to it. I was pretty excited to fill them and compare and the results were very interesting...<br />
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It turns out that the sweetness helped bring out the flavors of our fillings more. Somehow, when we reduced the sugar, the flavors didn't seem as bright or as tasty. Even our lemon macaron, which is a super bright flavor, seemed reduced in the more almond-y shell. How bizarre is that? I had been wondering for a long time if our shells were too sweet, but I guess it's just right.<br />
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I think that's one of the most interesting aspects of working in pastry. You pretty much have to be a calculating person who's always wondering what happens if... What happens if you change the oven temperature? What happens if you add a little more butter? What happens if you accidentally forgot the sugar? My mind cycles through all of these scenarios all the time and there's always a weird scrap of paper lying around with an untitled recipe on it and odd notes like, "NEED MORE CRISPY. BUTTER??"<br />
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I consider myself part of the microwave generation - I grew up in an era where your microwave dinner can be cooked in a few minutes. Due to the store opening coming up, the impatient itch has been worse than ever and I will be in the kitchen all day because I cannot sleep until I have mastered whatever it is that I am after that day. I keep thinking about what to do next and I am so impatient about waiting for it to all happen. The worst is when I get so impatient that I ruin it at the last step. I do that a lot.<br />
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It's important to always be on your feet. I want to be able to stand behind our product. There's always that whole greener pastures thing and I wonder if where I'm at is good enough. I may have a great recipe, but it doesn't stop me from wondering if it could get better by tweaking it a little. That's what happened with our pistachio macaron. When we first unveiled our pistachio, I thought it was pretty good. But I changed it like 4 times in the middle of our busiest season (December!) until I finally found one that I was happy with. It's incredibly expensive to make compared with our previous version and uses 3 different pistachio products to get to the right flavor, but I'm much happier with it.<br />
<br />Now that we're expanding, it means I'm testing out new recipes - beyond macarons. I sit down some nights with four books open around me so I can compare recipes and figure out what exactly I'm looking for. It's a lot of fun to try something new, but also very frustrating when you know what you want, but don't know how to get there. Often, I find myself turning to some of my more technical baking books and google to figure out if anyone else has mastered the same problem I have. Sometimes I find myself baking 6 batches of brownies in all the various pans I have in my house only to find that there's one with the right flavor, but wrong texture and then have to test it again with varying amounts of batter to find out which thickness is the right one or which oven time is right. There are just so many variables and you have to keep trying in order to have something you're proud of. It's all worth it in the end for the moment you taste something for the first time and say to yourself, "This is it."<br />
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And that's when I type it up and put it in my recipe book. It usually is "It" until I start to worry again and decide to tweak it four times before realizing the first one was just right. Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-91877995241139677382012-06-08T16:38:00.001-07:002012-06-08T16:40:29.423-07:00Married Life!Remember that time when Macaron Parlour was started by two people who practically barely knew each other? Yeah, well, those two people got married. Then a week later, kicked off our season at the Hester Street Fair, and a week after that, started the month long market at Madison Square Eats. Now it's almost 7 weeks later and after all the chaos of the past few months, I got hit with a serious stomach virus and now I finally get to relax (minus the pain and not eating part) in bed.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR6HTRNUfHYfskcBI2JKCVmEV4_Fxp57LEs14D1HP3h37k3sKEjbV7QY3B4ztY6UaZABF_Eltudz4HqEQPEt6fsiVQkq0RsIQirp6peg8sRqZ7phgmtvNVKqgDdmcgem3Vu8JcR7xLeg/s1600/526233_10150829621770056_192446710055_12082002_694868013_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR6HTRNUfHYfskcBI2JKCVmEV4_Fxp57LEs14D1HP3h37k3sKEjbV7QY3B4ztY6UaZABF_Eltudz4HqEQPEt6fsiVQkq0RsIQirp6peg8sRqZ7phgmtvNVKqgDdmcgem3Vu8JcR7xLeg/s320/526233_10150829621770056_192446710055_12082002_694868013_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Tomorrow will be our last scheduled day at the Hester Street Fair and then we're going to go on a hiatus to focus our energies on our store (and maybe go on a honeymoon? If you see Simon , please tell him that we should do one last getaway before more chaos). We'll hopefully be open sometime in late July and then...you can visit us like, all the time!<br />
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Thank you everyone for making the past two years wonderful and being part of our story. We're super happy to have so many new friends and fans in our lives and we couldn't have gotten here without your love and support.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-30683790552905987252012-04-02T10:10:00.004-07:002012-04-02T16:31:44.889-07:00Our Future Store<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrY0bf4sR7i_R0EyVimu37dp-9lnAvrrBw1GlFxdTsYaEWx4Kk6js4hoPG4_BtzJY-bnRKKlot8agZTKgvxPummhTKDf1e9VjDdYZVdB6GQmjxGJKnkLcwj4b0YDaiGD1ZYISq5qrThw/s1600/IMG_2903.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrY0bf4sR7i_R0EyVimu37dp-9lnAvrrBw1GlFxdTsYaEWx4Kk6js4hoPG4_BtzJY-bnRKKlot8agZTKgvxPummhTKDf1e9VjDdYZVdB6GQmjxGJKnkLcwj4b0YDaiGD1ZYISq5qrThw/s320/IMG_2903.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726870572882008962" border="0" /></a><br />Simon and I went on vacation in early March...FINALLY! We haven't been on vacation since meeting each other. Our first year, we were too broke, our second year, we were too busy. I had booked a trip to Paris for our two year anniversary and somehow, it totally worked out.