Small food business -

Difference between a leader and a boss

2011-10-14T08:53:00.000+08:00

I was reading an article today and on comments section I found this and I thought this is such a wonderful way to describe the difference between a boss and a leader.

I do largely agree with it however I would like to point out that a leader does not necessarily have to hold your hand to make you do things. The employee must give the effort and also work hard.

Do not always rely on your leaders and bosses, take on the responsibility yourself and make things happen. Be reliable and independent.

Article is from Sydney Morning Herald the link is below this comment post.

The comment was made by dgm. I am not sure if it is his / her work or it is a quote from somewhere else:

The boss drives his men;
the leader coaches them.

The boss inspires fear;
the leader inspires enthusiasm.

The boss says "I";
the leader says "We".

The boss assigns tasks;
the leader sets the pace.

The boss says "Get here on time!";
the leader gets there ahead of time.

The boss fixes blame for the breakdown;
the leader fixes the breakdown.

The boss knows how it's done;
the leader shows how.

The boss makes work a drudgery;
the leader makes it a game.

The boss says "Go!";
the leader says "Let's go!"

The world needs leaders,
but nobody wants a boss.

But everybody has one (added by me).

I have found this very encouraging and I hope you find that too.

Anyway

2011-10-05T12:53:00.001+08:00

I was sent this piece by a high school friend I remember it often and I hope by sharing it here it can give strength to those that read it.

ANYWAY
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centred
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives
Be kind anyway
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some genuine enemies
Succeed anyway
If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you
Be honest and sincere anyway
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight
Build anyway
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous
Be happy anyway
The good you do today, will often be forgotten tomorrow
Do good anyway
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough
Give the world your best anyway
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God
It was never between you and them anyway
Dr Kent Keith
(found on Mother Theresa’s wall in Calcutta)

End note:
Anyway I hope you have a fantastic day.

Jumplings marketing story

2011-10-04T09:32:00.003+08:00

Hi again,

Here is how I developed our marketing it is really complex. It is all about watching TV late at night staring at two words.

Click to view a bigger image.

If you were looking at creating a brand here is my advice to you:

1) Don't give up
2) Stay up late
3) Watch TV
4) Think about the problem you are trying to solve
5) Give your brand an identity, best to be an extension of your own personality. If you don't have one like me, pretend to have a personality.

End note:

If you run into the same problem over and over again maybe you should approach it differently.

Jumplings are manufactured in Western Australia!

2011-10-04T09:17:00.001+08:00

Hi everybody or nobody who reads my blog.

I wanted to drop a little note to let you all know that JUMPLINGS are manufactured in Australia. Yes, it is not a lie. I don't import them and then sell it to you (probably a better choice but I have chosen the harder path). At this stage of the business I anticipate that I will manufacture in Australia for the duration in which I own the business. My goal is to export our manufactured product out of Australia.

Jackies Cooking has a very tiny shop in East Victoria Park - that is not open to the public, in fact it doesn't open at all. It is ugly on the outside but just nice on the inside.

To prove that I manufacture it here:

Evidence Photograph 1

Yes that is me with that funny blue thing on my head. Personally I think it looks good (obviously I don't shop at GASP, lol). That thing I am standing in front of is my mean machine. It makes manufacturing in Australia just that much more bearable.

Evidence Photograph 2

This Buy West Eat Best logo can only be place on the product if the majority of the main components are from Western Australia. Yes there are marinades from overseas, such as soy sauce and oyster sauce and assorted ingredients that does not grow in Australia or is insanely difficult to purchase. I do source all my fresh ingredients locally. Note our pork and chicken products qualify for this program.

End note:
If you see me in the supermarket cooking my Jumplings come over and taste, don't worry I am not a pushy sales man. I am happy that you would take the time to taste the product. If you decide to buy it that is entirely up to you (*jedi hand wave* You will BUY my product).

No time to blog.. sad face

2011-09-29T07:24:00.001+08:00

Whyyyyy?

Well as most of you already know we have a few events happening in Perth, Western Australia in October.

You can taste Jumplings free at these locations:

1) 1st October - Perth royal show - 1pm to 4pm - Pork and Chicken
2) 2nd October - The good grocer - 10am to 1pm - Duck and Chicken
3) 8th October - Perth royal show - 9.30am to 12.30pm - Pork and Chicken
4) 9th October - The herdsman Churchlands - 10am to 1pm - Duck and Chicken
5) 15th October - Mullaloo IGA - 10am to 1pm - Duck and Chicken- CANCELLED
6) 22nd October - Brooklyn Fresh Piazza - 10am to 1pm - Duck and Chicken

After each event I will try to post pictures and a write up for it. Just finding out the reactions from people and how people reacted to our brand. I believe we are not just a food manufacturing but also a marketing (albeit small) machine. *emoticon smiley face here*

Instead of a one show and then just forget about it, I will be trying to arrange that we attend the sites that sell our products on a continual basis, with the permission from the relevant people.

