It has been a tiring few days with little sleep and plenty of anxiety, but interestingly I am still very much awake and sipping a quiet beer to celebrate, I guess, the next major stage of my life. But this is not about me – Red Bulb would not be possible without the support and work of the people around me and these are the folks that I will like to thank today.

Tammi: our real estate agent who has persisted in our often frustrating but finally rewarding search for our location. Extra points for sending Andy to help with our security system. It is definitely armed and ready for any intrusion

Mike & Team: Turning the drawings of Sching into reality; there are challenges but i think the overall result is great.

Gloria/Maria: Thanks for believing in my dream and joining the team – the road ahead is going to be even tougher and I will need both of you to show the drive and determination to make Red Bulb successful.

Facebook friends/Stouffvillites – your continual suggestions and messages of support are the reasons why i think we may just have a decent chance of doing well.

Our equipment/food suppliers – true we are paying you guys , but you have educated me so much in your respective areas and some of you have gone beyond your means to help us.

Canadian Friends: too many to name here, you have contributed money, time, encouragement, and effort to help make the dream come true. For Sching and I, the fact that we are here in Canada by ourselves, your friendship means the world to us. Some of you have followed my path from Staples to Telus and finally through Rogers, it is always great to listen to your advice and encourgament.

Friends from elsewhere: It started way back in 2002 and you have listened to my initial ideas and griping about being in a office. thanks for continuing to follow the journey.

Family: Always believing and supporting my decision with no question. Whether it is advice, support or financial, I know I can always count on you. We will not be here without you.

Kay: the first time you said Red Bulb, you have no idea how much it warms my heart. The last few days when I looked at you sound asleep when I came back from the cafe, words cannot describe how much I love you and how it makes no sense to have Red Bulb without you running through the cafe.

And finally to my wife Sienching: you have stuck with me through thick and thin, and this project would not be possible without you. Your creativity turns Red Bulb into something cool, and you are the single most important person who have turned the site into the cafe with your talents and dedication.  The tough times are always the times that demonstrates your love and you have been the heart and soul of this journey. I love you and thanks for being there all the way.

Dear Red Bulb Team

It has been over a year since you made the decision to pursue your dream of opening up your cafe. Now, with about 6 weeks to go, you are finally arriving at the finishing stretch. You have to bring it home now!

I am sure you are feeling a great deal of anxiety and everyday seems to uncover something new that you have not think about before,  or you have thought about them but have yet to take action. Sometimes you may feel overwhelmed by the number of items you have to handle and that you are running out of time to finish all the necessary tasks. On more than one occasion, you may have thrown your hands up in the air and shout out in frustration.

These are all relevant concerns and they tell me one important thing – you care about the cafe and you want to succeed. As with any new business, they will be hiccups and there will never be enough time, but you need to stay COOL amidst all the chaos.

We should all be like Fonzie from Happy Days!

Draw upon your previous start-up experience, trust your own team members, believe in yourself and your past cafe experience, prioritize your to-do list, work hard, and most importantly, keep a positive and calm mind. You have done your homework and it will translate into great results.

All the best and I look forward to seeing you at the opening!.

your friend

Red Bulb Espresso Bar

Online social media tools have indeed expanded the ways we can use to reach out to our customers. Even before we open, we are able to communicate our journey and our vision for the café.  If you are reading this right now, you will probably understand some of the trials and tribulations we have gone through.

This communication channel will continue to broadcast our messages when we are open. For instance, we can share certain promotions like half-price hot chocolate on Kay’s birthday (that is her favourite drink now) or when we bring in a certain batch of great coffee from Kenya. I think it is important not only for big corporations to reach out to customers, but also small businesses like us. In fact, it is even more critical as our margin for error is small.

Nevertheless, even with the wider net we can cast through social media tools, Red Bulb is still inherently a neighbourhood café in a growing town. We like our place to be a part of the community: where we can share stories of joy and sorrow, experience the highs and lows of the daily grind, or simply to offer a smiling face to acquaintances. While we will never be as slick as the big corporate chains, we will always offer a great cup of coffee in a comfortable setting. This ultimately will be what defines us.

Our first promotional banner

Stouffville Train Station

Downtown Stouffville is where we were first attracted to the town of Stouffville when we were looking for a house 4 years ago. It has it own quiet charm and we are always intrigued by how the world goes back slightly in time when we drive east from 9th line. Of course Downtown Stouffville is also where Red Bulb will be located, and it is exciting to hear about the Town’s plans to enhance the downtown core and create a vibrant environment to draw out the Stouffville community.

