…or “why I suck at it.”

So it’s quite late, and I’ve been tossing and turning in bed for a good while now. The issue is that I’ve been all of a sudden sick again, and it’s not been that great of an experience. I really do believe it’s due to the sudden changes in the weather and ambient temperature as opposed to any drastically low temperatures in and of itself; I don’t think my bodies knows what to do when things keep changing! It prepares and is ready for it to be warm or cold, but it can’t handle the shift, and so dies, metaphorically.

The point though, is that while I’ve been sick, I’ve been either not very productive at all, or decently productive on some of my web projects. So assuming I spend half my time productive, half of it not, and a good potion of the rest asleep or in a daze, accounting for time to spend with my Maria of course, I should have time left everyday to blog. Right? So why is it that I don’t, and why is it that it’s been nigh on three weeks since anyone’s updated this blog?

I think it has to do with the actual concept of blogging. Before now, as in, literally a couple of minutes ago, I was suffering quite contentedly in bed, unable to sleep, dreading the possibility that I might be disturbing Maria’s rest as well. And my mind was racing. I was thinking about my restaurant’s website (which isn’t up yet), my art website, which is up here, and some new stuff I’m planning to do for my choir, which, obviously, isn’t up either, neither is the West Campus site. Incidentally, this would be the first time I’m plugging my art website…everyone go and look at it! It represents the “best” of Beijing’s urban youth, or so the propaganda page tells me.

West Campus, incidentally, is a school I’m starting in Beijing! It will at first only offer year long intensive Chinese language and culture courses, hopefully starting Fall 2010, but will move on to offer full study abroad options for a liberal arts education, hopefully with a Fall 2011 availability so we can start searching for partner US institutions. Grandiose, no? They also get a website, one to provide information, brochures, contact information, and a way to register online…hmmm…I wonder if I’ll get paid for any of this web work; they’re all decently complicated…

Um…but yes my mind was racing, and I was even mentally ranting to myself, “hmmmm…this would make a good blog post.” So here I am, finally. Partly also due to he fact that I got tired of lying in bed unable to sleep and I wanted to spec. out the requirements for the IFC website.

So what this post will be about then is just a mish-mash of everything’s that’s been going on, with the hopes that it will make some greater sense, and that it will in some small way make up for the lack of anything interesting floating around here. Ah I’ve also modified the layout a bit to have static headers and footers; I’m not sure I like it…

So I think the restaurant’s a good place to start. We’re switching owners. My aunt and uncle, God bless them, are no longer going to be working with us, thank God. This means that we have to find somebody to buy out their 50% stake in the restaurant for $$$K, plus work out some way to repay the $$$K RMB that they “loaned” to the business to cover operational costs. Without going into too much of the details because I’m not entirely sure I’m at liberty to say at the moment, it’s being worked out, and it should be good.

What I am most excited about is the possibility of greater interactions with a local farm that my father is associated with. This should allow us to get good dairy and meat supplies, plus develop new foods like homemade cheese! I’ve been missing cheese in this country, and I have grandiose dreams of being Beijing’s one and only source for freshly made mozzarella. There is also the possibility that we may partner with another good friend of ours and jointly open yet another restaurant in the same complex as Connections. This will be a all vegetarian restaurant, specializing in fresh juices, fruit and vegetable cocktails, and entree size salads, something wholly lacking in this country. This will also entail greater cooperation with the farm as we will need to grow the entree salad vegetables, things like endive, mescalin, arugula, also things either lacking or inconsistent in this country, and which I will even admit to missing. Again, I have grandiose dreams of being Beijing’s one and only source for fresh, home grown, specialty vegetables.

I am also leaving my role as full time manager of the restaurant, mostly because it’s too time consuming. I have faith and confidence in my staff and the training I’ve provided them, and will still be on hand in a very part time manner, perhaps a couple of hours every other day. I’m going to promote on waitstaff and one cook to be my eyes, hands, and ears while I’m away, and they will be responsible in my absence. We’ve been kind of operating this way for the past week, mostly due to circumstance since I was sick, but also due to premeditation because I was just sick of being there 91 hours a week, and things seem quite smooth. Again, I have faith.