<br /><br />Right before leaving, we signed a lease for a beautiful space at 111 St. Marks Place. We're going to have the whole works there - cafe, bakery, kitchen, classroom, and outdoor garden! There's this really beautiful backyard and while we're sad to report that we can't use it for seating, we're happy to have an urban garden. I had started gardening when I was in middle school after my grandmother was unable to maintain the one in our backyard. I was a terrible gardener, although I tried hard (somehow grew an entire crop of corn that had baby tops, regular sized bottoms...). Hopefully this time will be better.<br /><br />With the lease signed and knowing that much lay in the months ahead, we went to Paris with the purpose of doing "research and development." This meant buying and eating macarons from everywhere, and coming back to the US with 15 boxes of macarons to do a master taste test with ours. We also ate French brownies and cookies, and if you like the simplicity of American brownies and chocolate chip cookies, you will be disappointed b/c theirs have so many ingredients and are so complex. We made croissants and baguettes at Grenier a Pain. We ate baguettes every day, slathering them with rich butter and jam. We walked until our bodies felt older than our actual age and my hips started hurting, while Simon's ankle became strained. We visited museums, ice cream shops, flea markets, bookstores and many pastry shops. At the very end, we took engagement photos that ended up being way more amazing than I ever could have hoped for.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNRJ41Dyy8JbngiAgjO7BZtHDBsB_neAlBgUXp_zQy22X7MgaWTFTxXzPW3nq5lsWDHFR3Ma2EOeRid63p6VRljQ7WeGoXRmopKkQ_lXNgRE6e_ucODcwacOYTX9SkbXIwrp5E6UWg1w/s1600/IMG_6042.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNRJ41Dyy8JbngiAgjO7BZtHDBsB_neAlBgUXp_zQy22X7MgaWTFTxXzPW3nq5lsWDHFR3Ma2EOeRid63p6VRljQ7WeGoXRmopKkQ_lXNgRE6e_ucODcwacOYTX9SkbXIwrp5E6UWg1w/s320/IMG_6042.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726870583585247890" border="0" /></a><br />Then it was back to reality - less than two weeks after coming back, we had a Macaron Day pop up at our store. We basically painted the interior and exterior of our store with the help of my sisters and hung up a curtain to hide half of the store. A lot of people said that it seemed like we could just open up with the setup we have, but we have a lot in mind for our future space.<br /><br />When I went to school last year to learn about culinary management, I was very unsure about the next steps for Macaron Parlour. We work in a commissary kitchen, but I had dreams of having our own kitchen, although not our own retail space. As much as I enjoy working with so many great people, I always felt like having our own kitchen would help streamline things for us a little bit. We wouldn't have to spend an hour getting things out of our storage space before starting production and an hour putting it away. We wouldn't have to search for equipment that may have wandered since the last time we used it. With all of that in mind, I had hoped to someday have our own tiny production space that was all ours. I thought that if we had our own kitchen, our business can grow.<br /><br />But once I started the program, I realized that we were potentially much more than a wholesale/market business. Friends pointed out to us that people always ask us if we have a store. Simon and I noticed that many people believed that since we don't have a store, we must bake out of our home - including those we had approached to be potential wholesale clients. We saw that a store would give us a sense of legitimacy, and probably grow our business much faster than we could do without.<br /><br />We found our space in January. I found a listing for it on Craigslist that gave a very vague impression of where it might be and I begged Simon to do a slow drive by whenever we were in the neighborhood with the hope that we could find it. It took about 3 trips before I finally found it, two basement retail locations on St. Marks Place. Then I had to convince Simon that we needed both sides and not just one of them. He didn't buy it at first, but he came around eventually once I drew a diagram of what it could be. Then we had to find a broker who was showing that space and would respond to us in a timely manner.<br /><br />We thought that it would take 2 months before we got a lease to sign. Took us less than two weeks. Negotiations took another two weeks and we got the keys. I have signed leases for apartments in NY and while this was a little more complicated, it was still somewhat familiar territory. What wasn't familiar was everything that came next - finding an architect, thinking about the feel of the space, getting all of the specs for the equipment we're going to use, figuring out what we're going to sell and how to display it, lighting, electricity, plumbing, etc. There is so much to think about and no real guidebook on how to do it right, so we just have to plunge in and do it. I think we're a little slower on everything than we would like to be, but I think it'll be better for us to be more thoughtful every step of the way than to have major regrets in the future.<br /><br />Opening a store is no easy feat, but we're taking our first baby steps and have our fingers crossed. We're lucky that Simon and I have great connections to people we trust for advice to help us on this journey.<br /><br />While the store won't be coming together until this summer (hopefully), we do have several other fun things in the meantime. This weekend, we're going to be at the DeKalb Market for opening weekend (April 7-8). Then we will be doing the TAP-NY Night Market at the Downtown Community Television Center at 87 Lafayette St on Friday, April 13 from 6-10 pm. Then all will be quiet for a week so we can get married (YAY!). Then Hester Street Fair will be kicking off on April 28th. The following Friday, on May 4th, we'll <span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><b><span style=" font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:JA;mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:";font-size:12.0pt;" ></span></b>be back at Madison Square Eats - spring edition. If things work out, we'll hopefully have some frozen macarons for sale there. There's plenty of opportunity for us to see each other before the store opens, so friends, please stop by and see us soon!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsGcxHrHZsD63BZMH1aX3I9PZBWpgtFuSokrujXrsXvosb7Izv0TRAqsH0lSWZAtQl9I3gI-l9Svbe5uvQcbUIccguUWGUntoos_dsjZ8JGRotndO52vxRQ-wf5U5rfgstVYmOkWEPqw/s1600/IMG_20120320_111827.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsGcxHrHZsD63BZMH1aX3I9PZBWpgtFuSokrujXrsXvosb7Izv0TRAqsH0lSWZAtQl9I3gI-l9Svbe5uvQcbUIccguUWGUntoos_dsjZ8JGRotndO52vxRQ-wf5U5rfgstVYmOkWEPqw/s320/IMG_20120320_111827.