Still Standing

The title of this post is just to say I'm still here. This blog hasn't been updated in forever because it's really hard to find time to sit down and download what's been going on. I almost miss the daily flavor updates on the blog but it was getting redundant posting them here as well as on Twitter and Facebook.

We've just concluded what was probably our busiest week ever, better than Valentine's Day. It's nice to know that moms are so appreciated. Even though things could have gotten overwhelming, I'm thankful to my small crew for being super efficient. Speaking of efficiency, that's one of my goals for this year. I recently met with a business advisor and here are some lessons that might help other businesses, specifically those in the food industry.

• Map out a roadplan for your business. This usually comes in the form of a business plan. I don't have a business plan as I wasn't planning to court investors. What I do have is a document that has contains my aspirations for the business - in three phases. I'll take his advice and make it more of a formal plan. www.wsi.miniplan.com and www.bplans.com were sites he suggested.
• Maintain quality at all costs. There will be vendors trying to sell you ingredients that are cheaper and "produce the same or better results". Don't do it! Not even once. This is coming from someone that was in the business for 48 years.
• Develop a technique in production. Isn't that the ultimate goal? It would be nice if someone were to hand us all a manual on how to do this. Unfortunately and fortunately, this is something that needs to be developed within the business. It helps to develop and perfect a technique that is ultimately yours.