I 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.
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.
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 can 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Monday, April 1, 2013
My Parents and My Business
I 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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
How 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?"
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.
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, 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.
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