Exposing All....An uncomfortable state of Being

Evening all,

Yesterday Jamie Dornan, the man set to play Christian Grey, announced to anyone who was interested that he objected to the intrusion into his private life by the Paparazzi. He is by his own account, just an actor doing a job...he never signed up for the media attention....poor, poor Jamie. Didn't anybody tell him that if one takes on the role of the most infamous bad boy lover of modern times, then the media attention is part of the package....hello mega bucks, staring role...bye, bye, privacy....

I may sound a touch unsympathetic, but I'm not really Jamie...I understand, I really do. I've been writing my blog as an account of my life as a small food producer for almost a year now, and I too like you have revealed all, albeit it in a somewhat different manner. I've written about the highs of big contracts won & lows of business lost, the agony of unsold produce & the ecstasy of walking into a store to be greeted with empty shelves. I've written about fear, hopes, worry & excitement all of which are part of being an entrepreneur.Yes, I have drawn attention to myself & our business, but I am a "heart on my sleeve" kinda girl, so I suspect that I have revealed no more than I would have done, if we met for a coffee & a chat.

Today we launch our crowd funding loan with Linked Finance.The aim is to get investment from private/public to enable us grow our business. It's a very exciting & scary time cos just like Dragons Den it's an all or nothing situation, if we don't reach the target, we get nada. The spirit of crowd funding appeals to me on every level. The basic premise is that whilst the banks will give a saver 2% (max) on ones deposits, the investor lends the money to fund a small business any amount from 50 euros & have it repaid at a rate suggested by the lender which can be up to 9%. Check out the video if you get a chance, it's brilliant

 http://www.linkedfinance.com

 Of course it would be great to do this on the  QT, no publicity, no fan fare, but that ain't the gig. If I want the funding I've got to shout The Delicious Food Co achievements out loud, I've got to draw attention to our business, show what an attractive proposition we are for investment, let people know how good we are, make them want to be part of our story.

So you see Jamie, you & I are just the same, at this time our appeal is our currency & we both need to work that
I for one am going to dig deep & court the attention, try to enjoy this scary ride & I think you need to think about doing that too.

Here's to you & me Jamie..

Shirley

Desperately seeking ....Attention...

Evening all,

Oh my, what a  funny old  March it's has been.....thus far

Having shared so much of my  demons, my angst, my sleepless nights with you in the past year I have vowed to be a tad more upbeat this year, but I kid thee not it's not easy to be funny all the time. Yesterday was a hell of a day,which started with me, doing a quasi sit in, at Pearse St Garda station, sobbing in my  white delivery coat, pleading for some attention ....(interested...? yeah... bet you are now.....)

Last week Mr Delicious had as accident on the quays which apparently involved a girl playing dodge ball  with the rush hour traffic.She was hurt, but thankfully is okay, and that is what counts, kinda..cos our Mr Delicious was hurt too. I can honestly say that I have never seen him so badly traumatised. He couldn't

speak that evening & to our astonishment, mumbled in a childlike voice..."do ye think you could manage without me tomorrow"

Now that's a first..

The thing about the accident was that because it involved a person, the Gardai take the van  off to be examined, (PSV'ed) which is fair enough. That evening I spoke to the Garda, who showed immense kindness & great concern for Mr Delicious who he said was very shook at the scene. I explained about the van, very small business, need it for work...etc. "I'll see to it straight away, get it on the system, totally understand....blah, blah blah....."

After a week of unanswered calls to Garda A & B, to find out the status of the incarcerated  van, I headed into the station  myself..Apparently the only people who could help were the two amigoes who were off now for 4 days...come back on Friday...

NO I WON'T !.

To cut a long story short the two amigoes hadn't  processed the van. it wasn't even in the system.....

They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned...well try a foodie with a long client list but without her refrigerated van for a full week,just  cos the boys in blue  didn't do a simple job....

Let's just say that two hours later  that van had been PSV'ed & back in the hands of Mr Delicious..

Hell hath indeed.......

