Starting Over...

Evening All,

When I started my blog two years ago, I fell happily into the rhythm of writing a blog every week, punching out tale after tale of the  life of a small business owner. I think the blog hit a chord with other small business owners as I revealed the highs & the lows of my daily  journey around the

 Food Lanes of Dublin, owner of The Delicious Food Co.

In 2013 the positive feed back that I got to the blog kept me buoyant personally when I might have otherwise sunk. It was wonderful to share the big successes & not be afraid to tell it as it was when things were tough. What I loved most about the blogs I wrote then was the honesty of them, the lack of fear of  

the freedom of my own expression.

The beauty about writing a  blog is the anonymity of it. I don't think anybody writes a blog for people they know, they write it for themselves (at least I do) and then cyber it out there into the universe to 

see where it lands, who  connects with it. If you write a personal blog like I do, you need to stay strong or the careless (often well meant) whispers about revealing too much can dent that treasured freedom.

So, starting from next week I intend to go back to writing a weekly (humorous) blog on the life of a small business owner,  warts, beauty spots & all.

Why not hop in beside me & come along for the ride , it will be fun.

I promise!

Shirley x

Marching into March...Intact & on Fire.

Evening All,

Phew !

If my last blog at the end of January started with "WOW", then the end of February comes with a definite" phew". For those of us SME owners who get paid after 30/ 60 days from the end of the month

February is a nightmare.This  is the month we get paid for December sales, and  December 2014 was a very short month. I have been dreading February since last November.

 There hasn't been a night that I haven't woken up every hour & done a tot of the balance sheet...what's coming in..what's going out.

 I am wrecked !

But February has also been a terrific month.

 Sales have been up on January by over 20%, the accolades about our food continue to roll in. Office catering has taken off with a bang with a significant increase in sales in that sector too, The great thing about office catering is that every time I see an email with a catering order I can quickly rejig the midnight balance sheet in a positive direction, in the knowledge that the order will be paid for within a week or two.

In February we also had an approach to poach myself & Mr Delicious from a CEO of another food business. He has been watching what we do & think it would be great for his business. With the financial resources & knowledge of his business he sees a great future for all of us, but under his brand..not ours, The Delicious Food Co.

We are tremendously flattered by the approach, we have huge respect for his business, his team & what they have achieved, but we are not ready to let go. To be honest, I don't think either of us could ever work for somebody again.

Today my son who is doing TY work experience with us, asked me if he won the lottery which would we prefer...for him to invest a lot of money in the business to take it to the next level or for him to just look after us financially. Without a moments hesitation I  said for him to look after us financially.

I may not want to be employed again...but the prospect of somebody else footing the bill for another lifestyle....well that's just something for which myself & Mr Delicious might just be ready

In the meantime .March 2015..here we come !

Shirley
x

50 Shades of Delicious (Part 2)

Evening All,

Wow what a January it's been !!

At the end of last year I flicked thru' all  my blogs & thought to myself  "you're like a bleedin' stuck record... "...ground hog day and all that... Recording one's life for all to read is fine...but seeing the lack of progress for myself was unsettling.

But of course that is partly because I am my own harshest critic.We achieved great things last year, but enough just never seems to be enough. The absence of any public profile for The Delicious Food Co makes me feel like I've personally failed it, as newbie, after newbie pop up in every magazine supplement, glowing reviews of products & owners...beaming at the camera with a plate of product accompanied with the  story of their rags to foodie richness journey.

I don't think I've ever told you that a big love of mine is theatre,  productions  in small venues. I have seen the most wonderful plays in tiny venues, plays that are so good their power  will never leave me, "Lippy""I heart Alice heart I" "Care""Out of Wedlock","The Author" "Creepy Jimmy" "The Oh Fuck Moment" "Smile of your Face" the list goes on; small productions in small venues, gone before they get the recognition they deserve.Maybe I love them because they are like me; no big promo budget, no clever PR machine,just great story tellers making magic theatre quietly yet so deserving of bigger audiences & wider public acclaim.

So,
it was with great delight that last week I accepted a challenge from the doyenne of Irish theatre The Abbey Theatre to run a pop up shop Delicious Food Company shop at the theatre for delegates at a two day  Theatre of War Symposium.There I rediscovered my inner  Delicious Food Company's greatness.The feedback I got about our food was superlative,

 one positive comment after another...

So with this renewed confidence, my head is in just the right place to make this The Delicious Food Co's tenth year in business, the overnight success it has always meant to be. To create that public profile our food deserves, for us to be beaming at you from the Sunday Times, our Orzo & Roasted Carrot salad in hand. In the week that 50 Shades of Grey hits the big screen
Forget Christian Grey & Anna Steele
for this is me & Mr Delicious time.

Shirley x

Bless Me Father.. I continue to sin...(I'm still a social media cripple) Part 2

Evening All,

More  than a year after writing one of my fav blogs on being a social media cripple...of swearing that all was about to change...that I would get my website up & running...that my twitter feed would become more foodie, my Facebook page the go to place for witty commentary on life, catering, recipes, advice & random stuff I pick up along the way ..I am still that same social media cripple. I have even come to consider it as some kind of website phobia ...a fear of something that has no basis in   logic.

