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?"
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Happy 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Opening a Store
It 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.
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 too 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 too 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Working with Simon
People 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Fan 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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
We 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.
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...
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.
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??"
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.
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.
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."
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.
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...
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.
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??"
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.
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.
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."
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.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Married 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.
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!
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.
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.
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