This month produces the best weather all year. [I'll say the same thing in April :-)]. I barely notice it. I bike in during heavy morning traffic, too busy watching the crazy drivers and pedestrians. The evening ride home is in a numb fog, exhausted. Today I had to go out and sort some bank issues, which had me running about town long enough to notice the blue skies and perfect temperature.
Spending too many hours at the bakery has resulted in weight gain from lack of exercise. How can one be so exhausted and yet lack exercise? And gain weight when eating so little? Anyway, this has pushed my blood pressure through the roof (well, actually anything above 150 diastolic is worrisome), and hasn't helped my despondent mood.
Luckily, I found a new friend who likes to swim. She works for a former employer of mine, and even lives in my same old apartment. She also is from New York. So maybe now I'll get to swim once a week. I've dusted off the treadmill, and am tenuously adding time there to my daily routine. Man am I out of shape! Thirty minutes at 4 KPH and I'm done. I know if I keep it up I will improve.
Her name is Danielle, and reminds me of my niece with the same name. She's also in her twenties, although my niece may have already moved out of that decade. I lose track.
Ideas I've tried
I've tried keeping filled bags of bread on the shelf. Doesn't seem to make a difference. The customers complain that they can't see the product through the paper. I haven't found a vendor for bags with plastic windows, although I see them in use at other stores.
I made pumpkin pie tarts. Some Chinese customers didn't buy them because they thought pumpkin pie shouldn't be brown, but golden. Like, they've ever tasted one? Not. Typical of the weird responses I get from the Chinese.
I still struggle against moving my product line closer to the Chinese bakery line. There's no way I can compete with them, I don't want to try. I am a specialty shop, offering good wholesome breads. I'd rather go down in flames than increase my sugar purchase even more. It already galls me to see how much we spend on white sugar.
This will always be an issue. It was, right from the beginning, when Mike and I parted ways due to this same issue.
Satina's Deli
I have been asked to provide sandwiches to a few children at the Oxford International College. This is a K-12 school run by Brits, which teaches a British curriculum. There are some ex pat families here with children, though most workers are either single men or on short contracts leaving their wives at home. It is a new school, enrollment is low. I don't yet know the mix between local Chinese kids and ex pat kids.
Some of the ex pat children refuse to eat Chinese food. The headmaster has been concerned, and so he approached me with this idea. I have been dancing with that group ever since they had a promotional gathering at Jagerwirt, the German restaurant upstairs from me. There are 15 foreign teachers working there, and many of them don't like the Chinese food either. They suggested that I speak with the Assistant Head Master, who is Chinese. Our talks came to nothing. Then last week the headmaster, a Brit, phoned and made a commitment to take 5 sandwiches a day for five days as a trial run. That quickly turned into 7, and he also asked that on one day I provide 13, because the Chinese kids felt left out. He figured the Chinese kids would quickly go back to their own food, since culturally the Chinese don't like to eat a cold meal. The day we chose was the PBJ day, since it was so inexpensive an option. I haven't gotten feedback yet on their reaction.
I am finding it very stressful. I never thought of becoming a deli. I'm a vegetarian again, and haven't cooked meat in a long time. Even longer, I haven't roasted meat. I bought a kilo of beef at the fresh market and tried to roast it. It was a disaster! What is more, I've never had to provide school children with lunches. My only frame of reference is from my own childhood. I used to love meatloaf sandwiches. Good clean ground beef is difficult to come by here, and very expensive. There is no bologne, no liverwurst.
Not to mention packaging! At other shops I've seen sandwiches offered in nice stiff plastic triangular containers. I don't have any of those. I have the same problem when I bake something gooey, like bread pudding, or pie. I haven't adequate packaging materials. This requires a trip around town to the various supply places, in search of adequate materials.
Marketing
I am seriously considering closing the bakery for a week. My workers sit around for half a day with nothing to do. I want to lay off the dishwasher, the least useful of the lot, but she is a housewife thrilled to be out of the house, earning a small wage, and she is also the person whose name is on the shop's business license. I hate to deprive the other two, Tina and Peter, of their income for a week.
I need to spend time building up a market. That would require me making personal calls at international companies who have cafeterias. What can I offer them? I'd rather not have to develop a line of sandwiches, though that certainly seems like a market waiting to be opened. I doubt they would just want to add bread to their lunch lineup, because it hardly fits with the rest of the Chinese meal. One HR person, the wife of a friend, suggested her company might find my products useful when they have a special event. She bought three dozen oatmeal cookies to share with her co-workers.
There is a Taiwanese bakery in Xin Bei that some ex pats like. I am thinking of a way to approach them, to ask them to include some of my products in their line.
And then there is transportation. I would really need my own delivery vehicle, since I'm finding it hard to find a same-day courier service. Jolly's has fizzled as a venue. None of the customers have picked up on the service I've offered. There, too, I would need to spend my weekend evenings up there, talking to people, bringing samples, actively promoting my goods. But when the weekend comes, I am always too exhausted to extend my day into the evening and the long journey to the north.
