Totally underestimated the crowd on chu san. Prepared slightly less than enough fillings to cope with the demand. Not that demand is super high, just that supply is lower than usual. =P And this lack of ‘forecast’ and seemingly bad decision making is probably due to the CNY festive mood. All the bak kwa, pineapple tarts, leisure gambling etc is making us slow up there.

Today was -_-” major withdrawal/coldturkey. But what gotta be done gotta be done with a little procrastination allowed. Somehow, we feel that we are too nice to ourselves. People who make it there are normally people who are super hard on themselves. But definitely there will be a tradeoff. Priorities in life again. But we know that if we wana make it big, we needa be hard very hard. Unless we choose not to even embark on that route. If muliti millionaires billionaires are still working their ass off, what makes us think that we can slack our way to success? Not that we wana or can be that rich la

Anyway, flyers distribution works wonders. Too bad it’s difficult to apply for approval at RCS. Though we managed to greatly decrease our advertising & promotion cost – we used to use external flyers distributors which is super EX. After kenn ‘enlightened’ us, we arranged for our staff to distribute instead. Today was the first day and response is positve!!! At least something to make the cold turkey more bearable. hehe. Gona persevere on flyers distribution. Everyday every possible second would be used for flyers distribution. N sidenote: Our flyers are super not cheapo and very cute!!!

2nd and 3rd product still in the midst of planning. Sick of typing 2nd and 3rd product; can’t wait for them to be named. =P After settling our 2nd/3rd p, would be much more relax than now!!! We will soon get used to the ever changing nature of businesses.

Aim: 1 year anniversary: Stability; 2nd year anniversary: Breakeven. The aim that needs to be drilled in daily. 1 year anniversary is jus 2 months away. STABILITY STABILITY.

Stability:
1) 2nd and 3rd p launch
2) Flyers distribution stability – as in daily religiousy
3) Standard procedure simplified to the simplest form
4) Minimise labour cost – wider job scope or lesser people
5) Routinisation. VERY IMPORTANT. It’s only with routines would things be simpler for us.

So HUAT AH Ooki!!! It will and must huat. Luck and hard work- we have both!!! yes…we have both! =P

Been long since we blog~~~

Been long since we wrote about our business life. It’s been a huge mess recently – basically partnership issues which is basically Ooki’s core. BUTTTT we have settled it and it’s back to a healthy partnership with many great plans ahead. Hoping for the best and doing everything it takes for the best to happen. hehe =P And as ‘celebration’, went BKK with benny and wilson last week. VERY FUN! If u guys are reading this, thanks for all the fun, laughter, walking 400m, eat till we die, cheap shopping, kena cheated show, bangkok boys, stressful street, all the massages n too bad no SPA!!! Of cuz we know we brought much fun to u guys too.haha.let’s do this sometime agn k!

Sidenote: Sometimes it’s amazing how everything in life can fall from heaven to hell. How the happiness within can so easily vanish with just 1 unhappy event. It’s amazing how humans automatically focus on the negatives and no matter how many positives there are around, they are not gonna be able to fight and win the negatives. And it’s so easy to return to heaven once that 1 particular issue has been solved. That’s why people say life is suffering – when we are happy, we still fear that the very next moment, everything would be gone. BUTTT we muz have a conscious effort to keep the happiness there and see every challenge as yet another obstacle to be cleared, rather than yet another obstacle posed. yeap…practice makes perfect; practice after preaching.

New promo 2 for $2 starting from tmr!!! will be distributing flyers as well. Once this is settled, we’ll have to full force on our 2nd product – Japanese Cheesetarts!!! Aim is to launch after CNY. Super many things to settle for this; from food photos to marketing materials to design for packaging to recipe to aesthetics to focus groups to price point to presentation method to launch. blah blah blah blah blah. Juz gonna get our ass moving. then, will be our 3rd product. Pan ordered – needa get the machine done, recipe out, suppliers, presentation, food pics etc etc etc. Targetted launch date in march!!! After all these are done, there will be yet another round of improvements to be made to Ooki. After typing this, seems quite scary.

Then there are a million other things to be settled. Somehow, we are quite pleased with ourselves. Haha. to settle everything is satisfying and fulfilling. Yeap…a feeling that is exclusive. =P

Sidenote: Saw on channel 8 – there’s this mum with 2 kids (1 hyperactive), 1 blind mother in law and 1 uncle in law who used to stay @ bus stops, to take care off. $ is a problem, family is a problem, everything’s problematic. She mentioned that she does not want much from life, she simply wants a little more happiness and a little blessing, just a little but that little is nowhere to be found. Shows like this make us feel so blessed and contented – however, this feeling that we get often vanish after awhile. Let’s hope we can keep this exact feeling of bliss and content to stay with us for awhile more. and feel the happiness from within.

Happy chinese new year!!! Gong xi fa cai,nian nian you yu,shi shi shun li!! and for us, it’s a 3 full day of rest!!!! woohoo….4 more days (bitter first, sweet later). Hehe. have fun for CNY!!! Cheerssssssssssss

2 for $2 promotion!!!! FroFrom 9/2/2010

3 new flavours added to Ooki’s menu!!! Curry Chicken, Opera Chocx and Apple Custard!!!