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5726870604410186066" border="0" /></a>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-42968382618932495062012-02-22T12:07:00.001-08:002012-02-22T19:53:27.900-08:00Pastry SchoolI had always liked baking. I went to this really great pre-school that taught us a lot of amazing things, like we spent each week learning about a new culture, we met people doing some really great things, I got to meet the governor, and I remember doing some really fun art projects with fish. The thing that stuck out was, we learned a lot about food. When we learned about different cultures, we learned about the food they ate. We visited our kitchen where we would get a demonstration and sometimes even work hands on to make the product. My mom said I would come home with these recipes and ask her to help me make a binder for them. I'm sure she did, but I am not sure what happened to it.<br /><br />As a kid, my next door neighbors would come over and we would spend hours baking together. I wasn't sure what the difference was between tsp and tbsp so I always had overly salty cookies (perhaps why I like salty cookies now...). In high school, I always baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies at the beginning of every break for my family (who does not eat sweets normally) and one at the end of break for my classmates (who suffered from repetitive cafeteria food) when I got back.<br /><br />Sometime in college, I started fantasizing about opening a bakery. Perhaps because I had spent so many years thinking I was going to be a lawyer, or a psychologist, or something that would make my parents very proud, it never really occurred to me that you can bake for a living. I'm not sure why I didn't think it was feasible as a full time job. I fantasized about having a bakery as a <span style="font-style: italic;">side job</span>. So, I thought my real job would be in PR and I would own this bakery on my days off.<br /><br />Well, there is one way you can own a bakery as a side job. That is by being an investor and pouring enough money into someone else's business to be able to go in and check on it now and then and pat everyone on the back for the good work. I did not have that kind of money. I don't have that money now. I get excited whenever the lottery is over $150 million because I think that is my only chance of getting money like that. I would be excited to win $600 in the lottery, but that hasn't happened yet.<br /><br />I went forth with the PR route and sent out dozens of emails before someone finally took me in. One of my internships led to my first real post-college job. After reading "Cheaper by the Dozen" as a kid, I am really into the idea of finding ways to be more efficient. When it comes to Christina time, I am incredibly lazy, but when it comes to work, I sometimes step back and think about a problem for a few minutes to see if there is a better way of tackling it. There usually is. I have taken projects that would normally last 2-3 days down to 20 minutes. But then I would be incredibly bored for the next 3 days while looking for something to do. I would just eat in my cubicle, quietly gain weight and think about what to bake that night. This happened in two jobs over almost 3 years. It wasn't that I was a fantastic worker, it was just that there was such a set way of doing things that no one thought of ways to do it differently. But after a while, I started to feel that I did not belong and perhaps that side job could become a real job.<br /><br />I couldn't afford pastry school because I couldn't get a loan no matter how many times I applied and I complained about it to everyone for 6 months. I actually applied for a lot of jobs in food with the hope that I could bypass the whole step altogether. I tried to apply to be a server, a cashier, a floor sweeper, a pastry cook, and even a completely free intern and I never heard back from anyone. I applied online to a lot of jobs. I applied in person to some and those were the worst because I would get the most pitying faces from people who knew they wouldn't hire me. I just wanted to get in and try. At this point, I was actually a really good home baker (but terrible cook...and still am). I baked a lot and I tested out recipes. I had taken the 60 hour Intro to Baking class at the Institute of Culinary Education. I had even been to Paris and held my own against professional pastry chefs in the Pierre Herme class. I applied all my ideas about efficiency to baking and with my sister, held a bake sale with literally hundreds of products from cookies, to florentines, to macarons, blondies, and pies. I could bake, and I could write a letter about why I wanted to bake, but no one wanted to take that risk.<br /><br />I realized that in NY, it would be hard to get a job in food with no school or professional food experience under my belt because there are so many culinary schools and graduates here. So, I decided that I had to go to school. I was aching to get out of my PR career path and get into food. I knew if I was desperate enough to sweep floors, I really wanted to do this.<br /><br />The funny thing is, I actually got my first job in pastry before going to school. An old roommate of mine had once worked at a cafe and managed to get me an interview to be a server. But once I actually started talking to the manager/pastry chef, I think she realized where I actually belong. She offered me a job as a pastry cook two months later. On the first day, I learned a lot more about how a kitchen runs than I did baking at home. I was just so grateful to get a chance that I worked so hard that I ended up with eczema that lasted for over a year. I went to school anyway because as much as I learned on the job, I felt like I could learn more and after 6 months of trying, I finally got a loan.<br /><br />I have met a lot of people along the way who have been to school and people who have not gone to pastry/culinary school. A lot of people who have gone to school say it was a waste of money because it is nothing like working, but on the other hand, many people who didn't go to school have a huge chip on their shoulder.