I tried to set up a production schedule, so Peter and Tina would get into a regular routine. But towards what end? The breads sit in the freezer. No one comes to buy.
My business card includes a web site. This past week I have tried diligently to add a note every day, saying what we are preparing. But if anyone tried the web site once and didn't find it dynamic, they won't have reason to go back again to see what I've added. So I'm spitting in the wind.
Visa Issues
I probably have already written that I now have a business visa. In order to get that visa I had to become a company. 'Satina's Western Style Food Consultant Company'. I needed to invest 100,000 rmb in that business. I didn't understand it fully, and now I am living the reality. That money cannot be used for operating expenses. It can only be used for capital investments. That includes leasing a place, buying equipment, decorating the place, buying furniture. Now I have to scramble to find the receipts for all this which has already been done. And how does a consultant spend 100,000 rmb setting up an office?
In China, 'receipt' has a very specialized meaning. A company or vendor will seldom give a receipt unless specifically asked for, and often the price will be higher. I think it has to do with taxes. Once a receipt is given, the seller is required to report that to the tax department. Otherwise, not.
One of my former Web students is a CPA, and has agreed to go on record as my accountant. She is helping me through this morass It is not just my inability to read and write Chinese. It is a whole mind set, a different culture. This is a game people play. Filling out paperwork to comply with regulations, when everyone knows it is mostly smoke and mirrors. Although I have probably spent in excess of 100,000 rmb of my own money since starting out on this bakery journey, I could not account for that money. She, Candice, will use her experience to creatively fill in the forms to account for the 100,000, so that the government will release that money to me. If I can't present that paperwork within a certain amount of time, they government will take negative action against me. My company will be seen as not being legit, and I suppose they could revoke my permissions, my licenses.
Meanwhile, I want to send that money back to the States, as it is my only remaining savings! That was supposed to pay for the completion of the house in Mexico.
Unfortunately, I sat down to run some numbers. I calculated what I had actually invested, how much it costs daily to keep my doors open, and how much I would need to bring in daily just to cover all that. I assumed a three year amortization on equipment, and one year on remodeling. I would need to sell over 1,300 rmb per day. As I said in my earlier post, I am lucky to sell over 100 rmb a day, and rarely do I sell as much as 400 in a day.
Things are not getting better, in that I am not seeing the same customers over time. People sample my wares and may come back a few times, but then not.
I have to wonder what they think, when they look in the windows and find almost no product on the shelves. I just don't know how to overcome that.
The direction of my thoughts these days is to develop a marketing project to reach more commercial customers, and to find an outlet in Xin Bei. It would also be nice to find a friend my age with whom to spend some down time. I'm spending seven days a week at the bakery.
Spending too many hours at the bakery has resulted in weight gain from lack of exercise. How can one be so exhausted and yet lack exercise? And gain weight when eating so little? Anyway, this has pushed my blood pressure through the roof (well, actually anything above 150 diastolic is worrisome), and hasn't helped my despondent mood.
Luckily, I found a new friend who likes to swim. She works for a former employer of mine, and even lives in my same old apartment. She also is from New York. So maybe now I'll get to swim once a week. I've dusted off the treadmill, and am tenuously adding time there to my daily routine. Man am I out of shape! Thirty minutes at 4 KPH and I'm done. I know if I keep it up I will improve.
Her name is Danielle, and reminds me of my niece with the same name. She's also in her twenties, although my niece may have already moved out of that decade. I lose track.
Ideas I've tried
I've tried keeping filled bags of bread on the shelf. Doesn't seem to make a difference. The customers complain that they can't see the product through the paper. I haven't found a vendor for bags with plastic windows, although I see them in use at other stores.
I made pumpkin pie tarts. Some Chinese customers didn't buy them because they thought pumpkin pie shouldn't be brown, but golden. Like, they've ever tasted one? Not. Typical of the weird responses I get from the Chinese.
I still struggle against moving my product line closer to the Chinese bakery line. There's no way I can compete with them, I don't want to try. I am a specialty shop, offering good wholesome breads. I'd rather go down in flames than increase my sugar purchase even more. It already galls me to see how much we spend on white sugar.
This will always be an issue. It was, right from the beginning, when Mike and I parted ways due to this same issue.
Satina's Deli
I have been asked to provide sandwiches to a few children at the Oxford International College. This is a K-12 school run by Brits, which teaches a British curriculum. There are some ex pat families here with children, though most workers are either single men or on short contracts leaving their wives at home. It is a new school, enrollment is low. I don't yet know the mix between local Chinese kids and ex pat kids.
Some of the ex pat children refuse to eat Chinese food. The headmaster has been concerned, and so he approached me with this idea. I have been dancing with that group ever since they had a promotional gathering at Jagerwirt, the German restaurant upstairs from me. There are 15 foreign teachers working there, and many of them don't like the Chinese food either. They suggested that I speak with the Assistant Head Master, who is Chinese. Our talks came to nothing. Then last week the headmaster, a Brit, phoned and made a commitment to take 5 sandwiches a day for five days as a trial run. That quickly turned into 7, and he also asked that on one day I provide 13, because the Chinese kids felt left out. He figured the Chinese kids would quickly go back to their own food, since culturally the Chinese don't like to eat a cold meal. The day we chose was the PBJ day, since it was so inexpensive an option. I haven't gotten feedback yet on their reaction.