Yes I won't have my weekends but that is not important at the moment there will be plenty of time to weekend when I get older.

Thanks all.

How to cook Jumplings

2011-09-13T01:13:00.005+08:00

Pan frying video for Jumplings (gyoza )

It is really easy to cook Jumplings. I have a video here that explains the steps to cooking it traditionally.

The pan frying method is the easiest and has the best results. The pan fried bottom is a really important component to the overall experience of eating a Jumpling.

If the video does not work for you please let me know.

Other methods of cooking Jumplings can be found below:

Steaming the Jumplings

Frozen Jumplings should be placed on an oiled perforated tray.
Oil should be either brushed or sprayed on the surface of the Jumplings.
Steam the Jumplings for 7 minutes at 100 degrees.
(Highly recommended) Place the Jumplings on an oiled hot grill (or fry pan) and brown them.

Boiling the Jumplings (There maybe a slight flavour loss using this method)

Boil half a pot of hot water.
Carefully put the frozen Jumplings in the boiling water.
Wait until all the Jumplings are floating. (4-5 minutes)
(Highly recommended) Place the Jumplings on an oiled hot grill (or fry pan) and brown them.

If you have any problems cooking the Jumplings please leave me a message.

Clam O Clam

2011-09-02T20:24:00.000+08:00

This clam dish is one of my daughters favorite.

Flavour goals
It isn't really hard to get right this one, the clams just give it the the bang in the broth.

Warning:
Because there is tumeric in this recipe if you have a white table like I do, you will have yellow spots all over the table. This can be easily removed by using jiff. This is not a paid commercial :-D lol.

Ingredients:

Clams 1Kg
4 Cloves garlic
Tumeric
Dried parsley
500 mls Chicken stock
2 x Carrot
Spring onions 2 stalks
Half an Onion
Bok Choy
Olive oil
Soy Sauce
Black pepper

Cooking utensils:

A pot that does not scratch
Wooden spoon

Preparation:

Chop the onions, garlic and spring onions
Cube the carrots
Wash the Bok Choy
Clean the clams

Cooking:

Add about 3 to 4 tablespoon of olive oil to the pot and wait for it to heat up on high fire.
Once it is hot pour in the garlic, onions, half of the spring onions and carrots.
Wait till the fragrance of the mixture releases then cook it off on medium high fire for about one or two minutes.
Add tumeric (about half a teaspoon more if you like) and about 1 tablespoon of dried parsley
Cook it for another minute or so till the Tumeric has yellowed the onions
Pour in the chicken stock and stir, put it on high fire until the stock boils.
When the stock boils put 2 tablespoon of soy sauce in the broth.
Crack some pepper into the broth.
Slowly pour in the clams into the broth now.
Cover the pot and leave on the stove for about 8-10 minutes (medium high fire).
Stir on occasion once all the clams have opened, put in the Bok Choy and cook for another 1 - 2 minutes.

Eating:
This feeds 2 Roy's so it would mean it would probably feed 3 mortals

Pour in a big bowl and garnish with the rest of the spring onions.

Serve it immediately because leaving it on the stove would mean that the clams would over cook making them a bit tough and not so nice to chew. The broth is really tasty.

Questions and answers:

Can I use mussels with this recipe? Yes.
Can I just make the soup without the clams? Yes.
Can I add coriander to the soup? Yes.
Why didn't you garnish the top with coriander? Because my coriander garden is dead.
Why didn't you add salt? The clams release the salt from the sea don't add salt because it will unbalance the saltiness.
If I am a mortal and I can finish 1 Kg does that mean I am better than you Roy? Yes, very likely.

20 Minutes preparation for an awesome soup for noodles

2011-08-27T11:24:00.006+08:00

When I get home from a long day, and it is cold I always think about making a soup. Soup in the olden days used to take the whole day and a little bit more to make, these days we have boxed Stock! what a great gift to the busy family.

After a long day you really just want to relax so this will take about 20 minutes of your time of course depending how fast you are at chopping. 45 minutes on the stove.

Flavour goals
If you taste stock on its own you will have a relatively sharp unbalanced flavour what we are trying to achieve is a whole of mouth flavour which is normally explained as the depth of flavour. The best way to balance the sharp taste is to add fresh vegetables, salt and soy sauce. The flavour balancing items are the salt and the soy sauce so do not add to much because you can always add this at the end. If the flavour is still too much like the stock add a little more soy sauce tablespoon by tablespoon until your taste buds feel satisfied.