<br /><br />I went to school. I found a loan that I qualified for and I took out one that was almost twice the amount of the loan I had from college. Two years later, I have barely made a dent paying it off and I hope that I don't still have loan debt to pay off by the time my kids go to college, but who knows? I never rose very high on the totem pole at work, so the money I make now is pretty much equivalent to what I made as a lowly PR person, but I work like 20 more hours a week. However, all that aside, I don't regret it at all because I met some really great people along the way. I applied for every scholarship and grant that I could and that introduced me to even more people. I made some good connections at ICE that have been completely invaluable - like being able to work with Pierre Herme at one of his demos and meet Thomas Keller. I think pastry school is just what you make of it - much like any other experience. If you go in hungry, you will learn a lot from it and you can be great. If you think that it will make you the next Food Network star, it won't.<br /><br />Even though pastry school preps you for the real world, it is just like college - it is nothing like the real world. Doing class for a few hours a day is different from working for 16 hours straight with your only sitting break being when you go to the bathroom. Learning how to make 2 tarts is nothing like having to make dozens of tarts day after day for months, or even years. It really only prepares you by giving you a glimpse of what you may come across in the real world. Pastry people are crazy. We love to do the same repetitive task over and over again, every single day. We are like factory workers, but we love it. I sometimes sleep with a brace at night because my wrist aches so bad, but it doesn't stop me from working.<br /><br />I don't think you have to go to school to be good. I think you just have to have the right attitude about it. Just because I don't regret school doesn't mean that you have to go. I think there are a lot of really great pastry chefs out there who didn't go to school. They were so hungry that they learned it own their own and I really admire them for that. That hunger and drive is what makes people great, not necessarily education.<br /><br />And along the way, I have asked a lot of people how they have managed to avoid the hefty tuition bills of going to school. They said that they were just persistent in asking for a job. Sometimes it was at a local cafe where they were regulars and after getting to know the staff better, they just asked. Sometimes, it was by sending a really well crafted letter. Sometimes it was as easy as seeing a "Hiring" sign and going in. I learned from my first pastry boss that someone with a good attitude will be better for you than someone with a lot of experience and a poor attitude. It's true. At Macaron Parlour, we have only ever taken in one intern. I remember the surprise in Simon's voice when I told him that I was letting her come in. I told him that while emailing with her, I saw how smart and thoughtful she was and I could see myself in her words, so I wanted her to come in and see if she liked pastry. She's at school in Paris now. =)<br /><br />On the other side, now that I have been in this field for enough time and have had to hire/fire people, I do have some thoughts on why no one wanted to hire me back in the day. When you know what you're doing, it's really painful to watch other people fumble around. I have taken many and I still continue to take baking classes that are marketed towards the home baker. A lot of classes are very slow for me, and it is hard to listen to someone say they want to open a bakery when they cannot operate a Kitchenaid or they have only baked with box mixes before. I have spoken to someone who has had some amateur bakers work with her and she said sometimes, they know so little that they slow her down. When you're working and you have a routine, it's hard to take that time out of your own busy schedule for the chance that the person might make it. She said that most people realize that they aren't made for it and leave very quickly. If there are two people with no experience, but one has been to school...at least you know the one who went to school has shown some level of commitment to food and will know the basics.<br /><br />If you haven't gone to school and are either debating it or trying to skip it altogether, please spend some time in a real kitchen before making any sort of big life commitment. It can be very difficult to get in, but someone will let you, even for just a day or a "trail" as we call it. Be sure to hustle and move fast because kitchens are all about that sense of urgency. If you don't know what's going on, ask. It's always better to ask how to do things properly than get it wrong and if the person training you yells at you or belittles you for not knowing, you don't want to be there anyway. I've worked with a lot of really great people who will always take the time to teach you to do something right. Put thought into what you're doing and appreciate whatever it is that they have you do, even if it's just spraying dozens of muffin tins. Don't complain. One of my first trails, I cut so many fruits that I broke out in hives all over my hands. I said nothing about it until I got home to Simon and he saw my swollen fingers. There really is no glory in food so don't expect to show up and start making cakes and batters immediately. There are lessons to learn every step of the way and a lot of steps to take before you get to the top. It is just unclear to me what the top really is, so I think you'll be learning forever.<br /><br />We're probably going to be hiring within the next 6 months - after the wedding and the slow season of the summer. Based on the holidays last year, we can't do that mostly alone again. I hope we're able to find a few good thoughtful folk to come join us and learn how to grow a business with us.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-83156973930680898892012-02-02T23:06:00.001-08:002012-02-05T21:48:54.494-08:00Is it February?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_6GEMnYlxFpSfGyMLseA0qa8yPIEtZ5dHTtmb1iban99IKomBpsbh8KbfDPCmeZWg94ggUwJeaKEI69sHL_r8mk3NGJ8zcsIYfN1du_032yx5nOqBrSqkdBfQuZpwqdwlFbA6s5KSQg/s1600/hearts.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_6GEMnYlxFpSfGyMLseA0qa8yPIEtZ5dHTtmb1iban99IKomBpsbh8KbfDPCmeZWg94ggUwJeaKEI69sHL_r8mk3NGJ8zcsIYfN1du_032yx5nOqBrSqkdBfQuZpwqdwlFbA6s5KSQg/s320/hearts.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5705894132339267314" border="0" /></a><br />Oh man, time flies when there's too much going on!<br /><br />December is a complete blur to me. With the Union Square Holiday market, all the Christmas orders, all the online sales, and trying to shop for presents for the family...wow, I can't believe we survived. We actually made like...over 20,000 macarons in December alone. And, I think we bought some of the best Christmas gifts we have ever gifted. Simon and I were so exhausted that on Christmas day, we both took 3-4 naps. We were really only up for meals, and then it was nap time. It felt amazing to just be couch potatoes.