VII Award Winner Third Place- Americas Food and Bev Show - Miami Beach

Just sharing Big Chef' Highlights

• Feta Sun dried Tomato in Fillo won "The Best Ethnic Food in the Americas" IV Americas Food and Beverage Award -Miami
• Flavors of Brazil Event - Florida Foreign Trade Association in February 2006
• 3-Cheese Empanada was a hit at the 2006 Golf Tournament of Latin Chamber
• Dates stuffed with Chorizo made a lot of noise at Chicago's Food Show in May
• "Make Mine a Million" Business Awardee from Count-Me-In for Women Economic Independence, sponsored by Open American Express, in San Francisco in June 2006
• EXPOCOCINA exhibitor in San Jose, Costa Rica in July
• Our Cheese Bread "rocked" at the 2006 Dania Chamber's Golf Tournament
  
• W/MBE (Women/Minority Business Enterprise) re-certification
• "Taste and Zest" our Food Column
  

People we know...and people that work with us

How to implement our "new" ideas? Sometimes we feel overwhelmed... "just because" we do not see immediate results. By the way, the "new" ideas are actually "old", they are part of the business plan (which was written by me with realistic expectations... in my point of view).

We are working on the "retail market" project. Testing products, selecting items and developing the packaging (so far when the cost per box makes sense, the minimum order generates a storage space issue). Although, we dedicate a lot of time in this project we are very careful not to neglect our customers, always making sure customer service is our number one priority.


Another lesson learned--"people do business with people they know" yes, they do!
When do we draw the line? How do we check their professionalism, their capacity?
When dealing with people we know, we usually say "make us a offer we cannot refuse" and that's it! If the numbers is within our budget we do business, otherwise we shake hands. Since people have different approach to money, let's leave the monetary part out of it.
Tired of the "old fashioned" cpa, this year we changed to somebody we know - full of energy with the "extra time" to use Quickbooks functions, have monthly meetings, strategic planning, etc. Six motnhs into the year, our books are literally a mess, not only we haven't had any meetings but we have to work hard to get him on the phone.
How could it happen? We may be "too small" for him, too demanding, or his priorities have changed; while our frustations increased-- into to the third quarter and we are "forced" to improve our accounting skills, till we identify another cpa.
When do we draw the line? How to check their professionalism, their capacity?

In the meantime, business is still slow. Our production dept. staff communicated us that they decided to work six hours a day during the Summer. Their way to to contribute to the "financial health" of the BIG CHEF. We are so lucky we the staff we have!

This is what we do...

Can we get our business priorites straight?

What a fantastic experience was the well planned "Count me in" event in San Francisco! What a group of women--Visionaries, Inspiring and Encouraging! Bravo!! Furthermore, Cheers to the Wonderful Sponsors! I was proud to be there. What did I get from all of it...so far? The affirmation that our goals for BIG CHEF are a future reality.
NAWBO had a great convention…and I try to participate, meet great people and still managed to have a city tour and a wine tour! This is "what I call" Balanced Life!
Well, back to our reality...we have a business to grow, a million mark to surpass; but we get trapped in daily operations and "emergencies" that divert us from our priorities.
Big dilemma was to decide to hire an "assistant" and accept the fact that she would get more than I get... Thanks to my "dream team" I realized that was the price I had to pay to focus "on" my business instead of "in" my business. This is the second person, in a month, and still not the one. But she has great qualities that fit the “incoming and outgoing needs” of the company; we decide to start implementing a system to become more effective. In the meantime, there is goes "my" assistant and budget.
Next week-- Costa Rica!! Our first Int'l Trade Show! Possibility to export our Made in US products! We are B2B, trade shows is the way we promote our business. It is an investment that may bring us a return 8-12 months later with a lot of follow up... but an investment that is worth trying, moreover, we got SUSTA assistance.
We are South Florida and besides the fact that in Summer time business drops drastically, we also have the hurricane season (we got hit badly last year). We considered buying a generator instead of renting it; after four months waiting for couple of estimations the generator that cost $17K+ installation, now is $33K+ (no financing) with two months waiting period to install. Another side track -big decision.
Probably, all situations in a newer business demand big decisions, and it is a challenge to get our priorities straight…but when we stop and look back we have accomplished a lot in this past two and a half years.