Utensils
One big pot that has a cover
Another pot for noodles
A Chopping board
A knife
A ladle
A noodle drainer

Soup ingredients
1 Liter Soup stock
Water
1 bunch of Coriander
1 Carrot
1 small Onion
3 Cloves garlic
1 Stick of Celery (not bunch just 1 stick of a bunch)
half a Zucchini
1 Chilli
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
White Miso (or miso dashi) (if you can get them the effect is an increase in the depth of flavour)

150-200g Mince of some sort (Pork, chicken or beef)
Oyster sauce
Sesame oil
Soy sauce
Sugar

Noodles:
You can use pasta, egg noodles, udon noodles, dried packet noodles, rice vermicelli etc.. etc..

Preparation:
1) Wash coriander and wash and peel the carrots, celery and zucchini.
2) Cube the carrots, celery and zucchini into small cubes about 1 cm x 1 cm roughly the same size.
3) Chop the stalks off the coriander bunches and chop them to small pieces, leave the leaves for garnish later.
4) Dice onions, garlic and chilli into small pieces
5) Boil some water (in a kettle or the noodle pot)
6) Heat pot and put some olive oil in it (medium high fire for about 2-3 minutes)

7) Marinade your meat (200g of meat about 2-3 tablespoons of oyster sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil. 1 table spoon of sugar. A few cracks of pepper).
8) Mix thoroughly.
9) Start boiling some water in the other pot (this will be used for cooking the noodles so fill the pot to about half).

Cooking time:
1) Pour the diced onions, garlic, chilli into the pot with the hot olive oil, it should start sizzling immediately.
2) When the fragrance is released, meaning you can smell the lovely smell from the pot. Cook it off for another 2 minutes so they start to brown, if they are browning too quickly your fire is too hot.
3) Add in the marinated mince meat into the pot and cook it till they brown 6-7 minutes.
4) Add in your vegetables and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
5) Pour in the stock. Add the coriander stalks now.
6) Add 2 cups of boiling water (approximately 500 mLs)
7) 3 pinch of salt and a few cracks of pepper and 2 tablespoon of soy sauce.
8) If you have miso (3 teaspoon) or miso dashi (2 teaspoon) add now
8) Turn up the fire until the soup boils then lower to medium low to simmer cover the pot. This will now sit on the stove while you clean up the kids etc it will take about 20 - 30 minutes for the flavour to mature. Taste and adjust as required.
9) If you are using pasta (50g of dried pasta per person?) put them in the pot of boiling water now. Other noodles you can start about 10 minutes into the simmering.

Serving:
1) Get out 3 big bowls add about a handful of noodles to the bottom of the bowl, don't be tempted to add too much because noodles expand in your tummy and the saying goes "generous eyes but a small stomach".
2) Using the ladle make sure you stir the soup before you scoop, you do not want to miss out on all the goodies on the bottom of that pot. Garnish and serve.
3) Eat and slurp and stuff and be happy.

This will feed about 2.25 Roy so that means about 3.5 normal humans

Questions:
1) Can I eat this just as a soup? Yes

2) What happens if it is too salty? Add more stock or water, sometimes if you eat the soup with the noodles the saltiness disappears so try it with a mouthful of noodles and check the flavour before diluting.

3) What if I don't like coriander? Wash and then boil the whole bunch in the soup so the flavour is integrated with the soup. If you are going to make this soup you gotta have some coriander, if you don't like it .. tough! nah kidding but if you leave it out you are missing a big part of the flavour.

4) Can we add other stuff to the soup for instance mushrooms, yesterdays dinner, meat loaf, and or sweet and sour pork? If you only said mushrooms I would say yes go for your life the last 3 really depends on how adventurous your taste buds are. If you can make it with sweet and sour pork please let me know your recipe! :-D

Business plans (Part 2)

2011-08-24T22:46:00.002+08:00

Financial situation

No joking matter, if you are starting a business give yourself time to be successful. Overnight successes do occur but they are few and far between. Often you will have absolutely no income for the first 12 to 24 months. Be prepared.

Here is something I have learned from doing my small business, do not spend any money unless:

1) It has a positive impact on sales

2) Reduces cost

3) Is necessary to produce your product

This is the three question I will ask before I spend any money on anything.

Plan for your cash flow, I am not sure what is the standard for other industries however in the food industry it is End of Month + 30 days. This means that if you sell something in January you won't see a dime until early March (that is if they pay on time). So as a small business that pays in 7 days or 14 days you have a big gap to when you pay to when you are paid. Do not be complacent in this area as it will hurt massively when there are large orders placed (imagine a large order making you go broke can't happen right? well it can).

