Post 2013 Calm.....Breathe in ...breathe out......

Evening all,

I haven't been blogging much of late. I mentioned before I thought I had lost my voice, but it's not just that, to blog every week you need to keep at it, punching it out every week getting into a stride. So bear with me, I'm a bit rusty, a bit sensitive after an innocent comment that I reveal too much about myself & business, from my biggest fan & critic...so I need to get back in my groove.

The themes over the past year have been, cash flow, the van, the brand. I have to be honest a year ago when I told you my stories my head was in a completely different space. I tried to tell that story from the prospective of a small business owner & it worked because it was honest. If you were in that head space you would have understood immediately and many did & told me so.

I am currently on a mission to file every scrap of paper/ receipt/ recipe before the end of this week.I am always writing stuff down on envelopes, notebooks, pieces of paper. Each one a true snippet into my life...the most personal stuff with the most benign

"have a knot in the pit of my stomach..gotta get x sorted... 

.....Ploughman's x 10,Classic Club x 10...Med BLT x 5.....

Platter x 25 Med Council Thurs....noon
breathe in...., breathe out...stay calm..

Peter gym 086 056....Ballyturk ...great reviews... book....

My scribbles, reflect my head perfectly, my anxieties, my stresses,my highs, my control, my focus on the business whilst catching sight of something on a hoarding poster that grabs my attention as I deliver my gorgeous salads & sandwiches in my van around the city.

So my story will still be that of a small business owner, currently wondering if invoice discounting is manna from heaven or the breath of Satan on a business. But hopefully the story will be more upbeat, sales are rocketing, but so are costs, nights are still sleepless but not so anxiously so.I'm trying to get a retail outlet & have my eye in somewhere. But unlike last year, I'm  chilled...if we get it great & if not if just not meant to be

.....not this time anyway.....

Everybody join in

"ce sera, sera, what ever will be will be...

Shirley xx

Life...A Triumph ..(no greater achievement)

Evening All,

It's been an awful week.

 Two friends died this week, Richie who died  suddenly last Sunday & Fiona on Wednesday evening after a long & awful battle with cancer.Two deaths followed by two funerals; Richie's a beautiful eloquent humanist farewell in Glasnevin and Fiona's a wonderful traditional religious mass in Sandymount. The untimely death of friends taken from us way before their time, should make us challenge the way we live our lives. Carpe Diem and all that, or should it?

Today I listened to an RTE radio documentary  about the fabulous Plurabelle Paddlers,which Fiona set up in 2010. A dragon boating club for women who had been affected by breast cancer. The idea being to enhance the well being of women affected by cancer by offering a sporting activity that had proven links to improving the health of women sufferers. At the beginning of the documentary, Fiona spoke about when cancer first struck. She, like most people,  was under the impression that such a diagnosis would be, for some reason, a  defining moment, where one re evaluates their own life. She said quite simply with her signature giggle..".I didn't feel a need to evaluate my life.. I was happy with how my life was going"  

And so it is with mine. I have been   happy of late as how my life is going, but some things need to change. I hadn't seen Richie or his wife Sandra who was my flat mate at college for ages, busy with work, kids, life..I called Sandra immediately I heard the news of Richie's death. She told me how she had already called the house earlier, but my mailbox was full, I didn't even know I had a landline, never mind a mailbox to be filled.

I had been in touch with Fiona almost daily up until last Tuesday, she had been ill for so long, yet her death was shocking in it's finality. But most poignant of all was the eulogies at both funerals.  Richie's male friends spoke of their  friend with such love, Sandra spoke so beautifully of a man who we all know adored her. And then it was Eamonn, Fiona's husbands turn. He spoke so beautifully about how amazing Fiona was & how much she amazed him. He finished his eulogy with the wonderful truth, that whilst much, much too short, Fiona's  life had been a triumph.

So yes, the deaths of my friends may well have challenged my life in a subtle way. 

 We will aim to turn The Delicious Food Co logo pink  for October  and we will see what we can do with that for breast cancer awareness month....friends I have been meaning to get in touch with have been contacted.I ask you dear reader to do likewise, because the ultimate truth is that life is short & precious.

www.plurabellepaddlers.com

Shirley x

All is well that ends well.

Evening All,

Yes we're home. Back from the holiday of a life time in NYC. It was the best holiday of my life. We had such fun, so many laughs & not a cross word between us in the two weeks.I even fulfilled what I promised in my last blog & put work firmly in a box in Dublin & didn't let it near my mind for 12 blissful days. I haven't been even close to doing that before whilst on holidays.

