Starting a food business in a pandemic

Starting a food business in a pandemic(firstprincipleskitchen.substack.com)

31 points by ezl 5 years ago | 18 comments

gambiting 5 years ago |

One thing that I noticed works brilliantly with "unfamiliar" food is literally having the complete thing displayed on your stand/display/whatever. If you've ever been to Camden Market in London, there's loads of food vendors, and they all do this, they have examples of whatever they are making just sitting there, so you don't even need a menu - just point at the thing that you want and they will make it for you. I think it's the same with these - a roll in itself probably won't attract interest, but display it cut in half so everyone can see straight away what you're selling and it becomes a lot more attractive.

pjc50 5 years ago | |

Interestingly, the cheaper a place is the more likely it is to have pictures. And a few of my greatest ever food experiences have been from places where the food is in hot dishes and you point at what you want on your plate, enabling you to order food where you don't have a common language with the restauranteur.

gambiting 5 years ago | |

Like, that's some pictures I took in Camden market, it's brilliant - and it works even if you don't really speak the language too!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/pRp6reC7E9mJAUMWA

https://photos.app.goo.gl/jVBWo4BcmBbAHjb78

sebmellen 5 years ago | | |

Cool pictures! Just a note — if you're trying to keep this HN profile somewhat anonymous — the Google Photos sharing window displays your full name.

Cthulhu_ 5 years ago | |

They should do that in every 'conventional' menu as well I think - also because there is a category of people who will pick a dish for its visual aesthetics instead of flavor.

Plus a nicely presented food picture book is a nicer experience than a 'bland' list of items.

zerr 5 years ago |

I find the logistics hard when it comes to food business - you prepare some good stuff but how to sell it in time so that the food is still fresh? Same goes for ingredients, storage. It seems the most low-risk would be to go with non-fresh food, i.e. keep everything frozen until needed.

cultofmetatron 5 years ago | |

at that point why bother ordering out though? I order prepared food because its fresh and better than I can make it. If its made from frozen ingredients, I might as well make it at home.

jiofih 5 years ago |

Is the post missing the bottom half? Where is the business, when does it open, does it have a website? What are the four flavors?

(for the food geeks: talk of bastardization of food! This Texas creation has almost zero resemblance to the original, which is just a flaky fruit tart)

ezl 5 years ago | |

Totally true re: bastardization :)

I grew up in Houston and had "kolaches" everywhere. It wasn't until Tom and I started working on this business that I even learned the word klobasnek/klobasniky.

I feel we're fighting an uphill battle already with kolache vs kolace vs kolacky vs kolach, etc

Additionally the polish vs the czech versions are slightly different. Here in Chicago, the Polish kolaczki is often quite flaky with a drier dough and more like a dough square folded in over a fruit filling.

In Texas a true/traditional Czech kolache is often a soft, pillowy sweet ROUND pastry with the fruit filling.

However, despite all that, in Texas, especially in Houston, "kolache" is often just used as a catchall, even if not super accurate. But there are 50 "kolache" shops in Houston and no "klobasnek" shops.

We did debate it for a while, but we opted for just going with the grain rather than trying to be more correct.

Admittedly, there's a little bit of cowardice in that, but we decided there were enough challenges ahead, so we didn't want to add that extra journey.

gambiting 5 years ago | |

I mean, in Poland, "kołacz" is just a very sweet bread roll, we used to have them for supper with some hot cocoa. But I have seen savoury variations as well, filled with cheese and meat.....I'm not sure this is as much of an abomination as we might think ;-)

AussieWog93 5 years ago |

Avoiding established food delivery channels entirely seems like a big, unnecessary risk - not just in terms of business success but also in terms of the validity of the venture as an experiment/learning exercise.

If the business fails, is it because Chicagoans don't want their breakfast delivered as a subscription service, or do they simply not like kolaches?

ezl 5 years ago | |

You're right, of course.

We'll ultimately try multiple channels. Actually our first channel we're trying is wholesaling to coffee shops.

We are really treating it a bit more like a startup in the sense that we have opinions, are testing them, but will iterate and are open to changing course based on the feedback we receive from the market.

There are a few reasons why the initial thesis is to stay away from Door Dash/Grubhub.

(A) cost - since we're not at scale, our unit costs are... not great. With the Door Dash cut, we'll almost certainly be in negative unit cost territory.

(B) Door Dash / GrubHub are an on demand business. A customer goes online, picks an option, then we fulfill it within X minutes. Subscription and wholesale allow us to BATCH our output (and therefore labor and facility inputs). This makes cost management way easier for us up front.

So right now, we can get off the ground just hiring people 2 days a week, but that wouldn't work with the normal Door Dash model.

Once we have our basic costs covered by the predictable orders, it'll be a lot easier for us to add on demand options and it won't add incremental labor costs.

Tock To Go is probably an early option for us though due to allowing low costs and future pickup ordering (Hi Nick Kokonas, I love you!)

AussieWog93 5 years ago | | |

That actually makes a lot of sense. I'd assumed you'd be making them every morning anyway, but it looks like you've worked out a way around that. Apologies for the negative comment - I'd obviously brought up something you'd already thought through properly. Best of luck with the venture.

riffnote 5 years ago |

Seems like a great idea, and I love the enthusiasm of the post. It's inspiring. If you haven't already, I suggest you offer a vegan (or at least vegetarian) option.

jeegsy 5 years ago |

> Kolaches as a Service

I chuckled, then got very sad at this.

ezl 5 years ago | |

A joke, of course, and I understand your sentiment :)

FWIW, if we can/do get to the stage where we are really able to do delivery subscriptions (that's definitely a goal), then we probably will use that language.

It's not that I think it's a good choice or even descriptive (Isn't really ANY food you buy basically X as a service? Yet bagel shops aren't calling themselves "bagel as a service" because... well... it's insane.)

But it probably will get people's attention in a hyperlocal social media ad, so it has utility to us as a business strategy.

I know it probably sucks a little bit, but our goal is to accrue many small advantages to drive a higher total probability of success.

:sob:

ano88888 5 years ago |

Very interesting. Will keep watching you.