Some articles that tell you to limit your credit terms etc to 30 days are all inaccurate. A recent article indicated that average payment takes about 53 business days. If you plan for 60 days and ask at 45 days you might average out, but don't dream too much. Large companies will pay you when they do, if you are overly aggressive it may backfire; You must remember that you are dealing with a staff of the big company and not the business owner.

General things aside the details you want, when you start you want to work out your costs as much as you can so you need to see these sections in your spread sheet:
1) Fixed costs
2) Utilities
3) Cost of goods sold
4) Cash flow
5) Once off spending

If you haven't gotten married yet, here is your chance grab an accountant and say your vows.
1) Fixed costs?
Fixed costs are things like rentals and leasing costs etc... They always happen and they cost the same and you cannot avoid them.

2) Utilities?
Your electricity, phone, gas, recycling bin etc etc..

3) Cost of goods sold?
The cost of buying goods to make your product.

4) Cash flow (taking into account payment terms)?
Money in your bank. If you have no orders for the next 2 months and you get hit with one big order what happens to all your cash?

5) Once off spending?
Things you only buy once.

Once you have sat down to work out your costs you have a much better chance at working out how much to sell your product and how many of your product you have to sell.

If anything you need to put a lot of effort into for your business it is the financial side. Take the time to do it properly, don't risk the venture because of guesstimates.

Marketing and selling your goods

Just because you think your product / goods is great does not mean that consumers feel the same. It is a big effort to get people to get familiar enough to buy your product. There are many many ways to do this and there are thick books on this subject I have summarized it into 5 main steps:

1) Market research - not just the product; include the name of the product; the feel of the product and the whole image of the product. So you need to explore what consumers think about your product.

2) Differentiate your product, if you make a meat pie why should people buy your product rather than another brand? Constantly build on the image that you have decided to move on; Tag lines that are easy to remember really helps you here.

3) What price can your product sell for? also consider what price you have to sell it to make a profit. You can ask for any price you like, however you might not get any sales if your price does not match the expectations.

4) Finding your market - your aim is to convince consumers that your product is worthy to be purchased for the price that you ask for. Look for your market or make it easy for your market to find you.

5) Set an objective calculable goal based on a dollar amount, and set a time limit. For example (this is not a real figure by the way) I will push brand Jumplings for the next 8 months at the end of the 8 months the sales figure will be $40,000 / month. After establishing this work out if you can achieve it (time wise or production wise) if you cannot find out what you need to do to achieve it.

Conclusion
In the 4 page business plan here are the important pages:

1) Establish your industry and establish your role.

2) Decide why you are in business, lay out your principles as an employer and a person be sure to stay true to them.

3) Spend days doing a spreadsheet that will tell you your costs and your break even point or marry an accountant.

4) Find your market and find out how to find a market, investigate the best way to sell your product.

Wishing all of you that are working on a business success and hopefully I have given enough information for you to activate your business and engage your customers.

Business plans

2011-08-16T22:16:00.006+08:00

Business plans

NOTE: The business plan I am suggesting in this article is for your business it is a working document that you can change without feeling a sense of loss (time spent and research done). If you are approaching a bank or investors to raise capital you will have to work on a traditional business plan which is more detailed and verbose. If you have to do a traditional business plan please consider the assumptions you make and how that might effect the overall direction of your business in the future.

I hate them. Why do I have to spend hours and hours writing a business plan that would detail everything about my business only to have to change it all again when things change in my business?

Somethings in life no matter how much you hate it you just have to do it. Being a lazy relatively relaxed person I didn't want to go through every single detail of a traditional business plan so I came up with a 4 page business plan, and if it goes over 4 pages into 5 pages nobody is going to minus marks.

A business plan as everyone will tell you is an organic document, it grows with the business. An organic plan that grows with the business should not be overly constrained. What I found useful about a business plan is the high level direction of the business, markets, cost of running and the point where the business makes money.

My example is going to be relatively short here but it is here to give you the guidance so you can do your own.

High level direction of the business

Lots of big words for a relatively small man (not kidding 165cm - 168cm with shoes :D ). This just means decide where you want to go with the business before you start it. When I first started Jackies Cooking all I was certain of was that I want to do food manufacturing. I started off with curry puffs and eventually settled on gyoza or Jumplings as our main manufacturing product.

As a business sometimes you may have to change and adapt to survive, if I had not changed from curry puffs to gyoza I would certainly have been closed a long time ago.