I did try in Jan 2014 and top of the brief was...PLEASE MAKE ME DO IT...I paid more upfront than was required & off we went. I disappeared for a bit, but I went back, made myself sit with the designer, signed off on the template & begged him to keep on my case until it was finished. He clearly didn't get the message/was too busy with other clients/ life or maybe he just didn't like me...

not a whisper did I hear from him, again...

I have now met the man to get this over the line...an Australian called Brad who lives down under and has steadfastly made it his mission to  get my website up & running. Brad thinks nothing of calling me ten times per day...and has done for almost two months now, I cannot escape him and now I'm hooked. Brad with his endless patience & infinite politeness

has made me confront my fear.

I swear that when you next hear from me I will be sporting my latest fashion accessory...

the link to my new website 

Hail Brad !

Shirley

x


Part 1

http://deliciousfoodco.blogspot.ie/2013/10/bless-me-father-for-i-have-sinned-im.html

What's another year !

Evening All,

Tomorrow Monday the 5th of January is the date a lot of us return to work for the first time since before Christmas & I have to say the break has been just lovely.Skipping the rhythm of normal life, sleeping late, catching up with family & friends for mid afternoon drinks in town, going to parties 

( dressed in my first ever on line purchase...a  little sequin number I ordered pre Xmas from ASOS, that has already paid for itself in admiring glances & feel good vibes....)

Generally the New Year comes with new resolutions, but to be honest, I'm not one for new resolutions.I've broken enough of them in my time to know that my energy is better directed elsewhere. Like everyone else I know what I need to change & what I need to do & it's all in there in my head ready for action. Maybe those thoughts are resolutions in themselves.

However today I have  done something a little differently. For  first the first time in years I have bought a proper work diary, where I can write up my "to do"lists day by day, write in my orders, my appointments, my quotes. One big solid book of empty white pages waiting to be filled with how my work life will unfold in the next 12 months. Just looking at it this evening on the coffee table excites me, the possibilities that await it's blank pages, the successes, the drama. I cannot wait to start filling it...seeing how the story unfolds

This year we celebrate our 10th year of The Delicious Food Co. Ten years since we first rented a commercial kitchen in Smithfield with just one client & started a whole new adventure in the food business. Now ain't that something to celebrate.

To each & everyone of you I wish you a very happy, successful & healthy new year.

It's 2015 bring it on !

Shirley x

Working 9 to 5 ...what a way..Yeah !

Evening all,

I kinda promised myself I'd keep the blog up beat this year & I think I've  been fairly true to my word. When things have slipped I didn't post it in a blog but rather waited until things were better & off I went again.

I've been doing this foodie thing for  a long time now & sometimes I just wish I did something completely different, that I didn't have  responsibilities for so many things ... staff, suppliers, rent.

 Dolly was wrong when she sang

 "working nine to five what a way to make a living..., it's all taking & no givin" 

she really hadn't a clue, cos that's what it feels like to be self employed, except the hours are longer. Imagine just waking up & floating into work, doing what has to be done...Monday to Friday, nine to five, switching off my work head & the office lights simultaneously. 

Last week, as I juggled cold calling to prospective clients, with vat returns, chasing outstanding invoices with menu suggestions for a new client, ordering packaging materials etc all the while worrying about some family stuff,, I absently asked my 16 year old son
 "will I ever stop juggling"
 & quick as a flash he replied 

"mom, if ya wanna stop juggling, ya gotta quit the circus"

Now ain't that food for thought !

Shirley 

x

Anyone for (Commercial) Tennis ...?

Evening All,

Keeping all the balls in the air is not easy for anybody, especially us small business folk, at whom the balls often come at at the speed of  one of those automated tennis ball machines I've seen on the telly. 

Hit ! Lob ! Swing ! Miss! Repeat ! Hit ! Lob! Hit !, Hit ! Hit!

I think at last I'm beginning to feel comfortable in this rhythm of my life, it seems like it's all I've ever known.

It's been a funny few weeks. A valued staff member has left to become a taxi driver, we've lost an account that was busy but low margin & another few projects which we were working on have come to an end. With the extra time we've been working on our corporate business, which, whilst it doesn't have the consistency of the daily wholesale deliveries to shops, has double the margin, which means half the work.

Let's face it ...it's a no brainer as to which direction to take.

The other great thing about the corporate market is how the cheques/transfers  roll in. I now spend lots of time in the bank making lodgements, where I now consider the bank tellers my new best friends.With each lodgement that I make we exchange idle banter about our lives. We get to know each others stories & in that moment of exchange we care briefly about each other.

You see, the banks staff & myself have all been on the same journey for the past few years, we've all been fearful, stressed, worried about the future, but at last things feel better, lighter.

So as I end this weeks installment of my life let's raise a glass to the front line staff in banks who had no part in the decisions that were made by their directors that caused the recession, yet who probably got more than their fair share of contempt for a very long time.

Here's to moving up & moving on !

Cheers,

Shirley