The only other thing interesting about the restaurant is that I think I’ve finalized with my choir, the IFC, the option of using Connections as their “home away from home,” or “home base,” the most pertinent bit of which would be the using of it as their ticket distribution hub. I needn’t tell you all the great benefits this entails. I had always wanted a stronger tie between the restaurant and my choir, and this provides it. Part of the reason why I got a piano for the restaurant was so that there can be impromptu rehearsals, sections, or other music related events, open mics, sing alongs, etc. that can happen at the restaurant and involve the choir. If I can be the one and only place to get tickets for our upcoming concerts, then that’s a step in the right direction. The website I’m spec’ing out for them is to give them the ability to handle online ticket sales on their own without using a third party service that charges an obscene service charge per transaction. Plus, it looks like my Epiphany music center idea may come to fruition at some point relatively soon as well, and all these things will work so well together I just know it.

Which is a great segue for that topic! I got Cary, my father’s business partner, interested in Epiphany. I think he’s always been half way interested, though no one’s taken the initiative to develop it really. My father had done some work, and I’ve built off of that to come to where we are now. Again, without going into too much details because I may not be at liberty to say, but it’ll be good, and it’ll be THE place to go for all your classical music needs in the “heart of Beijing” so to speak, or so the propaganda page states ;)

Also since I am no longer going to be the full time manager at the restaurant, I’m relegated myself to the status of “owner,” which means I get paid when the restaurant is profitable, or if and when that is. This means I’ve been on the prowl for a normal job, hopefully something in a programming vein. I had interviewed with and received a very decent job offer from Pixomondo, a visual effects company opening their Beijing office. Unfortunately, the timing had sucked because I was just getting deep into the running of the restaurant so I turned their offer down. Or more, I didn’t respond when they asked me if they could negotiate my offer with me…my defense on this issue is that I was really busy, as I’ve always been, and it was during New Years so things were extra hectic. But yes, I should have gotten back to them no matter what and it’s my bad for not. The point also being then that I feel awkward approaching them again since I sort of brushed them off earlier. I’ve also interviewed with Wokai.org, a micro-financing company. They’re in first round interviews, and they’re supposed to get back to me. And if any of you reading this know of any good PHP Programmer jobs, let me know! I’ve already been thinking about posting to this blog post photos of my new Connections menu, I think I’ll also post my resume. I NEED A JOB!!! PLEASE HELP!!!

Our visas are also expiring, again. This will be our, what, third entry? Haven’t figured out where to leave to yet, but need to soon, we have just under a week left to clear immigration. Part of the other reason a “normal” job sounds appealing is that they should be able to help me sort out my work visa issue. At the moment, the stand still is that VS Media hasn’t gotten back to me yet on my employment verification letter, which is the last thing I need before one round of work visa applications with my father can be filed. They’ve sort of fallen off the face of the earth at the moment, I wonder if they’re alright…But since I’ve stepped back from the restaurant, this next trip promises to be much better, and longer, and more fun, I promise, my dearest Maria. I know I’ve been sucking lately, being sick, being busy, but I promise better times ahead.

Whoo I’m on a roll aren’t I! And real tag happy :)

Regarding Maria, since a lot I’m not at liberty to myself say, I will say that she did very well on the GMAT, finished her MBA applications to Tsinghua and BiMBA, is plowing her way through her Chinese government scholarships, was NOT late for any scholarships at Tsinghua or BiMBA, and has many promising projects coming up involving Chinese lawyer and my father. And that’s all I’ll say.

Let’s upload that menu now shall we? And don’t laugh at the over the top English; it hasn’t been edited yet.

Let’s also get the resume uploaded shall we? Download now

And now I’m feeling a little dehydrated and shaky. I should probably stop now as I think I’ve got most things covered, and those that I haven’t, I’ll try to list out real quick. I also need to upgrade this Wordpress install before I’m finished.