For me the test was, is there a market? and can I achieve economies of scale (another big phrase); economies of scale means that the more you produce one product the cheaper it should get to make that product. I could not achieve the economies of scale with curry puffs due to the high labor component. We made the best (mums recipe) but people did not need the best so I was wasting effort on something that was fantastic but could not fetch the price for the effort.

Gyoza on the other hand, was much less labor intensive and there were (expensive) machines that could assist in production. Almost everyone that comes to the shop to see our machine thinks that it looks so easy, do not underestimate the effort you have to put into getting a machine working. It took us 3 months just to get the dough correct and another 3 months to get it to a point where I was proud of it.

So work on the premise that the product you produce should have a market and the price to match the effort, do not tie yourself into a product unless you are sure about the price and the market. If you have detailed your product and the direction in a traditional business plan, I urge you to reconsider and make it a little more flexible. Sometimes you have to change your business to suit the market. Understandably you would not change a restaurant into a swimming pool so keep your change to a relatively narrow corridor keeping in mind what you envisage is your dream business.

State the reasons you want to get into business and have your principles sorted

You know the I want to be more flexible, I want to be my own boss, I want to have more decision making role, I want to have more control of my financial future etc.

Personally I went into business because I just enjoy the challenge of it. I would like to bring a product into commercialization and have a business that earns me income even when I am not there. Well guess what? It is easier said than done.

A few things to consider the thought although noble it is hard to let go of something that you have worked on for so long and so hard, this is where your principles come in.

What do you mean principles? I started Jackies Cooking with the intention to sell it. The whole operation should work even when I am not there and the business model simple enough so that a new owner can walk in take over and start making money. A business that can be managed fetches a higher price. So if I have a product where the recipes can be premixed and the product can be mass manufactured I should be on a winner right? not exactly I have to be able to sell enough to be able to keep the machine running everyday of the week. Selling Gyoza to Australians that is my marketing story (another day).

Back to principles, every staff that comes to work with me in my kitchen should be an extension of me and should be able to do what I do. I go through an orientation with them of what I expect of my staff. I take a direct and pro active approach to managing and it is never confrontational but always straight forward. I have learned from my past that confrontation only serves to alienate your employees. So I have taken a mentor approach where everything we do is never perfect but we can always do better to make it better.

In the talk I tell them these things:
1) What does it mean when they work here for me as an employer.
2) I am their customer because I am paying them for a service, so always treat your customers with dignity and respect. In addition you must also know that you are as important as your customer. Bullying, yelling, etc should not be tolerated.
3) I have an Aristole quotation about anger you can read it here -

“Anyone can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person at the right time, and for the right purpose and in the right way - that is not within everyone's power and that is not easy.” Aristotle

If you intend to run a business that generates you income when you are not there you will have to invest a lot of time in your employee training. So take the time to work on how you intend to work with staff and what expectations you have. Put effort into working with your staff, go through your business and decide which areas you can let go and let go quickly.

Part 2 coming soon...

Lemon lime and bitters

2011-08-16T20:39:00.000+08:00

Lemon Lime and Bitters

Ingredients

Lemonade (Ice Cold)
Lime Cordial
Angostura aromatic bitters
Ice

Cooking utensils
Glass and a stirrer

Instructions

Put ice into a glass
Pour in the lemonade making sure you tip the glass as you pour it in (this reduces the amount of bubble foam on top of the lemonade) 200 to 230 mls
Add 30 mls of lime cordial to the lemonade
Sprinkle 4-7 drops (depending how much bitters taste you enjoy)
Stir and serve

Questions

How can we make this drink more classy? Use a straw and umbrellas are always popular.
When can we drink this? Anytime.
Will we get drunk? If you drink enough with a lot of bitters or if you are Roy you only need one drink with 2 drops of bitters.
How long will one bottle of bitters last? A long time.
What if it tastes bad? I guess that means you don't like lemon lime and bitters try a different drink.

Chilli Mussels

2011-08-16T20:24:00.002+08:00

My Chilli Muscles (hehe)!

Cooking is not an exact science, the best way to see if it tastes good is to TASTE IT.

Ingredients

5 Cloves of Garlic
Bunch of Coriander
2 Shallots
1-2 Onions (I like the taste of cooked soft onions)
3-4 Tomatoes
1 can of tomato paste (250-300g s I think)
Lemon
1-5 Chilli (depending on your hotness, I am obviously very hot :-) )
350 - 500ml Soup Stock
Salt
Pepper
1 to 1.2 Kg Mussels

Cooking utensils
A large wok with a cover or a deep pan with a cover or a pot with a cover
Wooden spoon

Preperation (10-20 minutes)

Chop the garlic to small pieces
Slice the Shallots and onions
Chop the tomatoes roughly
Chop the stem of the coriander to small pieces (Keep the leaves for the garnish)
Chop the chilli into small pieces (Always chop the chilli last)
Wash and de-beard the Mussels (generally comes de-bearded and cleaned but check anyway) - if you have to de-beard the mussels start on the sauce first.
To de-beard the mussels just pull the beard along the opening until it comes off.