<br /><br />I thought January would be a whole lot of trying to not move as we let our bodies slowly recover, but it was time to finally start dealing with that thing...you know...the whole...wedding. Everyone had been hounding me on how I wasn't getting things done on time (who sets those wedding deadlines anyway?) so Simon and I delegated responsibilities and plowed through it in 3 weeks. We're like 90% done with our planning and we've got a handful of stuff to still do...like...decide what we're going to order for room service once we're no longer dieting.<br /><br />I took a part time job filling in at a friend's restaurant for just January. Simon's sister had a beautiful baby girl. I wrote a list of like 10 new flavors I want to test out and we got through testing about half of them (some are real flops though). For a month that we expected to be very quiet, it really wasn't that quiet at all. I suppose it's like the weekend for people with regular jobs. I always think of the weekend as days off, but a lot of things that you had been pushing off during the week gets accomplished on weekends, like laundry, or grocery shopping, or seeing your family. It's not time off as in, you can just sit and watch TV all day, it's just time you delegate to something else. So, our January got mostly delegated to catching up on our personal lives since June-December was mostly about our pastry lives.<br /><br />Now that we're hunkering back into Macaron Parlour mode (we just started making heart shaped macarons for V-day!), it's time to reflect on our holiday season. It was very interesting being at Union Square. These markets are really the first time we've done an event for many consecutive days, so we were able to really get to know people and see what it would be like if we ever opened a storefront. We made many new friends and fans, and we loved chatting with people. We were honored to be the first macarons for many and to provide many macaron gift boxes for the holiday season. We were thrilled at how many people purchased macarons and returned only a few minutes later to tell us how much they love our stuff. Moments like that made it worth having 16 hour days that started with early morning deliveries, then working at the booth, then going to the kitchen for production.<br /><br />We got a lot of really good feedback - a lot of really lovely words and a few comments on how we can improve. For example, the weather was pretty warm for a December, but there was still a day or two where it was colder outside than in our freezers and after being told that the macarons were hard, we advised everyone to warm up their little macaron before eating it for optimal results.<br /><br />We're constantly a work in progress. We have so many quirks from being such a small business. All of our macarons are piped by hand and even though we have a standard size, sometimes they end up a little smaller, sometimes a little bigger (good news: if we have a small guy, we usually try to give two small macarons for the price of 1). We're a two person company, so there are some things that I'm sure bigger companies can do that we can't. We're still at the point where 95% of the macarons you get from us are piped by Simon or me (the other 5% is for when we are able to recruit some help - either my sisters or some of my former coworkers). I am the only person who manages the ovens when it comes to baking, so I put each tray in and take each tray out. Simon washes all of our dishes. We are the entire business and it is deeply personal to us.<br /><br />A French guy once said to Simon that we are better than any macaron shop he has ever been to in France, even the most famous names. Simon asked him why. The answer: You'll never go to any of those shops and get a smile like he did at our stand, or see someone as nice or as friendly as Simon is. That really warmed up my heart. I love the idea that even though this guy liked our macarons, the real memory that he drew from the whole experience is the good time he had chatting with us.<br /><br />We really pride ourselves on having great conversations with our customers. Simon is the best macaron salesperson you could ever come across because he is really funny, he is sharp, and he is super helpful. I'm kind of awkward, but I like giving out free macarons to make up for that fact because I want you to have a good day and I make terrible jokes that no one gets, so I have to distract you from the long awkward pause afterward.<br /><br />We've been to almost all of the shops that offer macarons in NY and I only remember having a good conversation at one of them. The others have just treated us like a transaction. We believe that when it comes to food, there is something very personal about it! I had a very racist comment said to me at a famous French shop in NY. I was so humiliated, upset, and shocked, and the woman refused to apologize when I called her out on it so I vowed to never go back. There are places that I go to that I know doesn't have the best food, but I just love the staff so much that I keep going. Sometimes, the experience is just as important as the food. I hope people come to us because they like the product, and they keep coming back because they like us, too.<br /><br />I hope the next time you see us at a market or fair, you come by to say hi. I also hope you're lucky enough to avoid one of my awkward jokes.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-28507249761936936422012-02-02T22:15:00.000-08:002012-02-14T10:06:00.441-08:00Happy Valentine's Day!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNSD-0f-8AVe87tf1oJqB0qhEoisaWCnT5UOmOpLY_269-rBIrIm4JIQ2LZTyXqyPTHKwQmE57csDu2jtAQgQBQamgARNo5wb867jjiKs_VhXOW7cGknEyC1Aq6F_r3kdpQfIzLtdRPA/s1600/IMG_8439.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNSD-0f-8AVe87tf1oJqB0qhEoisaWCnT5UOmOpLY_269-rBIrIm4JIQ2LZTyXqyPTHKwQmE57csDu2jtAQgQBQamgARNo5wb867jjiKs_VhXOW7cGknEyC1Aq6F_r3kdpQfIzLtdRPA/s320/IMG_8439.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709049769793236834" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Is it V-Day already? This means it's less than 80 days days to our wedding. Wow.<br /><br />Macarons brought Simon and me together. I'd never think that making macarons would be part of any love story, let alone ours. We were officially together less than 6 weeks by the time I filed the paperwork to start our company. I had attempted to open my own baking business before and failed, and had no indication that this time, it would fare any better.