Mondays are the worst days ever! Every monday, Murphy never fails to haunt and hunt us down. Nothing will go according to plan. Nothing will be smooth riding. -_-” of cuz it’s all in the mind but our mind choose to look at all the negative stuffs on mondays; no thanks to Murphy as well. And miraculously, things will get better on Tuesdays and there will never be any cock ups on Fridays. Guess it’s the mental stress being built up cuz of too much slacking on weekends. =)

Wanted to get the bigger tart shell from our supplier in the afternoon but due to some crap incident, didnt manage to get them. Wanted to go to bedok to get our Jelly for Passion Fizz and due to the same crap incident, didnt manage to get them. and the crap incident has been haunting us for months now! wonder when will it leave us for good. Very super buggish and definitely decreases our efficiency.

Met up with a potential franchisee just now. Still very much under negotiations. Somehow, we are still unclear of how the situation should be. We choose them? they choose us? Both choose each other? But who choose who more? Very complicated simplicity. Maybe due to overanalysis. We’ll see how it goes. For certain things in life, forcing our way through will not work. Let nature take its course would be a simpler option.

There may be some obstacles in getting the unit that we ‘aim’ for very long already. Realised that nothing is definite. Even signing on the dotted line, does not mean anything in the case of tenent vs landlord. but we see it as a blessing in disguise, cuz in a few cases already, not getting that particular unit will give us a yet another better unit (smaller,cheaper,better location). Hope it’s the case this time round!!!

A few of our friends are going into Fnb business too. And 1 already failed. this is definitely not an easy route but it feels good to have people with the same interest. Strength in numbers…And it moralises us that we had a great start and despite obstacles, we know we will definitely make it!!!

It’s time we further improve on our taiyaki machine and warmer. Will be meeting our kitchen equipment guy to discuss regarding this soon. Need to fully automate everything so that efficiency can be improved. Basically, we aim to be so automated that anybody can operate our machine. Solves labour issue, increase productivity, decreases wastage etc etc etc etc.

Partnerships!

Wouldn’t say that our partnership is without fights and quarrels. Rather, our fights and quarrels are so intense at times. But what make us still partners? Not only mere partners, but with respect and trust and no misgivings and hatred and grievances. Can’t say for sure that our partnership would be ever lasting, but we can quite confidently say that if we ever part, it is due to mutual respect and understanding, and not hatred and grievances.

So what exactly makes a partnership long lasting? (according to our experience and personal opinions)

1) ALWAYS believe that your partner’s INTENTIONS ARE GOOD. This is very very crucial. If you believe that your partner is a very nice person without any absolute ill intention, basically nothing will go way wrong.

2) TRUST: Once u trust your partner, everything will be smoother riding. And when we refer to trust, there are 2 kinds. 1st kind is very important – trust that she has no ill intention (very related to point 1). 2nd is trust that she will do a good job (this trust has to be built by 2 partners : to learn to trust and to earn trust)

3) FRANKNESS: If partners speak their mind and be frank in everything, every intention is basically good (cuz no one would be frank with bad intention. also, bad intentions will no longer be bad once spoken) and there is basically trust too! (very related to point 2 & 3)

4) ACCEPTANCE: Partners must accept the good and the bad points of the other partner. Once we accept, things would be easier. But how are we to accept? This brings us to the point 5

5) Both partners must try their best! We must understand that everyone’s abilities is very much different and we must trust that everyone is doing their best.

So with the above 5 points, we have made it this far. fights still exist definitely and it will pissed the hell outta us. Morale would be low, stress level would be sky high. Everything will seem so bleak. BUT, hang on and believe the 5 points above and everything bleak will past and it will definitely become clear. clearer than before actually. =)

CHEERS TO ALL PARTNERSHIPS!

New plans for ooki!

Many plans in the pipeline for our dearest ooki!!! There will be new flavours,new product,new marketing gimmicks,new shapes and sizes,new way in presenting our products,new packaging,new avenue for customers to reach our taiyakis!!!! New new new new new!!! Targeted time to launch everything – before cny. For now,it’s planning,gathering info,implementing.a long way to go,many things to be done,gonna be tough but it’s all worth it.by cny,we can happily stuff ourselves with new year goodies.knowing that we deserve the break and the treat. Can’t wait for 14/2/10!!!

Kenn is right to say that kindness begets kindness.not that we r super kind la.juz not exactly evil.haha.for our 2nd product,our friend’s friend will be helpin us with the recipe developing! He’s working at a famous hotel and recently gotten an award from some prestigious organization.n he’s helping us f.o.c but of cuz we will be ‘automatic’ enough to pay him the market rate for recipe developing.can’t wait to meet him this Saturday! Den we can practice n do food tasting once agn! We are seriously very lucky.along the way,we met many nice peeps who rendered us help in many ways and taught us many things. Life is tough but made easy by people around us.much easier.sometimes,it may seem like nothing to them but really mean alottttt to us.very very very very much appreciated.

A random thought: life is a plan,a big plan planned by someone out there. Some believe it’s god,for others it may just be an illusive person.he made every single human so different and life so
Diverse.he planted these people strategically.he has a purpose for everyone.the purpose is to allow everyone to teach everyone something.that something may be obvious and it may not be. And that person made it fun such that some people realise more of the teachings while others may not. Sometimes,when we look around us,we question what rights do we have to be unhappy and upset with life.that person made life in such a way that everyone will be luckier than others in certain aspects at certain pt of time.so if we do ever realise, life is really not that bad.and even good!