Making the sauce (Actual working on the sauce is about 10 minutes and the waiting should be about 25 minutes - 45 minutes depending how much you want to reduce)

Add some oil (2-3 tablespoon) to a pot on high heat
Put in the chilli, garlic, shallots and onions into the hot pot
When the fragrance is released (when you can smell the garlic, shallots, onions and chilli) allow it to cook for another 2-3 minutes stir the mixture so it does not burn
Add some salt 2 - 3 pinches and pepper to the mixture and stir (don't add too much now you can always add later)
Pour in the soup stock into the mixture
Add in the coriander stems now
Allow the soup to heat up
When the soup starts to boil, carefully add in the chopped tomatoes and the can of tomato paste
Reduce the heat to low and make sure the mixture is stirred often
Cover when on low heat
The sauce should be a little bit runny so it should not be too thick if it is too thick add some soup stock, if it is too runny (I like it with a bit of broth) you can reduce further on higher fire.

Combining the Mussels with the sauce (7-10 minutes)

Slowly add in the mussels (careful not to splash it on yourself) I normally turn it up to medium flame so I get a little bit of bubbles on the surface of the sauce/broth
The more sauce/broth you have the better
Close the cover and stir on occasion
Make sure all the mussels have opened this might take about 7-10 minutes in the pot
Do not eat unopened mussels

Serving

Put the yummy mussels in a deep bowl and mix in the coriander leaves that we had earlier and squeeze half the lemon on the top
Pan fry some sour dough bread covered in olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper
Dip bread and eat smile broadly feel happy wash it down with a lemon lime and bitters (next recipe)

This will serve 2 Roy :-/ which would mean 3-4 normal humans.

Questions and answers:

1) What if it doesn't taste good? Come to my house I will do it for you or pay me to come to your house to do it for you (I am kidding don't call me I won't know why it won't taste good). Alternatively keep trying until you get it right then call me over to eat it.
2) What taste are we looking for? Firstly if you are hot like me, the chilli should stand out, then the coriander, onions and garlic would be the next taste bud stop. The mussels are there however flavour-wise the mussels should be incorporated into the sauce/broth.
3) Mussels are not opening! well cook'em longer turn up the fire or go out and buy fresh ones.

Working with a distributor

2011-07-08T10:22:00.001+08:00

It is always difficult to find a pathway to market for your products. It is important to look upon your distributors as an extension of your business.

There are a few things that I have learned about trying to partner with a distributor, this is split into two sections the first section is about you and your business and the second about selecting your distributor.

You and your business
Selling your goods to someone that is going to invest time and effort into selling your product requires your own business to be ready to be in this space. For my business, the direction I decided to take is (you will have to work out the steps for your own industry):

1) Develop a great product that people enjoy eating
2) Do market research with people you do not know and get written feedback; my method for this is to sponsor networking events in the local chambers or business networking groups
3) Get accreditation; in the food industry that would be HACCP (Food safety accreditation)
4) Get recognition; I sponsored a Food industry dinner and provided an entree for the function. This way of getting recognition really boosts your presence in the industry and it is also a good opportunity to talk about something to someone you have never met
5) Join networking groups! network, network, network don't hunt people down in a networking group but just chit chat, my favorite topic is your business and what you do. This will make you talk less and listen more which is what I strive for.

To do business with other businesses you must first do business with yourself. Are you going to do business with you?

Say what you do and do what you say, reliability and beyond the call of duty is an everyday occurrence in small business, it is just what we have to do to survive. In saying this you must also be careful who you do business with, not all clients are worth keeping if a client doesn't pay their bills and is consistently losing their invoices or making promises that do not materialise it is time to review that relationship.

Communicate with your customers and if they don't communicate with you find a way to talk to them. Understand that people are always busy and so are you but if you do not communicate there is no direction there is no soul to the business that you are doing with the other party, so when a cheaper product comes along you are at a high risk of losing that customer.

Pricing is very important, but I can't really comment on it as I do not fully understand the whole pricing structure just as yet. I will write more on pricing after I have a deeper understanding of how this works.

Choosing a distributor
It is important to meet with as many distributors as possible. Being a small business it may be a disadvantage for you to work with a huge distributor. Try your best to find the medium to small sized family owned distributors. In the meetings try to determine if you can feel these things:

1) Passion
2) Time to think (for the business owners)
3) Interest in your product
4) Industry reputation (client base)
5) Same goals and sharing experiences seeing eye to eye

I believe that just only by having the passion for the business you will already be miles ahead of a competitor that do not have the same passion.