A Downtown Stouffville Revitalization meeting was held on Monday evening(12th Apr) and it brings together the businesses and the landlords from the downtown area.  We heard from the town officials on the various programs that are being planned and we were also introduced to Anna Rose, our new Downtown Coordinator, who was specifically appointed to lead the Downtown Revitalization efforts.

The efforts from the Town Hall is a great start and to succeed, we need the active participation of the business and residents. As a(soon-to-be) small business owner myself – while I hope that Town will deliver their promises and provide the best support to businesses – I also recognize that I play a critical part in bringing excitment and value to the Town. That means providing the best retail experience and superior products to the folks who are willing to shop in Downtown Stouffville. I spoke with Anna after the meeting and one salient point we agreed on, is the need for businesses to have a collective mindset that it benefits all businesses in the area if we work together to bring out the crowds. True, we are competing against each other, but if we are able to draw out 100 extra people, capturing 10 percent of that will mean an extra 10 customers for our business.

All the plans and effort will not work without the Stouffville community. I know(and I am guilty of) that it is easy and safe to visit the big box stores and drive-throughs but what you are missing is the personal touch and the intricacies of independent stores, most of which have staked their savings on their businesses and work really hard to make things good. My team at Red Bulb has discussed extensively about the need for excellent products and service, and we are fully committed to delivering that to our customers when open our doors in July.

so..folks of Stouffville..would you like to come in for a nice cup of coffee(or tea, we offer choices too ) in a few months? we look forward to seeing you! 

Wore this for almost 3.5 years

Last weekend(7th Feb 2010) marks the end of my second stint with Starbucks. I first worked for Starbucks Singapore in 2002 – yes,even back then, their empire stretched across Asia – when I was going through this ‘what are you doing for the rest of your life’ phase.  Gone through the usual self-help  books like ‘what colour is your parachute?’, and then I realize I enjoy working for myself and I like interacting with people in a non-office setting. Voila.. I could potentially run a cafe and I decided to apply to Starbucks to test out my wild idea.

That spur of the moment’s decision probably changed my career direction. Till then, I was the typical guy who had the fortune of receiving a good education, worked in great companies and even co-founded my own consulting firm; hence, working on my feet making coffee does not look like a food return on investment. However, as i learned more about coffee and understand the cafe culture, the more I realized that this is no longer a job, but a passion. It is the pursue of a dream; something that does not reward the best financially, laborious like hell, but yet so rewarding and and fulfilling.

That passion took a backseat when we moved to Toronto in 2004, as we seek to find our feet in Canada. We were fortunate to land good jobs in our first few years, but deep down inside, I know my passion is still very much brewing. Working at Starbucks again was a good way to rekindle my passion and allow me to experience the coffee scene again. Like the first time, it has been an absolute joy and it lasted 2 full years from February 2007.

So what have I learn?

As much as the third wave coffee geeks have derided Starbucks as a commercial juggernaut, there are many things that Starbucks have done mightily well. It has to be doing something right as it has becomes ubiquitous in North America. It excels in marketing and provided great training to their partners(their term for employees), and by and large, serve good coffee, better than most of the bigger chains in Canada.  However, at the end of the day, a lot more depend on the barista and for a company with over 15 thousand stores, it has become a hit-or-miss situation when you visit a Starbucks store.

I like to think of Starbucks like Tiger Woods(no, not the scandalous version). Much like Tiger bringing in popularity and money to golf, Starbucks has made the coffee scene more viable for smaller entrepreneurs. You have to tip your hat off to Starbucks like we do with Tiger, but yet at the same time, you are thankful for its presence, especially when you know you can definitely do better than them.

I will take away many fond memories of Starbucks, and even though I will be competing with them in a few months, it will always hold a special place in my heart. I have made many friends at Starbucks in Singapore and here in Toronto. I had my tattoo done when I was with Starbucks, I froth milk with the La Marzocco for the first time at Starbucks, and I have met many great customers along the way. I am sad to see it come to an end, but I am excited about the prospect of finally able to run my own espresso bar, with no more memos coming from the head office.

I can hardly wait.