<br /><br />For Christmas 2009, I was too broke to buy gifts for anyone, so I made Christmas tins filled with cookies, chocolates, macarons, and all sorts of sweets. Around this time, Simon had introduced me to his kitchen and let me use his massive counter to set up my own assembly line. As he sat on the other side, I could hear his feet pitter patter with excitement every time I took something out of the oven. He ended up dipping all of the truffles in chocolate and packaging them. He helped me pack all the boxes and ship them to my friends. When I made a batch of macarons that all turned out bad, Simon made a small baggy to put them in so he could snack on them like popcorn. I told him my macaron theories - what constituted a good macaron and why mine were bad. This was 8 months after the Pierre Herme class and I was still having trouble getting them right. He tried to reassure me that what I thought was bad still tasted good to him. After I finished all my Christmas tins, I retired my macaron making and decided to quit for good. I was tired of trying to make macarons, and always failing and I simply couldn't afford to keep doing that (retail almond flour is like $13 a lb! I was using almost a pound a batch!).<br /><br />I "unquit" macarons in March 2010. I asked Simon if he wanted to start a company together, and b/c he says yes to everything, he agreed. I decided that we were going to do macarons b/c I had this feeling that we could do something different than what was currently being offered. I was in school at the time and I asked all my pastry instructors, who helped me figure out what I was doing wrong. Simon funded our business with like $500 and that's all we had to start, and we made it work.<br /><br />Simon & I baked every Wednesday night for the Hester Street Fair on Saturday/Sunday. I still had a desk job and the schedule was brutal. There were days when I would leave work at 5, we'd get to the kitchen at 6 pm, and leave at 6 am...and when I cried about how exhausted I was, knowing that I would be back at work in 3 hours, Simon would plow through it. He would clean up the kitchen, put everything away, and drive us back home.<br /><br />We fought all the time over our business. When it came to our relationship, everything seemed to be rainbows and shooting stars, but when it came to Macaron Parlour, there were plenty of punches. I would get disappointed with his recipe testing. He would get irritated with how I cleaned the kitchen. I'd ask him about business moves and the bigger picture, and he somehow didn't envision it as I did. He'd hound me on not sending Paypal invoices and I would get annoyed that he didn't learn how to use Paypal himself. When people say that you shouldn't go into business with your close friends, they mean it. We were at each other and I think I probably got in a lot more punches than he did. But at the end, we realized that if we weren't so damn in love with each other, we couldn't have gotten through those first few months. It was more my dream than his, so I drove a lot of the decisions and at some point, he really stepped up and helped me make it happen. He adopted my dream and it became our dream, our business, and our "baby." We realized that we could do so much more together than we ever could have accomplished separately. We balance each other out.<br /><br />My parents own a business together. Simon's parents owned a business together. I suppose it runs in our blood to be in business with the one you love. It's not easy and I don't really recommend it to anyone. Our relationship is entirely dependent on being able to spend massive amounts of time together and you know what? Simon is the first person I haven't gotten sick of after spending a lot of time with him. I get sick of everyone. When I was in high school, I wanted to live on an island with squirrels because I was so sick of dealing with people's drama and how mean everyone was to each other (I think people in high school are meaner than people in any other age group. And no idea why I liked squirrels so much, except that for some reason, my high school had cool black squirrels.). I couldn't go on trips with friends because I would get so annoyed after day 3 that I would try to do excursions on my own and come up with elaborate excuses on why I had to go alone. I get irritated pretty easily, and had always been used to the independent life, so I never thought I would ever need a business partner, but I needed someone to balance that out. I got lucky that the one person I have never gotten sick of happens to both be my future husband and my business partner. I hope our partnership is much like our parents' and we have a long, happy marriage together, even if we have to yell at each other about work stuff once in a while.<br /><br />Today we're at the point where when we're in the kitchen, we can work without talking. We can anticipate the other's next move. We don't really argue about what's going on in the kitchen, we haven't been burned in a few months, and we watch movies as we work to pass the time. The other day, I picked a movie that Simon liked so much that when we had a little break, he pulled up a chair next to the laptop and I could hear his feet tap excitedly as he waited for what came next. We had work to do, but I pulled up next to him and we both took a half hour break to finish the movie. One of the reasons why I think we don't claw at each other is b/c we know how to step back and take breaks so we don't let ourselves get too consumed by the present task at hand. Last month, we didn't time our day in the kitchen right so we were stuck with nothing to do while we waited for our macarons to bake, so what did we do? We went on YouTube and practiced Michael Jackson dance moves for an hour. We finished early, in great spirits, and with new moves.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwKgBsS02y0x-yllnUTTW4nJw4L8dWdPX_eReiqczTZLk3ZF6Xnhy-onn6NREqkZ4zbYqPmuyb1w_3zXH54PadpSRRLEqbXWBCPxL2I8EvnsW1OzxYmrCpjc25TXQuhEtZfryizTc94g/s1600/IMG_8898.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwKgBsS02y0x-yllnUTTW4nJw4L8dWdPX_eReiqczTZLk3ZF6Xnhy-onn6NREqkZ4zbYqPmuyb1w_3zXH54PadpSRRLEqbXWBCPxL2I8EvnsW1OzxYmrCpjc25TXQuhEtZfryizTc94g/s320/IMG_8898.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5709049108317062786" border="0" /></a><br /><br />February 13, 2010 is the day Simon asked me to be his girlfriend. Well, actually, it was probably like the 4th time he asked. It was just the first time where I actually agreed to it. He asked over a heart-shaped Papa Johns pizza, the actual pizza is pictured above. That was the first time I ever had a real boyfriend for Valentine's Day. I'm not into the big hype over Valentine's Day, but I think the heart-shaped pizza was a winner in this relationship.