I am finding it very stressful. I never thought of becoming a deli. I'm a vegetarian again, and haven't cooked meat in a long time. Even longer, I haven't roasted meat. I bought a kilo of beef at the fresh market and tried to roast it. It was a disaster! What is more, I've never had to provide school children with lunches. My only frame of reference is from my own childhood. I used to love meatloaf sandwiches. Good clean ground beef is difficult to come by here, and very expensive. There is no bologne, no liverwurst.
Not to mention packaging! At other shops I've seen sandwiches offered in nice stiff plastic triangular containers. I don't have any of those. I have the same problem when I bake something gooey, like bread pudding, or pie. I haven't adequate packaging materials. This requires a trip around town to the various supply places, in search of adequate materials.
Marketing
I am seriously considering closing the bakery for a week. My workers sit around for half a day with nothing to do. I want to lay off the dishwasher, the least useful of the lot, but she is a housewife thrilled to be out of the house, earning a small wage, and she is also the person whose name is on the shop's business license. I hate to deprive the other two, Tina and Peter, of their income for a week.
I need to spend time building up a market. That would require me making personal calls at international companies who have cafeterias. What can I offer them? I'd rather not have to develop a line of sandwiches, though that certainly seems like a market waiting to be opened. I doubt they would just want to add bread to their lunch lineup, because it hardly fits with the rest of the Chinese meal. One HR person, the wife of a friend, suggested her company might find my products useful when they have a special event. She bought three dozen oatmeal cookies to share with her co-workers.
There is a Taiwanese bakery in Xin Bei that some ex pats like. I am thinking of a way to approach them, to ask them to include some of my products in their line.
And then there is transportation. I would really need my own delivery vehicle, since I'm finding it hard to find a same-day courier service. Jolly's has fizzled as a venue. None of the customers have picked up on the service I've offered. There, too, I would need to spend my weekend evenings up there, talking to people, bringing samples, actively promoting my goods. But when the weekend comes, I am always too exhausted to extend my day into the evening and the long journey to the north.
I tried to set up a production schedule, so Peter and Tina would get into a regular routine. But towards what end? The breads sit in the freezer. No one comes to buy.
My business card includes a web site. This past week I have tried diligently to add a note every day, saying what we are preparing. But if anyone tried the web site once and didn't find it dynamic, they won't have reason to go back again to see what I've added. So I'm spitting in the wind.
Visa Issues
I probably have already written that I now have a business visa. In order to get that visa I had to become a company. 'Satina's Western Style Food Consultant Company'. I needed to invest 100,000 rmb in that business. I didn't understand it fully, and now I am living the reality. That money cannot be used for operating expenses. It can only be used for capital investments. That includes leasing a place, buying equipment, decorating the place, buying furniture. Now I have to scramble to find the receipts for all this which has already been done. And how does a consultant spend 100,000 rmb setting up an office?
In China, 'receipt' has a very specialized meaning. A company or vendor will seldom give a receipt unless specifically asked for, and often the price will be higher. I think it has to do with taxes. Once a receipt is given, the seller is required to report that to the tax department. Otherwise, not.
One of my former Web students is a CPA, and has agreed to go on record as my accountant. She is helping me through this morass It is not just my inability to read and write Chinese. It is a whole mind set, a different culture. This is a game people play. Filling out paperwork to comply with regulations, when everyone knows it is mostly smoke and mirrors. Although I have probably spent in excess of 100,000 rmb of my own money since starting out on this bakery journey, I could not account for that money. She, Candice, will use her experience to creatively fill in the forms to account for the 100,000, so that the government will release that money to me. If I can't present that paperwork within a certain amount of time, they government will take negative action against me. My company will be seen as not being legit, and I suppose they could revoke my permissions, my licenses.
Meanwhile, I want to send that money back to the States, as it is my only remaining savings! That was supposed to pay for the completion of the house in Mexico.
Unfortunately, I sat down to run some numbers. I calculated what I had actually invested, how much it costs daily to keep my doors open, and how much I would need to bring in daily just to cover all that. I assumed a three year amortization on equipment, and one year on remodeling. I would need to sell over 1,300 rmb per day. As I said in my earlier post, I am lucky to sell over 100 rmb a day, and rarely do I sell as much as 400 in a day.
Things are not getting better, in that I am not seeing the same customers over time. People sample my wares and may come back a few times, but then not.
I have to wonder what they think, when they look in the windows and find almost no product on the shelves. I just don't know how to overcome that.
The direction of my thoughts these days is to develop a marketing project to reach more commercial customers, and to find an outlet in Xin Bei. It would also be nice to find a friend my age with whom to spend some down time. I'm spending seven days a week at the bakery.
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