I have to use a single word to describe 2009, it would have to be transitional. And what a transition it has been to go from a full-time paying job to a pretty uncertain world of trying to start a cafe. These are the things I have learned/experienced/thought:

10 things  about the coffee

1. Real coffee people are extremely passionate about their coffee
2. The coffee industry is really small – everyone knows everyone
3. best espresso that i tasted last year – Intelligentsia and 49th parallel
4. There are many helpful people in the coffee business  and I am blessed to know some of them
5. Areas outside of Toronto do not have a decent(or at least I have not found it) option for coffee and i am not talking about Starbucks
6. We have some really good roasters in Canada and they are not always the bigger ones.
7. I can never be a ‘rockstar’  barista but I can definitely make great coffee
8. Good coffee requires many things but it takes just one wrong step to screw things up.
9. You don’t make great money in coffee and it takes passion to succeed.
10. Vacuum(siphon) coffee maker produces really clean tasting coffee – glad I bought it for my wife’s birthday

5 frustrating things

1. Stouffville landlords
2. Canadian dollar – it is going up too much
3. People going back on their word
4. No money
5. Some things are out of my hands

10 things to be thankful for

1. My wife – without her support, this transition is not possible
2. Kay – she brings things into perspective; what are the important things in life
3. Relatively good health – no gout for a while now; but definitely need to exercise more
4. Family – parents  and siblings have been really supportive;
5. Friends – especially those who believe in my passion
6. A great real estate agent – Tammi has been there for the journey and it is quite a ride so far.
7. Starbucks co-baristas & regular customers – keeps the dream alive and continue to make ‘making coffee’ fun
8. Coffee – this is a great beverage, duh!!
9. Free time – past few months has been great in terms of spending time with the family; watching Kay grow up day by day has been greatly satisfying.
10. Popeye chicken on Tuesday – this is a great pick-me-up.

5 things to look forward to in 2010

1. This should be the year Red Bulb becomes reality or close to reality
2. Mastering Latte Art
3. Challenges of making a profit
4. Kay continuous growth
5. World recovery and peace!

That”s all folks for my first entry in 2010.

It is pretty interesting … that Red Bulb’s first Cafe may end up being located in a Victorian Building circa 1886. We will be taking cues from this relationship for sure. I’m thinking reclaimed wood elements with industrial cast-iron black accents, modern red mosaics and … exposed light bulbs !

This will probably be the general colour palette with punches of red.

We are optimistic that we could reach a deal(Sabrina has been reasonable so far and we can definitely see her being our landlord)  but we also understand that we have to walk away if the final numbers are unable to justify the business plan.The lease, after all, is the single most critical fixed overhead over the entire life of Red Bulb and we simply have to get it right at the beginning to give ourselves the platform to succeed – meaning that we cannot be subsidizing the rents for the upstairs unit.  My sense is that the various businesses (Moksha Yoga, Red Bulb, and new tenants upstairs) at 6128-6130 Main Street will play off each other, and Sabrina(or Tammi) will be able to generate a lot of interest for upstairs once the dust settles and the economy recovers fully.

September 1 marks officially the 4-months milestone of me leaving Telus and starting on the Red Bulb journey.  Looking back over the last few months, I am thankful I have rediscovered myself and also my passion for work again. Regardless of the financial penalties(it is not nice not seeing your paycheck every 2 weeks and there is definitely a lot of stress), it is a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things and hopefully the next 4 months will see the first customers of Red Bulb Cafe.

p/s: On a different note, I came across the company Big Ass Fans when I was flipping through the Elemente magazine. Bet it caught your attention when i mentioned Big Ass. Anyway this is a great example of a marketing tactic of using an outrageous name to promote something as boring as a ceiling fan. True, some folks may be turned off by the words chosen, but regardless, it generates attention and captures the essence of the product. Brilliant!

Anyway I have attached a few of my favourite songs below. Enjoy!

p/s: feel free to share your 80s favourite so that I know I am not alone

1. she only worked there and she does not know anything.
2. her supervisor is not around and she cannot help me
3. goodbye

Zero chance of me even remotely explaining what I wanted.

If there is anything I learnt from working in retail and at the call centres, any interaction with the customer may be your last and regardless of who you are(CEO, employee, or reception), you have to use the opportunity to make the customer feel wanted and come back again. You own the customer relationship!

Definitely an important lesson for Red Bulb to recognize and follow religiously.