Opportunity. Seizing for one?

"But it's a risk worth taking, because business is booming at the 945,000 individual restaurant locations across the nation. Despite a faltering economy and an increase in wholesale food costs, the restaurant industry cooked up record-high sales of $535 billion across all sectors in 2007, according to the National Restaurant Association. That works out to just under $1.5 billion spent every day by hungry consumers--and there's every indication that the industry will continue to thrive."

This is the current scene at the United States but at the local scene?

There aren't any efficient organization in Malaysia to do a thorough research or survey to know the statistics in details but observe around you, compare 10 years ago and today, do people eat at home more often, or outside?

Admit it, do you like doing the dishes? I don't.

Do you like to stress yourself wondering what to cook for the family? And ensure that each and every member doesn't have any problems devouring your food?

"You know I don't like spicy food... "

"I HATE MUSHROOMS!"

These are a few factors, just to name a few. But mainly, the market is becoming more sophisticated by the day.

"If I can afford it, why not?"

After all, we're encouraged to spend, to keep the economy flowing on a healthy basis. Even tipping is slowly becoming a policy here.

"Westlake Village, California restaurateur, who projects revenue of $30 million for 2008, recommends hiring professionals--including a restaurant consultant, who understands industry policies and licensing, food standards, personnel issues and more. She also recommends hiring an accountant who can handle the books, taxes and bills. Use these professionals only for the services you require. Or, if possible, purchase a package of services to keep your startup costs manageable."

I've yet to find a service that provides a company all the necessary services to start up a restaurant so that equates to a lot of independence.

But not independence in terms of doing all the accounting, stock counting, licensing on my own .. I can if I wanted to, but is it worth the time and effort?

I'm referring to searching and filtering for trustworthy individuals who can and will deliver their duty. Individuals who has high potentials of becoming great business partners and shares the same vision and goal.

Pots of gold are lying everywhere. We can see them and we're digging for them. The only difference is - the time factor.

Much has been said, nothing has been heard so far.

I'll still patiently and diligently search for potential individuals. After all, great partners don't come by easy.

Just a tribute to Ray Kroc, the Father of the Fast Food industry.

He was 51 years old when McDonalds first opened their doors to the public. He was a milkshake machine salesman.

He saw the opportunity when the business was beginning to bloom and catching its pace. Problem is, there was only one restaurant in town.

He approached the brothers and propose the idea of franchising. Soon enough in 2 years time, he has his very own McDonald's restaurant.

However, things wasn't easy for him as the brothers kept requesting to filter through his ideas and systems he wanted to implement. Ray Kroc then decided to buy over the entire company to himself. And true enough he did.

Ray Kroc was a genius in terms of creating a system where diners always have the same fantastic dining experience at McDonald's by ensuring all franchises owns the same facilities and implement the same system. All products will be measured and pricing will be the same.

Today, McDonald's is the icon of the fast food industry, all thanks to Ray Kroc, a 51 years old milkshake machine salesman.

If you're not interested in what I'm proposing, what you can do to help out is by looking around you. Do you have an uncle who has been sharing that he's been looking for opportunities to work out with? Wanting to invest into a highly potential business that will earn millions?

It doesn't matter how old that person is, or who that person is. It's the mindset and passion that counts.



Thanks for your time.

God bless, cheers.

Operator, the line is dead.

I'm pretty sure by now your exposure to certain varieties of advertisements consist a dialogue between an operator and a consumer.

Often time, it's a foreign one, specifically the United States.

Recently, I've contacted a few major companies to investigate and do some purchases for my stall. It's vital to get your products at the lowest cost to cut down your budget.

Companies like FNN was decent in terms of their operator service. Just some minor miscommunication which led me to another 2 more calls in order to reach the appropriate department.

After that I contacted Walls ice cream. The operator who answered my call had a decent service too. However, after requesting me to contact their supplier, who was a Digi user (Digi sucks and yes, that's only thing I'm extremely bias about), this was roughly how the dialogue went. (The dialogue is summarized to the important points only)

Me : Hi, ms XX.

XX : Halo.

Me : Is it possible for me to purchase your product directly instead of buying from the hypermarket?

XX : Yes yes, you can.

Me : What is the minimum requirement to make an order?

XX : 10 cartons. That'll be 6 tubs of ice cream.

Me : Okay. How much that'll be?

XX : How much ah.. er.. err...

(10 seconds later)

XX : Can you contact this person? Her number is 016-DIGISUCKS.

After contacting her and investigated the pricing, I did some calculations to do a comparison between buying from them directly and from a hypermarket.

Wa-lla!

The price has no difference or whatsoever.

Instantly, I contacted Ms. XX to find out whether she got the pricing messed up or anything like that.

XX : Ohh.. you see ah, the hypermarket make big orders one. Big order got ..

Me : Discount?

XX : Big order got discount. They order at least 50 cartons ..

I was thinking in my mind, that'll be 300 tubs.. and the fact that certain hypermarkets keep running out of stock begins to cause suspicion.

To my dismay, we had no choice but to resume purchasing from hypermarkets since there's any difference.

Meanwhile, humorous encounters with operators such as kickapoo and MBPJ occurred.

The kickapoo operator was literally whispering on the phone. I had to glue my ears so that I could at least grasp a gist of what she was uttering.

It was until a certain point I had to request to increase her volume.

Me : What..? I, I can't hear you. You're speaking really soft, can you like, speak louder?

Angry Kickapoo Operator : MY BOSS' LINE IS ENGAGED. CAN YOU CALL BACK LATER?

Meanwhile, the MBPJ operator was.. well, rather ..

Operator (Machine, fast paced) : Terima kasih kerana menghubungi MBPJ. Untuk *mutter mutter*, tekan "0". Untuk mengulangi, tekan bintang.

Obviously, the rational choice would be to click the star button.

Operator (Machine, fast paced) : Terima kasih kerana menghubungi MBPJ. Untuk *mutter mutter*, tekan "0". Untuk mengulangi .. (the line got cut off).

I had to redial and was obliged to click the "0" button.

The first line I said to the operator was,

"Do you converse in english?"

"Yes I do."

I didn't mean to offend her but it's not like I had choice of,

"For english, dial 1."

"Untuk Bahasa Melayu, tekan dua."

Just one last experience with operators, our most familiar and often called operator.

McDonald's delivery service.

During peak hours, you usually get 2 replies. One makes you angry and the other really makes you angry.

"Sorry sir, the nearby outlet at your area is busy. Can you wait for another 45 minutes to an hour?"

That reply, makes you angry.

"Sorry sir, we cannot receive anymore orders. We are fully occupied."

Now that, really makes you angry.

Anyhow, it was 9p.m., when I made my order, stomach was growling and I received the first reply.

Fine, I'll wait. Since it's late and I don't want to go out and dine. I'm paying for the delivery service anyways.

1 Hour later.

1300-13-1300.

The same operator picked up my call.

Me : Where's my food? It's already an hour and I don't see it yet.

Operator : Oh, can you wait another 25 minutes?

Me : 25 minutes!? Excuse me, I'm really hungry.

Operator : Hahaha.

HE LAUGHED. Now that really ticks me off. He thinks I'm cracking a joke.

Me : Is there any way, McDonald's can compensate my time and starvation? Because this is one really dissatisfied customer.

He knew I was serious when I mentioned that I'm really hungry. He quickly changed his tone.

Operator : No sir, there's nothing we can do about it.

Hmm, I'm lovin it huh?



Thanks for your time.

God bless, cheers.