X

Them's the Breaks ..She gets the Manor, I get the gate lodge

Evening all,

One of the things about breaking up is tying up the loose ends and today I had a meeting with Mr Big's new food interest, the lady charged with complete control of his new in store kitchen ....& his margins....in short the lady who has replaced me.  Despite her now being  his number one gal, we got on rather well. In fact, she's willing to concede slightly & give me a little bit of my shelf space back It's okay, I always knew me & Mr Big were  never going to be permanent, so it's not a bad deal  If this was a marriage split I'd  say, she gets to move into the manor , whilst I can  live in the gate lodge.

I might also be able help her out in other ways, there's work she doesn't want to do, 60kg of salads per week for the new deli bar, I might get that too  if I play my cards right..samples going in on Thursday...that's how helpful I'm willing to be...

Me & Mr Big may be technically over, he may have a new muse, but  it just might take a little longer to wash this little foodie right out of his hair. 

I'll keep ya posted 

Shirley
x

Thems's the Breaks....We're Over !

Evening All,

One of the things about blogging is keeping the momentum going. I've tried to write a blog every week since I started & have been reasonably successful. When I started I had lofty notions about becoming the next   EL James....hoping that the appetite for erotic fiction of 2012 might be replaced with an appetite for a different kind of fiction...that of my life as a small food producer, my beating heart, legging it around Dublin City filling shelves with my Delicious Food Co produce...

I urged my readers to forget Anastasia....that this was my time....I was the heroine

Somewhere along the way I think I got lost...

Feb has been an interesting month, with some endings of previous blogs playing out. Mr Big of the "Them's the Breaks" blogs from last April has finally, almost one year later got his kitchen up & running and is going to start making all his own salads & sandwiches. We've got on very well me & Mr Big.....he's a nice guy...but  we're over....we'll stay pals & if I'm ever in a bind, I'll call him & true to form he'll either help out or tell me to get lost.....he's very direct my Mr Big, an all or nothing kinda Kerry guy.

This creates a hole in the work load which I'm working to fill.I told you before I can't cook, that's Mr Delicious forte, but I can sell, and every business needs a sales person. So with a new found energy I'm applying the key principles of the sales function....hit the numbers & the business will follow.....believe & it will come...

"Hi my name is Shirley & I'm calling you from The Delicious Food Co...I'm just wondering if.........."

 sell, sell, sell.....

Shirley 

Fifty Shades of Wanting....

Evening all,

I've been tinkering away with this blog for almost a year now & I have to say it's been a lot of fun. Blogs by their very nature are totally narcissistic, that's why they can become a tad (over) self indulgent. I've just had a quick look at the stats over the last year & I find it up lifting & amusing that one of my top three blogs continues to be "Fifty Shades of Delicious", one of my very first blogs.

So much for all my angst & stress...when it comes to it,  it's clear what you are all really interested in & we ain't talking about my food, my demons or cash flow issues..but rather my sleepless nights.

Actually I've been sleeping really well for the past week. I still wake up midway through as I have done for many years now, tot up the balance sheet in my head, but for at least a week now, I've fallen straight back into the deepest delicious slumber, which is full of the most bizarre dreams of fantasy & reality.

I had a very early start this morning as there was a "meet the buyers" event at Dublin Airport. Isn't that the Holy Grail of retail.....21 million passengers, most of them hungry....the shear scale of it...wow.

We started off with a networking session, which was followed by a number of presentations. At the end we were invited to ask questions, starting by introducing ourselves, our business & telling what we do.

Now,  could there possibly be a quicker way to let the assembled crowd know that there was in their midst, a food producer called Shirley from The Delicious Food Co who makes fantastic preservative free sandwiches & salads. I hate speaking to groups but I manned up, muddled through my question to a key buyer. Her answer involved a reference to a sandwich tender they are currently involved in ...this prompted a second question from me as to whether the tender is closed...("yes" was the answer).at which point the key presenter, said good humorously, "clearly we have someone in the sandwich business here today.."..

