I have thoroughly enjoyed today!! I woke up bright and early to run before we had our lecture all day :). The sunrise was incredible!!! Haha to comment on your comment, Lucy, the views are really what inspire me to go on the runs every day :P. I guess the fact that I get a workout out of it is nice too! :D. Also, thank you so much for commenting, Sarah (Nan's mom? Mrs. Munger?). I'm so happy that you all are enjoying everything!! Nan's happy too :). I guess I'll see you in a couple of days, crazy enough!
Back to today - here are some of the pictures I took on my run. It was nice to get some bright sunlight before sitting inside all day, and also after a relatively cloudy week.
Back to today - here are some of the pictures I took on my run. It was nice to get some bright sunlight before sitting inside all day, and also after a relatively cloudy week.
Today's lecture was incredibly insightful. A well-experienced woman named Blathnaid (pronounced "Blah-nahd," funny enough) spoke with us all day (9-5, with only an hour and 15 minutes of break... D:) about everything it takes to start up a restaurant. Man, I wish I'd had this lecture before starting the snackbar this summer. I feel like we had a lot of easily avoided pitfalls in the business. UGH! Here are some of the things we talked about (I've put them in bullet points so it's easier to read. By the way, this is all what I've learned, and you may not find it that useful so feel free to skim!)
We got to do a case study and plan menus in groups, which was pretty fun :). It made me realize just how much work it is to develop a menu from the demographics of the area, the space you have, and what you want to accomplish as a business.
Another really great idea that she suggested was to create a "Mood Board" somewhere that you can put up various pictures, menus, texts, and such as ideas for your own concept for a potential endeavor. :)
This day sure has got the wheels turning a little bit. Do I want to develop my own business? I love the idea of being able to create a café or restaurant completely from scratch!! I think I'd want to have really local and high quality ingredients (maybe even foraged? :D) as possible. Make it all as healthy as possible too :) I don't know. I'm gonna start a mood board for now and maybe get some experience working in different places with similar ideologies to see how it all works! :D Here's a nice quote that Blathnaid pinned up in the room. Also below it is some homemade icecream I had at lunch... WOW. Chocolate and coffee, topped with praline crumble. SO good! :D
- We started off by talking about how important it is to invoke a certain feeling in the customers when they are at your establishment, whether it's comfort, curiosity, a sense of welcomeness, apprehension, etc. That's what will keep your customers coming back - that particular feeling they get that they can't feel anywhere else but there!
- Systems: how are you going to run your business? You need all sorts of systems in place for it to succeed - proper staff training and appraisals, waste management systems (really important!), proper costing, health and security, etc. Very important to think about!
- MENU PLANNING!!!!! This dictates so much in how you plan out your business, and must be done in the early planning stages. You need to think about what equipment you'll need, what clientele will be eating there, your signature dish, what your overall goal is, the amount of SPACE you have to work with, etc.
- Efficiency - I never even thought about this, but it's really important to have dishes that require less than 5 touches in the preparation. This is where we really went wrong with the snackbar, because I think our prep was way too elaborate and could've been quicker. Things can certainly be prepped ahead, but when the order is there, everything needs to be put on the plate quickly and served.
We got to do a case study and plan menus in groups, which was pretty fun :). It made me realize just how much work it is to develop a menu from the demographics of the area, the space you have, and what you want to accomplish as a business.
Another really great idea that she suggested was to create a "Mood Board" somewhere that you can put up various pictures, menus, texts, and such as ideas for your own concept for a potential endeavor. :)
This day sure has got the wheels turning a little bit. Do I want to develop my own business? I love the idea of being able to create a café or restaurant completely from scratch!! I think I'd want to have really local and high quality ingredients (maybe even foraged? :D) as possible. Make it all as healthy as possible too :) I don't know. I'm gonna start a mood board for now and maybe get some experience working in different places with similar ideologies to see how it all works! :D Here's a nice quote that Blathnaid pinned up in the room. Also below it is some homemade icecream I had at lunch... WOW. Chocolate and coffee, topped with praline crumble. SO good! :D
After the lecture, I went into the gardens for awhile and foraged with Bren and Nan. We grabbed some roses, mint leaves, nasturtium flowers and marigold flowers to crystallize and use as decoration for our cakes tomorrow. On the side, we also picked up some nasturtium seeds (which apparently taste like capers when you pickle them right), rosehips, and raspberries (which we ate on the spot!). Here are some of the pictures I took while we were outside...
Nan and I ended up crystallizing flower petals for a good hour. Bren did for awhile but left after 30 minutes or so. It's really meditative! I can't believe we were standing at the kitchen counter painting egg white and dipping tiny petals into caster sugar for that long. It didn't feel like it at all!! Hopefully they'll work as garnish for the cake-off tomorrow! I'm actually really excited for it!! I've never really had the chance to decorate a cake completely on my own (I guess at home it's always been fairly collaborative), so hopefully it'll go well :).
Sadly, it's been another late night. Goodness this is such a bad habit!!! Nonetheless, life's great :).
Love,
Livvy
Sadly, it's been another late night. Goodness this is such a bad habit!!! Nonetheless, life's great :).
Love,
Livvy