On Monday I drove into work at 6am with only a mild sense of trepidation & when I walked into the kitchen & saw the beams on Mr Delicious & the lads faces I knew that our holiday had been a triumph in both New York & Dublin. They excelled themselves.Even the bad boy label printer played ball & didn't act up once.

The holiday might  not have had quite the happy homecoming, had a drama that unfolded in our absence ended differently.We have a dog, A dog that is loved in a way that moves us to tears in the same way our anecdotes about him bore others to tears.Putting him a kennel was unthinkable, I thought we might even have to share him among the offers that would come in from friends to take him.

 SILENCE!

Eventually I asked my sister if she would take him & bless her soul she said yes. As the holiday approached she said was even looking forward to having him. The countdown to the holidays became less how many days til NY, but how many days until we had to leave Lemmy, confused, distraught & feeling abandoned.

I dropped him off the evening prior to our departure, wiped a tear as I bid him farewell. Two days later he went missing in Marley Park. Can't you just imagine the panic. My poor sister, her husband & three kids spent days pounding the streets, sticking up posters, door to door investigations,praying to St Anthony, promising him ANYTHING if our dog could just be found. My five other siblings joined in the prayer vigils...Jesus, not the dog, not that dog....not Shirley's dog, please , please God return him safely, whilst each one smugly  thought "thank God it's Catherine who lost him & not me".

And then all their prayers were answered.

Lemmy, a two year old frisky collie, had discovered his inner sheepdog found his way to ENNISKERRY. I like to think he might have had fun with sheep he met along the mountainous Wicklow hills, that he had the adventure of a life time, running with wild abandon, chasing rabbits..until he arrived on the doorstep of a man two days later. A man who God bless him reunited him with a distraught Catherine via lostandfoundpets.ie

Today, Catherine recovered from her ordeal, said to me..."I know he must be have been micro chipped but there was just  no way I could call you in the States & ask you....."

Well, ahem, actually, well ....he is now.

Shirley (& Lemmy)

New York State of Mind

Evening All,

Wow, we're here!

All six of us after an epic trip from Dublin to Madrid to Boston to NYC are now on day two of our amazing holiday to NY. The Boston bit was due to JFK closing due to thunder storms. My eldest with much wit announcing that had we come on a famine ship, we'd have got to NYC quicker ! We have swapped house with my cousin; his , a beautiful colonial style four storey house for our tiny mid terraced pad in Dublin 8.

We are in heaven.

I mentioned in my last blog about the fear of leaving our business, of handing it over to our great staff for 10 days. We did as much as we could to prepare everybody, clients & staff and to be honest we can do no more.

If you have been following the blog you know that the business dominates my life, the highs, the lows the agonies & the ecstasies, but not now, not now that I am here .

Myself & Mr Delicious give The Delicious Food Co so much of ourselves 24/7, so this is the time that we discover what The Delicious Food Co gives us. The suppliers we are loyal to, the staff consider family, the clients for whom we go willingly to the ends of the earth.

Last night as I stood on Brooklyn Bridge & watched the 4th July fireworks explode in the NY sky with my daughter Magali who's biggest ambition in life is to come & live in New York, I was moved by the enormity of what was unfolding. Here I was in the most exciting place in the world with the 5 people I love most in the world. An opportunity afforded us by our hard work & a helping hand from my beloved mother. A chance of a lifetime.

I will not check a single work email until my return. I will live in the moment each step of this American dream. This morning we went to an outlet, whilst the kids shopped I had a massage, the elderly Chinese man who massaged me went deliciously way over the allotted time....."why so much stress in your body" he asked.

"Work" I replied, it's tensions still in my mind & my body. But as the day progressed I refused to let my work life near me. It is in a box in Dublin & that is where it is staying for now. And let's face it, if I can't do that in NYC here, for 10 days with the true loves of my life..

what do I really have.

Love

Shirley x

The American Dream....Here we come !

Evening All,

On gloriously sunny days like we've had this week, it's great to be self employed. 

Today I knocked off early & popped into town where at 3 o'clock I was sitting outside The Bailey, with my friend Susan enjoying a nice crisp glass of white wine. I had worked solidly from 6.30 until then, but it still felt like a bold & decadent thing to do. Thankfully Susan had to drive later so we just had a glass & not a bottle.

You see one of the downsides to self employment can be the lack of time off, but in two weeks myself Mr Delicious & our four kids are doing a house swap with my cousin in NYC for 10 days. This will be our first holiday in three years and boy are we excited. Our tiny  house is currently undergoing a declutter of epic proportions. It's one thing to do a house swap with a stranger who you will never meet, but my cousin....well,  I'll be seeing him intermittently for the rest of my life, so he  doesn't need to see my domestic chaos.