All businesses is constantly busy if the business owner works in the business and does not invest time to manage the business then that business will have a lesser chance of success. If the distributors have time to calmly discuss your requirements share a few jokes and see what you have in mind; that would indicate that the business managed in an orderly way. This will mean that will be more time to devote on marketing and selling goods as opposed to fixing problems and dealing with complaints.

I am not in favor of exclusivity, as it provides too much power to a business that may cause issues in the future. As a small business you can compromise where you place conditions with the distributor where the exclusivity is not a contract but rather a gentleman's agreement. Although I am not in favor I will still give it a go when your hosts are presenting the right case. Never say never.

Summing it all up
So to sum up get your own business up to scratch make your business worthwhile to do business with. Once you have the foundations for a good business then meet with a few distributors and make sure they call you back and work with you.

What happened to the budget range?

2011-07-06T11:19:00.000+08:00

Hey Roy, what happened to the budget range?

Well Mr. Blog last night I stayed up pretty late trying to figure out how it will all tie in how a budget range would allow me to sell at a cheaper price and still make the same money. I have spent all these years to develop and improve recipes to a point where I feel it is of a quality that if I were to purchase something from the supermarket and took it home I would want that quality and taste.

The question I asked myself really is why should I change that recipe again? does it make any sense to reduce the quality just to compete with imports and the short answer is I will never be able to compete with imports price wise. It is an unachievable goal. Then after realising this I have decided:

It is better to sell my product with the best quality at the best price rather than to try to sell a lower quality product at the highest price. At least then I have a competitive advantage.

So this is what I will do.

Jumplings pricing - how can we do better?

2011-07-04T14:56:00.000+08:00

So Roy what is your problem?
Well it is not that easy to explain, but here it is. For me to make good quality Jumplings I need to sell them at a certain price to survive, but doing this isolates a lot of the market as the price for a good product with good ingredients with good flavour is expensive. Reducing the price would ultimately mean I have to use fillers.

Is this a good idea Roy?
Well I am not sure, but I really would like to have a product where everyone can afford and enjoy. It is a good idea in that I will achieve my goals it is a bad idea if the quality declines or it confuses people.

In effect I have to add a "filler" into the dumplings so that the "filler" will fill up about to about 50% of the dumpling and maintain the flavour and reduce the price by about 30%. Can I make a pork dumpling with essentially 15 - 18% of pork in the filling?

When a question is answered by a question instantly you know you will have to do more research. I think at this stage if we target at a lower retail price like $8-$9 for a retail pack this might play a part in the solution.

Currently I have seen two other companies that make this product for retail:
1) Coles gyoza 400g (prawn or veg) - $7 - lots of starch and very empty (Imported from Thailand)
2) Hakkar foods gyoza 400g (pork) - $4.80 - Lots of fat very very greasy (Manufactured in Australia)

My products are about 3 times more expensive than the cheapest one. I am also just under the 2 times mark for the Coles imported product.

What are you going to do about it?
Lets go back to my original goals, my aim is to have a healthy, tasty, easy to cook product that ALL Australians can enjoy. I have put ALL in capitals because right now I know I am not in the ALL market primarily due to my pricing. I am confident that everyone that tastes the product will like it and I know I am priced out of many of those people that want to buy it.

My head is telling me to make a Jumpling and call it something else and increase the amount of vegetables and oats in the mix to increase the quantity of Jumplings per batch. I do not wish to fill the Jumplings with fillers that do not contribute to the health of the customers.

One good problem with doing this is that eventually I can call this Jumplings oats plus and market it as a health product which can also fetch high prices but that is not my goal my current goal is to make it affordable to ALL Australians even if it is for one product I am guessing it will be chicken at the moment.

What are the next steps Roy?
Well the next step is to make a batch of Jumplings oats plus chicken and give it a try to see if we can increase the quantity per batch.

When are you going to do this Roy?
I think I will work on this sometime this week and have an answer by the end of next week.

HACCP implementation successful - and not expensive

2011-07-04T10:24:00.000+08:00

I am going to put in a format that is easily read, as my last blog was a bit of a block of text. Let me know if the new format works for you.

What is your problem Roy?

I need to implement HACCP but not pay 4 arms and 8 legs for it.

What do you have to consider when you implement HACCP?