1) We’re still looking for an apartment. We’ve had a reprieve because my mother’s not coming until June, but that’s feeling like it’ll be here real soon. We’re playing around with the option of living in the complex that Connections is in because we have so many things going on there (Connections, Epiphany, the new vegetarian restaurant), plus we also want to start our own business so it seems also appropriate, but there’s a lot of logistics involved with that mostly due to the fact that it’s commercial real estate and so is more expensive and lacking a kitchen and plumbing.
2) My best friend from high school’s wedding is coming up in mid-May, so we’ll be both going back to the US around then. Maria’s going to go earlier, see some family, and run her first marathon in Cincinnati! I will, unfortunately, be unable to attend. But this should mean we’ll have exciting things to look forward to come October and the Beijing marathon :)
3) I only need 40 some odd words to get to 2000 at this point, so I’m just stalling and rambling until then. It seems like a nice, round, number, and may very well be the longest blog post we’ve had. I had been toying with the idea of separating this one entry into multiple entries, and just post them all at the same time. But that also felt stupid. Not that this monster of a post isn’t stupid in and of itself, there’s just no lesser evil with those two choices…

Edit:

Already had to correct a couple of typos, and I just realize I never tested the new sites I’m developing in IE, because I don’t have access to IE anymore! I should get around to that huh…?

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Posted by sean x. l. on March 8th, 2010 - 3:21 am
Filed Under :: china
Tags :: apartment, blog, business, Connections Bar & Grill, epiphany, IFC, job, racing, rambling, travel, visas, vs media, West Campus

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So it’s my first Chinese New Year spent in China actually, since I was little anyways. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I’m still not entirely sure what to expect seeing as the festivities go on for a week apparently. I knew there were going to be fireworks, but not like this, and not in the street. There were people setting off huge explosions since early this morning right outside my apartment. And across the street from my restaurant. And on my way home as I walked. Frightening really; I’ve never been this close to fireworks or explosions before in my life. I could feel the particulate fall on my head…And loud as hell! Unlike US fireworks, these don’t seem to have been meant to be pretty and in the sky. Imagine a huge chain of explosives, that just blow up and spark and make a really loud noise and you’ll have the bulk of Chinese fireworks. Of course there’s the regular up in the sky “oh look how pretty” kind of fireworks as well, which have been going off non-stop since 5 minutes before midnight, so that would be over 35 minutes ago. And they’re still going, I’ll update the post when it’s done. But I wasn’t sure how this would affect my business, because a lot of people do go home for the holidays. It’s tradition that for Chinese New Year, you go home. The public transportation system’s been grinding to a halt with people unable to get plane or train tickets because everything’s full. I’ve had multiple foreign tourists come into my restaurant and tell me that they’re stuck here. So the city’s pretty empty, as empty as it can be I guess. And a lot of stores and restaurants are closed. The point being, I wasn’t sure if I’d have any business, and sure enough, today wasn’t that great of a day at the restaurant. It was fine, as a normal day goes, better than fine actually. But for a holiday, unlike the other holidays I’ve had where I’ve done great business like Christmas Eve or New Years. What is interesting is that definitely the Chinese have cleared out; my restaurant was filled with foreigners, though sometimes with their Chinese significant others. We shall see how the week plays out, whether I have business or not, whether I can stand the constant war zone noise outside my window. Seriously, it’s like the news footage of the Iraq war. I even took video, and am going to try uploading it here later for all to enjoy. If you have post traumatic stress disorder, be warned.

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Posted by sean x. l. on February 14th, 2010 - 12:31 am
Filed Under :: china
Tags :: Chinese New Year, Connections Bar & Grill

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Which must mean that once again, our visas are about to expire. Apparently it’s gotten a lot harder than it used to since the Olympics for someone to get a F or Z visa. The F is the “foreigner in the country but looking for work” visa that would have let us stay for up to a year without having to leave. The Z is the “foreigner in the country actually working” that would, and hopefully will, let us stay for up to two years without having to leave. And it’s the appropriate one to have. Although it seems quite likely now that Maria may even get a student visa through her MBA program, but best not to give up any current pursuits in case anything else falls through.

But, like the title says, it means we’re off to Seoul, again, tomorrow, for even less time than last; we leave Thursday, come back Friday. The tightness of the travel schedule had originally been to accommodate an activity the IFC was going to participate in. They had been asked to perform on Beijing TV, nationally broadcast no less, but the BTV people wanted a large showing of foreigners, and what with it being the holiday season and all the IFC just couldn’t scrounge up enough singers, though of course I signed up since I have no life and no reason to leave, though I kind of do actually; it’ll be nice to get to go to Bangkok. Either way, they cancelled on me last week, after I’d already gotten our airplane tickets, so what can you do.

