Reflection

It’s been a while. Through lack of idea, time or habit it’s been a while since I started a blog. To the dozen people who used to read my thoughts and rants, my apologies. Let’s see if I can still do this…

As the light of “normality” begins to break through the dark clouds of the pandemic and the world begins to move forward it seems just and appropriate to take a moment of reflection. Are we through to the other side?, not yet my friend, but it’s been over a year and the business has progressed to a new stage of evolution.

After a year of Sunday dinners, mid week meals, buffets and gentleman’s teas (like afternoon tea but with balls), we have been afforded a fantastic opportunity . I don’t know what brings good fortune to a person but I like to perceive myself as intelligent enough to know when opportunity knocks and to not worry about why the luck has been bestowed upon me. Anyway this summer the van has been given a residency at a busy campsite. This means feeding thousands of campers out of the food van. The van (Tullulah), who I had to watch from a far for far too long. You see, I’ll explain further down, I am not the same person as a year ago. My mind has changed, the subconscious has changed hence how I see the world, life and the future has changed.

Firstly lets go back a bit, Imagine having a dream, one that you took a risk on. You left your very decent, happy and safe job to pursue. That’s what I did, I then brought the van (read that adventure in previous blog) and it has sat there. Sat there not progressing and not only do you not have the money to recondition the van but it sits there idle, to remind you that you are failing on your dream. The thought that you could have sat around on furlough from a decently paid job crosses your mind and late at night your mind asks “did I make the right call for my family?”.

Then the universe acts, I don’t believe in religion but I will happily say “sometimes shit comes together better than you could ever imagine.” As the first real sun of the year started to shine on a February morning, the positivity was flowing, and I simply acted. A simple post, nothing ground breaking, just a post to say I was thinking about the summer and if anybody knew anyone with some land for a pitch to let me know. Then I got a message.

It was the owner of the campsite, but not just any camp site, oh no, the one next to my favourite beach, (the pitch overlooks it) and it is metres away from my dream house. The dream house that has been my big life goal since the moment I saw it, the house that reaffirmed my journey, it was love at first site. So to put it simply “ITS MY DREAM JOB IN MY DREAM LOCATION!”.

If there is ever a chance to progress the business this is it, it’s been the culmination of a year and a half of hustle and grind. What’s better is the owner seems to be brimming with positivity and drive. This seems to be somebody I can learn from, to help me develop and grow. He is somebody who believes in locality, hustle and always stepping forward. Les Brown says “get around successful people, if you want to be successful” , it’s the old adage that “birds who flock together, stay together”. Over the last year new people have come into my life, bonds and connections have been made and the help I have received is humbling and something I look forward to paying back. The van would not be completed without the help and expertise of the owner of a local pizza business, the Mrs’ family who have delivered Sunday dinners EVERY Sunday without a groan or gripe, I wouldn’t be in a fitness routine without my brother in law, I have met other independent food outlet owners who have given advice and support, not to mention we have had numerous people and supporters sharing on social media, giving us spare fridges as we expanded numbers and spreading the word. These are the people to have in your life, and we have so much gratitude for that. Positive people, seeing the bigger picture and always asking the question “how can we help?”.

These people have helped us when the world went crazy, with hustle and grind you can only get so far but the love and kindness has helped us sell out week after week after week. This is possibly the biggest reflection in all of this. WITHOUT THEM, THERE IS NO US. Without the amazing customers we would not have this chance, without our customers I would be back at Tesco on crowd control hating it just to pay the bills, without our customers we would not have grown, learnt and been able to build a business that reflect our values and ideals.

Then there has been my rock, the Mrs. Two years ago she was nervous and of a panic about supplying five cakes in a week. Now nothing phases her, in March we took a big corporate order and 400+ boxes of welshcakes were produced and posted. She constantly has cakes on the go and orders do not seem to slow down. Its been wonderful over the last year to see her grow in confidence and ability, in the world of cake making she kicks ass. Gone are the days of “I could never do that!” they have been replaced with “how can I do that?, “what do I need to learn?”.

Its easy to see growth in others, it takes a bit more to reflect on yourself. Like your child who does not seem to grow on a day by day basis but just every now and then out of no where you see how far they have come along and shot up. Looking inward I can now see a change, I don’t know when it occurred but I don’t feel like a chef first and foremost anymore. When you are not on service in so long the energy changes. Throughout the blogs you will see that I was knowing I needed to think like a businessman instead of a chef and this idea was important to grow. The balance has now tipped. Calling myself a businessman still seems foreign but I guess its now some sort of limbo or purgatory. My decision making has improved recently, a lot less time is spend over thinking. Now I try to act while the emotion is strong, if not it suffers the law of diminishing intent. Fear doesn’t stop me anymore, unknowing doesn’t stop me, saying I fucked up doesn’t bother me, now there is no more fear of failure. This change in mindset is down to reading, TED talks and YouTube videos on development. When it comes to finance I now understand more about money. It doesn’t mean I have any more than before but in educating myself, it feels I have learnt how to get the most out of it and better protect it. This in turn helping myself and the business go forward. Another positive change is having stayed away from news media as a whole, that has brought about a lovely freedom in life. When my brother made a joke about the Suez canal tanker, I had no idea what he was on about. this helps you start the day better, if its important information somebody will tell you, but why start the day with doom, gloom and impending anxiety?. Embrace every day, its a gift…… thats why its called the present.

But lets be frank and honest, in many aspects I don’t know what I am doing in the world of business. I guess this is the beauty of the growth mindset, it presents challenges to help you learn as opposed to issues that demotivate you to not try. Take marketing, advertising and brand promotion. NOT A CLUE. whatever I am doing though is giving me a connection to my customers and is making the brand honest. On multiple occasions social media posts have had innuendo that is not exactly subtle. On mothers day I made numerous jokes about “your mum will love my meat in her mouth”, “I want to pleasure your mother this mothers day”, when it comes to a tasty dish, it gets referred to as a knicker dropper!. Last week when given the chance to deliver to a customers mothers address, I replied “your mum is easy”, followed by another message to say a drop to her mothers is easy. Because we are consistent they found it hilarious, another bond made. Although I have not read or researched marketing I believe the chances of this type of approach is unlikely to appear. What it is though is real, its rude, crude and lewd and that is what hospitality is like, we bust each others balls and care deeply about each other. That’s how I feel towards the customers, I still feel bad that last year I offended somebody by calling Easter “zombie Jesus day”. The point of the business is that people get amazing food no matter who you are. We don’t care about background, your financial status, race, colour, gender or education. The lesson that has been learned above any other this year is “to be honest, real and make good food”.

As the business develops the message becomes more clear. I would hate the idea of phony marketing slogans that have been produced as a survey according to X,Y, and Z. In a world where a caterpillar cake is making mainstream news, Dr Suess is banned, Eminem is trying to be cancelled by Gen Z (again), Mr Potato Head is losing his gender, football clubs are choosing money over fans and people believe the world is flat, it feels good to be a contrarian. The business is an extension of me, the values are me, the humour is me and the empathy for customers is real. As the world gets crazier, the focus becomes streamlined. Everyone is included in good food, its not about focusing on specific dynamic groups A,B,C

So where next? FUCK KNOWS. But I tell you what, its exciting. This summer I have the chance to work with my friend one of the most amazing people I know. He is family. I get to learn whilst working in my dream location and the chance to get bigger and better is knocking at the door. Nervous, yes but excited for the possibilities next year and beyond. As we go with the flow and try not to stress new opportunities will come to light, these we will be chances to learn and grow.

happy eating