BINGO 

Later as we walked through a tour of the food outlets, I chatted to the buyer who is from a major food service company.When we arrived back  I guided her straight to my table of product samples...mini salad pots, granola pots, mini hummus pots...I swear to God they looked fab. The buyer was impressed, so impressed that she asked me if it is possible to get a full range of samples & product list to her for a key meeting at her office on Thursday morning....and hey whilst I'm at it....could I include samples of my sandwiches...

..that sandwich tender is still there for the taking ! 

Shirley
x

Getting off The Hamsters Wheel.

Evening All,

Ask anybody who has a small business & you will find certain reoccurring themes like...ground hog day, spinning around on hamsters wheel...endlessness...

Yep...I have subscribed to them all...

When the ultimate boss of a client, who I already supply,  approached me recently & suggested I fill his fridges with my fabulous sandwiches & salads (sale or return),"take the pain & it will happen"  he said, genuinely & loaded with his experience.... I could feel my eyes filing with tears..".I've know the pain I said, I've been feeling it since I started"...& I knew in an instance from his eyes that he knew .. he too understood the pain.

That's the thing about being an entrepreneur....it's full of highs & lows. The biggest thing for us is that it's personal..my product, my work, my care, my love.....& that my dear reader is the thing we need to change...cos do you know what....to the customer ....it's only a bleeding sandwich or salad....

I'm working on that at the moment.I went out with my great friend Crona who is quite a lady, earlier this week.She started her own training company last year Hibernian Training (www.hiberberiantrainingcourses.ie). Crona worked for many years for James Farrell at PDL, they were not only colleagues, but  friends, James was the ultimate pro when it came to the sales function, there is so much to learn from James....

Crona told me  a story of how James having pitched through the public tender process for an existing contract, a contract he had held for many years & which he had put in a phenomenal amount of work for the tender. It went to a competitor...the training manager called James, "come in & I'll talk you through it ...go through your scores" ..."Nah..you're grand" James said....Crona was aghast....but hey...James' logic was spot on..."Listen it's a three year contract..it's gone...I know what we do, I know we're good, on wards & upwards...

N.E.X.T....

Us business owners need to develop a tougher skin..I'm doing that, kinda...We've gotta recognize the real opportunities and move quickly on when we know the potential sale is not going to become an order.

I'm excited about the future... Jan was a good month for sales & we were well up on last year, Business is good....really the only way is up !

Shirley x

What's to say....

Evening all,

Some say "life's a bitch"...and do you know what...sometimes it's true.

Today, life has truly  been a bitch.....today I picked up two new clients... there are some exciting things happening on the business front....but still it's been an awful day.

This time four weeks ago which was St Stephens Day I was sitting with Mr Delicious, our very close friends Cliff & Susan & her brother Declan & his super gorgeous wife Christine (who were over from London with their 2  kids)here in front of a big fire, sipping wine, eating humous talking about our plans for 2014.

I met Declan in Susan's at her child's First Communion  about a year ago. He was great fun, I liked him immediately, probably because he had a lot of Susan's traits..(.ya really gotta meet Susan to know what those traits are, what a special person she is... she's a fun, fun. fun gal...) but   he also had this cynical sense of humour that appealed to me....especially when the red wine ran out...

Last year Declan got one of those rare but manageable cancers & 4 weeks ago as we chatted in front of the big fire, Declan,  dressed like The Fonz in his Daz white T shirt & jeans, we talked about his cancer. For Declan it had been a tough year but he was on a trial drug & felt really good...he looked great albeit thinner than when I first met him.

Things have not been great for Declan since Christmas, with one health challenge after another. Yesterday Susan went to London to be with him & Christine. Today surrounded by his family he died. What's to say...a funny vibrant man with a beautiful wife, four great kids,three bereft sisters...simply not here anymore..gone...

Susan text me today before he died saying it was "unbearable" Does a word  exist that can top that after death.

This blog is an account of my life as a food producer....but way above being a food producer is being a friend, having friends....and I have been blessed with so many, close, close friends...Susan & Cliff are two of those I've been blessed to have in my life Today the dramas of my food producing life are nothing compared to my beautiful friends pain.

There really is nothing more to say.

RIP

Shirley