Since we’ve been there before though, we’re kind of nixing the whole “tourist in Korea” thing and opted to stay in a hotel real close to the airport and will just camp there. It should be fine; Maria managed to find a very nice looking place for a good price. Hopefully we won’t have to run this whole gamut again, and the only thing we’ll have to do is leave the country so we can enter on our working visas. Though that in and of itself may be difficult as the process seems to be, as mentioned before, much more difficult than before, and we will most likely need to return to the States of all places to get it.

So it used to be easy, very easy. There’s a whole long list of things you need to apply for one, ranging from a translated resume, a translated offer letter, and the offer letter needs to be for a “fancy” position signed by a “fancy” executive of the company inviting you. Oh, your resume needs to be “fancy” too so it seems justified that your skills are needed. All these things in the past used to just be for show but apparently someone actually looks at it nowadays. They want our ORIGINAL college degrees (pain in the ass), and they need actual signed work verification letters from EVERY employer on your resume. Can’t be emailed, can’t be faxed, can’t be copied; needs to be the actual damned thing. So we’re left in the position where ok, I’ve a lot of employers on my resume so that it can be “fancy,” but I don’t want to track down all of them and ask them for this silly work verification letter. Sigh. On top of all this there’s a health inspection that we needed to have done, and have; thankfully that was relatively painless, and it’s convenient to know we’re healthy, though it was expensive for just a sheet of paper. And they really go over board with the health inspection! They took lots of blood, did an EKG, did an ultrasound, took an x-ray, checked your hearing, vision, general physical health. Sigh, again. It’s in process is the point. A long process.

Ugh and it’s gonna be so expensive to have to leave the country this many times! There’s Miguel’s wedding, there’s Kelly’s wedding, and some time between the two there’s the last time we have to leave the country back to the States to get our working visas. It’s actually I just don’t want to go to the States heh. And I’m sick again damnit. This city has been very cold lately, so business also sucks. Heh and I haven’t had time to blog so I’m doing it now.

Business is actually alright. It’s surprising but for a restaurant in China to be profitable it just needs to make 1500RMB a day. That’s just over 200$. It sounds small, but when you’re only charging 30RMB per dish, you’d need to serve 50 people at least, per day, which given how cold it is, is no mean feat. Ah either way.

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Posted by sean x. l. on January 13th, 2010 - 12:48 pm
Filed Under :: china
Tags :: china, Connections Bar & Grill, rambling, visas, weddings

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So there’s been some progress, as can be noted by my and our general absence from this blog.

First, my IFC (International Festival Chorus) Messiah concert has been postponed until the 19th of December. Apparently they’ve been having more and more problems getting government approval to perform Handel’s Messiah in a public venue, and it was going to be a GREAT venue (sorry, Chinese site only, but it does illustrate just how weird Chinese web URLs are: www.zxyyt.com, it’s the first letter of the each Chinese character as written using English letters). So what they’re going to have to do now is perform it on the sly, at an independent location, specifically the International School of Beijing. Apparently it’s a big deal, the Messiah I mean, and subject to lots of government scrutiny before it’s allowed to be performed. Either way. This just means it pushes off my performances and rehearsals a bit.

Secondly, thanks to my connection with the IFC, I am also performing at the British Embassador’s Residence, singing Christmas carols. We’re also “performing”/”rehearsing” at the Bookworm, a coffee shop in Sanlitun, the bar area of Beijing, this coming Thursday for either “Beethoven Basics” or “Basic Beethoven” or something like that, for their classical music open mic night. Who knew such things existed huh? Sanlitun itself is weird, and not quite my cup of tea. There’s this huge “Village” complex they’re building, basically a tricked out shopping promenade, with massive numbers of massive stores. We’re talking three stories of Nike and the world’s largest Apple store; completely out of the locals price range, but trendy, I guess. Um, what was my point?