<br /><br />So, I wish everyone a Happy Tuesday. Regardless of your relationship status, it is important to remember to not get so caught up in the flow of everyday life to miss out on taking a break and doing something fun today and every day. Michael Jackson YouTube videos are free to watch & practice with. I hope that you enjoy a macaron today.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-65853593601424545302011-11-17T08:56:00.000-08:002011-11-17T09:59:28.644-08:00Union Square Holiday Market!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo0sAbn3Dg1qyVq5NKLowcK_-IH6S7dhCAVk9AYAgrq5XBmOJr-IT48dzrYFAhKOAqtshyphenhyphenZ0FVXYpYVhYj1EROltPPt7qHAcKTSb2TllWyZpGm_Y-wnqLMW3HD_cfLFk2dUe36ANNi3g/s1600/303134_519632147918_206700027_30841692_1130276585_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo0sAbn3Dg1qyVq5NKLowcK_-IH6S7dhCAVk9AYAgrq5XBmOJr-IT48dzrYFAhKOAqtshyphenhyphenZ0FVXYpYVhYj1EROltPPt7qHAcKTSb2TllWyZpGm_Y-wnqLMW3HD_cfLFk2dUe36ANNi3g/s320/303134_519632147918_206700027_30841692_1130276585_n.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5676014962685615682" border="0" /></a><br />Tomorrow, we kick off our first day at the Union Square Holiday Market. After a successful month at Madison Square Eats, we're excited to be back at a market where our followers can visit us every day from tomorrow through December 24th (except Thanksgiving!). We have been preparing like crazy and over the next few weeks, we're going to roll out specials beyond just macarons. Like our special chocolate chip cookies and apple pie bites.<br /><br />I hope everyone gets a chance to stop by and meet Simon. As a native born New Yorker, he is a true diamond in the rough. There are very few things that ruffle his feathers and he is the most naturally happy person I have ever met. It is WEIRD, but very refreshing to find that the crazy fast paced life of New York hasn't stopped this guy from smiling. That's us above in a photo taken by Nicholas James White when he visited our booth at Madison Square Eats. Clearly, we both have food in our mouths and we're trying to smile like we don't, but it's not successful...at all.<br /><br />Anyway, a little relationship story about us for all of you to barf over. When I first met Simon two years ago, I had a completely different life. My friends wouldn't even try to introduce me to guys b/c I would tell all of them that I simply didn't want a relationship. It just didn't fit into my planned life schedule. I totally didn't want a boyfriend. I wanted to quit my dead end job and go to pastry school. I was especially moody at the time because I would have to take out a loan for the entire program - I could only get the loan from one place and 2009 was not a good time to try to take out a loan. <br /><br />Simon had recently been let go from his position as an attorney recruiter and he was enjoying the single life. He, too, did not want a girlfriend. How he decided that he would like to go on dates with me is beyond me. I ignored him a lot because I thought he was weird and I said things to try to make it clear that I wasn't into it, and he thought I was annoying and wasting his time. The guy is so nice, he figured that since we had friends in common and they thought I was ok, he would try to see if I was ok. WHO DOES THAT? THAT IS SO WEIRD.<br /><br />Then a number of things happened. My school was approved for Title IV funding - so my loan options completely opened up and I was able to get one immediately. I got my first pastry job. I started school two months later. A month after that, Simon and I decided to become official. A month later, we decided to open Macaron Parlour. A few months later, I was assigned a wonderful mentor and got my dream pastry job with a talented Pastry Chef I had met a year earlier. Then I decided to go back to school to learn the business side of the food industry and Simon encouraged me to apply for every scholarship possible to pay for the program - and I got all of them. Then I got engaged. And here we are, at Union Square Holiday Market. Two years ago, I was trying to figure out how to pay for pastry school, and now we are in a holiday market that I have been visiting ever since moving to NY 7 years ago.<br /><br />I hope everyone gets their own Simon this holiday season - just a good luck charm that draws everything good your way.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-40898267656782008032011-10-05T12:15:00.000-07:002011-10-05T12:27:01.877-07:00Madison Square Eats<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5aHE8teXWymtvCrR25nBkVb_JSOYPOchFheegdxOS5m3EkUPubVoyB40P4yhSYEoIg-xNWSlgZShDle3qlXoW9EVnot7B7GtW6VAm97S23_f9NEMqiHqu4aPuWIOD1FW3GxDB9-41gg/s1600/Photo_CE27402E-A900-F267-25F7-017155DC9BE7.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5aHE8teXWymtvCrR25nBkVb_JSOYPOchFheegdxOS5m3EkUPubVoyB40P4yhSYEoIg-xNWSlgZShDle3qlXoW9EVnot7B7GtW6VAm97S23_f9NEMqiHqu4aPuWIOD1FW3GxDB9-41gg/s320/Photo_CE27402E-A900-F267-25F7-017155DC9BE7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5660089053313397346" border="0" /></a><br />Come and visit our booth down at Madison Square Eats through October 21st. We're here every day from 11 AM through 9 PM. We're close to the corner of 25th street and 5th Ave.<br /><br />Having a storefront isn't part of our short term plans for Macaron Parlour, but our 4 week participating at Madison Square Eats is a glimpse of what that life will be like for us. In the past week and a half, we have slept around 4-5 hours a night, hired staff, worked until our feet felt like falling off and quitting, and gotten into really long fights about whether we sold 24 or 25 of a particular flavor. This is our temporary storefront and we realize that we have a long way to go before we're ready to open our own. That is something for after...<br /><br />After what?<br /><br />After our wedding, duh! Simon and I are getting married next April! We're going to be business partners, roommates, and married. So, we won't have a giant macaron cake, but we will have Macaron Parlour wedding favors! I spend 25 hours a day with this guy and I'm not sick of him yet! We'll see what I have to say about this in 15 years.<br /><br />That is all! We can't wait to see your smiling face so come and visit us soon. We have more than just macarons here - we have apple pie bites, and cookies. I'm about to head to the kitchen to start prepping for our fall flavors - pumpkin pie and caramel apple. We should have them in the next few days, unless they sell out, of course.<br /><br />See you soon!Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-21348299297519620472011-06-13T07:44:00.000-07:002011-06-13T07:55:43.362-07:00Looking for Interns!I have a nasty sweet tooth. The other day, I found myself nibbling on bits of brown sugar when Simon wasn’t looking. Who does that? <br /><br />Well, I do. One time, I built an entire castle out of sugar cubes and I’m pretty sure that for every sugar cube that went onto my castle, another one went in my mouth. Surprisingly, I apparently also have very strong teeth. After not visiting the dentist for over four years, I finally went two weeks ago. Guess what? Even the dentist was surprised at how little damage that working with sweets has done.<br /><br />Macarons are by nature, very sweet. Two of the four ingredients are sugar! Obviously, they appeal to my sweet tooth, but I also love other practically sugar stuff like streusel. Macaron Parlour has tried on numerous occasions to branch out past just macarons. We tried cookies, brownies, cobblers, and banana bread. Banana bread fared the best (who doesn’t love some banana bread?), but really – we’re known for our macarons. While it’s great, I also began to really miss making flour products.<br /><br />So I recently took a job where I’ll be able to try out new recipes and give them a home. I have a personal fight with myself every day to make sure I don't throw streusel on top of everything (definitely tried a streusel topped macaron before). I also have to force myself to stop adding more sugar into every recipe. So far, I have been able to resist the sugar urge - somewhat.<br /><br />Anyway, the great news is that next to my streusel topped everything, you'll soon be able to find Macaron Parlour macarons. We'll be able to give a more permanent Brooklyn home to Macaron Parlour. I can’t wait for MP to blow up in BK! Once Macaron Parlour becomes more integrated, we’ll share the details with our happy (and soon, new) fans.<br /><br />But this means we’re looking for some good help. We're rapidly expanding and we want to add more people to our team (of just Simon and me). We could use some interns in the kitchen for Macaron Parlour – we’ll teach you about running a small business and making macarons. If you have a lot of free time, we can also offer the opportunity to learn more about café production and restaurant desserts. Contact us through the <a href=” http://macaronparlour.com/contact”>contact page on our site</a> to get in touch!Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41103334866234524.post-4153658562337492372011-05-12T06:23:00.000-07:002011-05-13T13:29:49.370-07:00Too busy to post...a good problem<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fHVBoY0_tk8" allowfullscreen="" width="560" frameborder="0" height="349"></iframe><br />Last year for Fashion Week, we baked, filled, and packaged something like 10,000 macarons. Simon cried twice. I sobbed once. We watched the sunrise as we sat around tying ribbons on baggies and came home hours after the sunset. We thought we would be able to rest the following Monday, but ended up filming the clip above for Kelly Choi’s Very Appetizing. If you can’t tell, we’re both pale and exhausted and I’m sweating bullets. They spent something like ten minutes filming me standing in front of the stove watching sugar boil to the soft ball stage and my whole face felt like it was on fire. That, coupled with the bright camera lights, made me feel like an egg slowly frying in a very hot pan. Sizzle, sizzle, pop. However awkward I felt, we were thrilled.<br /><br />Since starting work full-time, I haven’t had the opportunity to post. Well, a lot has gone on since then. We went through our first holiday season. It was both exciting and exhausting from mailing out 15-20 boxes a day to making corporate deliveries early in the morning and Simon holding a presence at the Big Social Holiday Market the week before Christmas. Truthfully, Simon held most of it down as a one man show.<br /><br />Most importantly, without being prompted, Simon has tried to bake on his own. It happened once, but once is better than never. When I met him, Simon immediately friended me on Facebook and I rolled my eyes and groaned. But his first status was, “What should I bake today?” By that, it turns out he meant, “Which bag of packaged cookie dough should I throw in the oven? Peanut butter or chocolate chip?” However, I didn’t know about that until a few months later – he is so sneaky! That status got me more interested in him and afterward, I was able to teach him how to bake properly.<br /><br />Recently, Simon has rolled out and folded croissant dough and he prepared his first pate brisee for a pie. He was a little too aggressive with both, but on the flip side, the first time I tried making our caramel filling, I was too impatient to let the caramel cool so I tossed in the butter right away and made caramel/butter soup. Then I did that about 6 mores times before I started to wonder what I was doing wrong.<br /><br />ANYWAY, I just wanted to say that I have been really proud of Simon. The person I met baked off packaged cookies, the person I’m in love with now helps me test out new cookie recipes and makes new filling flavors. When I started working, he really stepped in and adopted Macaron Parlour as his baby. <br /><br />Also, as noted in previous posts, we have really been working on our wholesale accounts. We went from only being represented at the Hester Street Fair to having a few very steady accounts. It’s so flattering that other people want to sell our product! Woohoo! Even more flattering, many people have been turning to us to take care of their wedding favors. We offer these beautiful packages that hold 2 macarons and we design a custom sticker that matches the wedding invitations so everyone walks away with their own tasty keepsake of the wedding (which will probably end up in many tummies on the way home). I have watched enough Bridezilla shows to find it an ultimate compliment that people trust their tasty gift to us.<br /><br />Last week, the Hester Street Fair reopened. This was our first home and we love being able to interact with our consumers. The weather was beautiful and the response was great. We had a wonderful time meeting new fans and catching up with old ones. It was so busy, I hardly had a chance to speak to our many friends for more than a few seconds and Simon didn’t get to chat with the other vendors until the after-hours of the fair. We miss everyone and we hope to get to spend more time with you soon. Please visit us this Saturday at the Hester Street Fair!Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13933397729672782804noreply@blogger.com1