Then there is work.

Myself & Mr Delicious  work about 100 hours per week & that has to be replaced. We have a wonderful team and am confident that our business will be in good hands, but  that won't stop me worrying. We are now busier than ever, we have just taken on a big six week contract...and I have yet to break the news to the client that it won't be me at the end of the phone 24/7. I feel guilty & angst ridden, but why work 100 hour week if we can't take ten days with our kids for the opportunity of a life time.

I think we've ticked all the boxes, crossed all the t's & dotted all the i's...but there is still the fear of those unaccounted days when we will be on the other side of the world, trying to forget about The Delicious Food Co. whilst scouring New York for new ideas for ..... The Delicious Food Co.

Does it ever end !

Shirley x

This Little Foodie's on Fire !

Evening All,

Oh yes it's been a funny old year so far.

In January I wrote a blog called "The Midas Touch (again)" about the possibilities that lay ahead of us for 2014. I referenced a time pre recession when everything I touched turned to gold, sale after sale rolling in. We got badly  hit by recession as our gorgeous sandwiches made on wonderful breads got replaced by mass produced wedges, that had travelled miles to get here & lasted forever, our corporate catering decimated by cut backs, our sandwich platter business ...forget it!

I felt in my bones that  those heady days of the Midas touch were about to return (again), I felt ready to conquer the world, spread our deliciousness everywhere. 

Boy was I wrong. 

No sooner had I hit the "publish" button on the blog , then a call came from  Mr Big  to say that his new kitchen was up & running." Hello new kitchen & muse"," bye, bye" Shirley.(although I did manage to save a bit of the business) The following week I got a call to say that one of my food service accounts had lost a large corporate client I supplied to, so that went too.

A change of personnel at a company for whom I did a phenomenal amount of work , meant that a business that had been a joy to service for two years, became angst ridden, messy &  lacking in  professional courtesy to us. So, I took the (brave/mad?) decision to terminate our services to them, and washed that angst right outta my hair.

I am now delighted to tell you that I am again back on a roll. I got eight new clients in May, who are all spending. I have secured a substantial piece of business from a college for a six week period starting in the next two weeks. The client said I'm a pain in the ass, but I know she was pleased as punch for me when she called with the great news.A client I pitched to to do all their catering for the next year has just booked us for today & tomorrow.....(does that mean I've got it....)

You all know that I sometimes find that this food gig, just wears me down, but something very strange happened to me on Sunday night. As I crept into bed where Mr Delicious was already sound asleep, I found myself for the first time in a very long time, deliciously excited about the week ahead and I am delighted to report  that thus far it hasn't disappointed.

Rock on !

Shirley

I'd Do Anything........

Evening all,

Things are very exciting here in the food industry amongst all us little guys aiming to be the next big thing.

 Lidl  & RTE are teaming up to produce a new TV programme "The Taste of Success". They are looking for  wannabe food entrepreneurs, existing local food producers, or anybody with a decent food idea & dream of turning Granny's blue cheese apple strudel into a national taste phenomenon, to apply.

 Now this ain't any old reality TV show...this is The Apprentice with sprinkles. Experts to guide & refine the product...marketing advice...good old fashioned expert mentoring which is the one thing we all want so badly.

Just think what the exposure would do for my business & that's not all.

The prize is a whopping 100k in cash, royalties,  a national listing with Lidl  & marketing campaign

If there is a foodie in Dublin who says they aren't interested I suspect they are lying.

I've never been one to want to draw attention to myself, although I have considered applying for Dragon's Den. I've even perfected my elevated pitch to the Dragons in my head as I've winded my way around town

delivering my salads & sandwiches in my little Ford van  

" Hi my name is Shirley & I'm looking for 100k for 5% of my business "The Delicious Food Co"

& as Gavin, Ramona, & Eamonn challenge my valuation I'd win them over, with confident assured answers...and they would argue that it's a tough market...but they believed in ME, were going to invest in ME..and the bidding war would begin, three Dragons at my mercy..

.Oooh yes!

This competition is a whole new level of exposure...as part of the application form they ask "what is the worst thing that ever happened to you? "( like I'm gonna tell a reality TV show that), but I'll think of something that works for both of us,I need an impressive application form, they suggest a video might be good, but definitely a photo with  the product.

So, I need to loose a few pounds so I look good on camera, I need a decent sob story that won't make my mother cry with the humiliation of it all. I already have the winning product. I've decided not to watch myself back in any of the episodes.

Yes this little foodie is aiming high, considering exposing all ..(again)  for our  wonderful
The Delicious Food Co...I'd do anything..

anything !

Shirley x