Right, thirdly, I’ve actually signed a contract with Connections. I am their full time manager now, for the next year, unless terminated in writing with 45 days notice. The restaurant is for most intents and purposes ready. We’re just missing staff and suppliers. There’s still a big part of me that’s unsure of whether or not I should really be continuing with this, but that’s all part of some much larger general concerns of mine regarding my relative success or actually lack there of since we’ve been in China and the almost irrational and unreasonable way that I am treated or considered by my parents and extended family that I will not get into here.

Fourthly, we saw 2012 in theaters. This is Maria’s first time, and only my second. So in China, apparently, the movies are expensive as hell by local standards (35 RMB/5 USD on a weeknight, 75 RMB/11 USD on a weekend), you pick out your seats before hand and they’re assigned, if there are any English subtitles in the original movie you can kiss those good bye (which actually means we’ll need to watch 2012 again since there were lots of time when people were speaking other languages that we have no idea what was going on because there’s only the Chinese subtitles), and before the credits even begin rolling, the lights come on, the movie is over, and the theater empties. No staying for the credits in this town.

Fifthly, and related to the “Fourthly,” we wandered around Wanfujing a good bit. It’s about 5 miles from our apartment, and we wanted a walk, and I hadn’t been there in a while and I remembered that there was a movie theater there, so we headed out. We passed what the internet is apparently calling the “night market” which is this long city block of nothing but street food, most prevalent of which were things on skewers, with an emphasis on the weird and gross, like still moving scorpions, starfish, sea urchins, bug “pods,” various internal organs, etc. The place has really gussied up since last I was there. A couple of new shopping malls have opened, all selling high end durable goods. What we’ve come to realize is that brands that in the stores one would find only in department stores, for some reason have their own massive stores. They definitely like their things big.

And lastly, construction at the apartment should be finishing up relatively soon, within the week actually. Which means that for once, and finally, we will have a place that is all our own, livable and clean. Thank god for small favors.

And as a side note, we’ll be revisiting some of these things and hopefully that means there’ll be pictures!

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Posted by sean x. l. on December 6th, 2009 - 9:57 pm
Filed Under :: china
Tags :: apartment, Connections Bar & Grill, family, movies, rambling

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(Sick)
So I’m sick, and have been for a few days. And I realize now that a good many of my blog posts begins with the word “So.” I wonder why that is…But I think it’s the weather.

(Weather)
It was like this when I was in New York; as the seasons noticeably change, I would get sick. This meant once when the summer months ended and winter began, and again when winter ends and it starts to warm. I probably got lucky the year and a half or so I was last in LA because there are no noticeable season changes there. But here, in Beijing, wow; it was quite warm when we first arrived, then all of a sudden, snow! Photos to follow incidentally. It’s been like that since the end of the month. It’s actually quite appropriate really, as November began, so did winter.

(Sick)
But I don’t like being sick. It throws off my sleeping schedule because I just sleep when I’m tired, and that happens at random intervals during the day. Other times I just can’t sleep because of the symptoms, like now. And in general, I’m just completely sapped of energy. I do think I’m getting better though. One of the good things about China is that most drugs are over the counter, including antibiotics. I’m taking those, and some other random Chinese medicine, to good general effect.

(Maria Runs)
Maria’s been getting more and more adventurous in her running lately. We’ve uploaded maps of her runs for anyone who’s interested.

(IFC)
I auditioned for and successfully got in to the Beijing International Festival Chorus! I was actually very nervous for some reason. I’m actually always nervous during auditions, never so during rehearsals or performances, but something about auditions rattles me. It looks pretty interesting, and the venue that they perform in is quite grand. They’re also very English which I find very amusing. The first rehearsal is tomorrow and though I am sick, I doubt I’m contagious, and I’d very much like to get back into the swing of things. Part of why I may have been nervous as Maria points out is that it’s been over a year and a half since I last sang. A pity really. I also hope to join their smaller group, the International Festival Chamber Choir. I don’t know much about hem yet though, but it seems like an added opportunity to sing and perform, which is always good.

(Updates)
As far as general updates go, I’ve been obviously a little bit absent from the renovation work going on at Connections Bar and Grill. Incidentally, the IFC people had heard of my restaurant! A testament to our current marketing scheme! I foresee great things in the future; this looks to be the start of a beautiful friendship! The schedule is still set though; we will open in one week. Next week will be the all important perfecting of our recipes, our new supply lines, and the hiring of new employees. As my father put it, I missed some of the craziness this week, but there’s plenty more next week, and it’ll all be mine. Yay. [insert sarcasm tag] I keep going over and over the operations of the restaurant in my mind, and it scares me.