Well there are a lot of things but essentially you will need:

1) Training - find an implement HACCP course and get that certificate ($700 - July 2011)

2) Training - find an Food Auditing course and get that certificate ($1400 - July 2011)

3) Write your HACCP document - take a minimalist approach, only record what you have to don't try to have a full blown clean house in your premises

4) Use a financial dairy to record your daily cleaning, checking, recording deliveries

5) Since you have to keep your invoices use it to keep temperature records (especially for chilled deliveries)

6) Keep your premises clean and simple, take out things you don't need or hire a storage and put all those things you don't use in it

7) Look for an Auditor that is interstate that visits once a year

8) Book in an Audit, commit to the timeline it saves you from delaying

Ok so now you know the approximate steps, how long does this whole process take? It took me about 3 weeks of work on the document at 1 to 2 hours per night.

How much did the whole process cost you in the end in total including the audit?
$2900.00 at July 2011 WHAT!! -- I know .. my first quote for a consultant was $10000 not including the Audit!!

Temperature monitoring giving me the blues
Temperature monitoring is giving me a total headache Roy how did you solve this issue? My manual recording is very simple, every morning when I come to work I check all my fridges and freezers I then write fridge and freezer OK in my dairy. If there was an issue with one of the fridge or freezer I will write down what happened in the dairy. At the end of the day I do the same but instead of writing down fridge freezer OK I will write down AM & PM and initial. Do not record if you don't go to work..

Do you have a solution that monitors it 24 hours for my 8 fridge and freezers that costs less than $10000?
I now am investing into a new system which will cost a total of about $600 that can monitor and log and send emails. Yes I know what you are going to say no Roy it can't be done, one of those units is going to cost at least $2000 and that is for 2 probes!! When it is all up I will let you in on the secret ~ no not the Oprah secret, the temperature monitoring one.

I am also in the throws of developing a smart phone app that can help you monitor all your daily tasks so you can carry on with making money instead of worrying about record keeping. Is it going to be free? probably not but it is going to be very affordable.

HACCP for micro businesses (1-5 people) my food safety journey

2011-02-16T16:35:00.000+08:00

Why is it so expensive to implement HACCP to my premises? In the past few weeks I have been investigating how I might be able to implement HACCP to my very small compact business. I have contacted and received several quotations from HACCP consultants. Each of the quotations have started at around the $5000 mark and one local consultant is charging around $2500 to $3000 (just for the document). So I was interested to know what it takes to write a document and implement this program and why does it cost so much.

Here is how HACCP implementation works firstly you must write your HACCP document then this document must be sent to an Auditor to be reviewed and inspected to make sure that it complies with the codex alimentarius (the HACCP bible). Some auditors charge you per hour to view your document others put an approximate amount (most quotations I have gotten it is 5 hours @ $100 - $150 per hour). So after you have gotten your document all sorted you move to the next step which is known as the certification audit.

The certification audit involves the Auditor walking around your premises checking your knowledge and your staff knowledge and asking questions. If your premises and knowledge is not up to scratch you get a report to say where you have not performed. An audit can cost anywhere from $800 to $1000 per visit. So you really don't want them to come back anytime soon.

After you have passed the certification Audit you will have surveillance Audits which happens every 3/6 months to make sure you are not cheating in your implementation.

The main thing for any business owner while implementing HACCP is to realise that it is a continual commitment it is not a once a year thing it is an every minute of the day thing. Everything you do in the kitchen will in someway have a risk factor it is up to you to monitor those risks.

Ok so now that you know generally how HACCP is implemented from start to finish lets just do a summary of the costs. Firstly there is the consultant fees currently I have 3 quotations cheapest is $3000 from a local consultant that only writes the document and how I implement it is up to me. Second is a Melbourne based company that says I will take you from start to finish for around $6000, the last quotation is from Sydney which at the start of the conversation started at $5000 and ended up around $10000.

In all these quotation I have found that they were all interested in scaring the business owner away from HACCP implementation. The conversation would start this way with me telling them I want to implement HACCP and the first thing they focus on is that it is expensive, you have to do it right and don't get it wrong etc etc. Now we know that consultants will come to your business and write your document and take you from start to finish for $6000, after you pay this consultant you have to hire the Auditor, which will cost you another approximately $1000. So expect to pay around $7000 for your HACCP implementation if you want it done for you. Knowing that you have to always improve and keep tabs on it.

So I investigated what I can do to implement this HACCP safety program by myself. First I thought if I was to pay someone so much money I want to know what qualifications they have, I searched the qualifications and then found training courses for those qualifications. So after doing that I have enrolled in a HACCP development course for $595 + some small fees and an Internal Audit course the total for the training for these two day courses are around $1300. I found that there are a number of agencies that provide the training for these programs the most well priced I have found is, http://www.auscollege.com.au/.

I will update this blog once I have completed my courses, one at the beginning of March 2011 and one at the end of March 2011.