You see, unlike in the States, where restaurant layouts make sense, apparently in China, regulations prohibit such things as a large open kitchen where one person can have easy access to all the supplies, utensils, plates, and cooking. You need a separate room, with its own wall separating it, for your dish washing and your produce preparation. This means that for one person to operate the kitchen in its entirety is for most intents and purposes impossible. That one cook will have to go to the “salad prep” room to get the produce ready, then go to the kitchen to cook everything, then go to the “dish washing” room to get the necessary plates before putting it all together. Apparently it’s a hygiene regulation.

So to get around this, I’m thinking we’ll keep the separate rooms because we have to, but just not use them. It just means there’s a lot of pressure on the cook, a.k.a. me, to make sure all the prep is done in the mornings and MOVED into the kitchen so that I won’t have to keep running back and forth between quite distant places…I’m thinking, down the line, once the restaurant is highly successful, a complete and utter overhaul of the kitchen will be needed. We’ll speak of this when the time is appropriate.

As far as renovations go at my apartment, I think we’ve hit a snag. Apparently it’s out of my hands, as it should since these are my mother’s renovations, but I think they’re doing it wrong. The plan was to rebuild the sun-room, this nice, enclosed patio type space on the second floor. There was some water damage because the roof was leaking, so they were supposed to tear it all apart, and redo it. Well the tearing apart went fine, but it looks like they’re walling up the windows! They’re just turning it into…a room. I doubt that’s what my mother had in mind. The problem with informing her is that this construction is already way behind schedule; they were supposed to be done by November 1st. And now if it looks like they’re doing it all wrong and will have to do it again but correctly, it’s just going to take even longer, and I just can’t wait for the day where I won’t have to worry about construction workers trampling through my home!

I think that’s all for now…I’m going to sort out some beautiful photos of Beijing in the snow and upload them next.

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Posted by sean x. l. on November 8th, 2009 - 2:26 am
Filed Under :: china
Tags :: apartment, Connections Bar & Grill, International Festival Chorus, renovations, running, sick, snow

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Ingredients:

• 200 g (.46 lbs) extra-lean hamburger patty, pre-formed, individually-wrapped
• 1 sesame bun, preferably frozen
• Shredded white “cheese”
• “Pickles,” otherwise known as ZhaCai, literally “Pressed Vegetables” (no dill was harmed in the making of this pickle)
• Garnish: 1 lettuce leaf, sliced tomatoes and onions
• Seasoning: Salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, red cooking wine, cooking oil

Equipment:

• Spatula
• Saute pan and lid
• Stove
• Microwave
• Pizza oven

Directions:

• Season both sides of patty with liberal amounts of Seasoning
• Put patty in saute pan on high heat
• Cover with lid to cook
• When bottom looks “done,” flip, cover, and repeat
• When both sides look “done,” put in microwave for 1-2 minutes at your discretion
• Put back in saute pan to cook away any excess liquids that may have escaped while microwaving
• At this point, put sesame bun into pizza oven to defrost/toast
• Sprinkle top of patty lightly with “cheese,” then put into pizza oven to melt
• Wait 2 minutes for everything to finish in the pizza oven
• Place patty between sesame bun, top with Garnish, and you’re done!

To serve:

• Prepare a small pile of deep-fried, frozen french fries
• Create an elaborately European, but small, side salad, complete with vegetable “towers” and hash-patterned drizzles of dressing
• Arrange everything delicately in quadrants on a square plate
• Provide an individual crock of ketchup

Promise: This will NOT be how I serve my new hamburgers at Connections Bar & Grill. I just wanted to show just how far we’ve come and in such a short time.

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Posted by sean x. l. on November 4th, 2009 - 3:15 pm
Filed Under :: china
Tags :: business, Connections Bar & Grill, food

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I don’t actually have time to blog, neither does Maria, but I figured I should try to say something about what’s been going on, and I’ll leave it to her to tell about all that’s going on with her later, if she feels like it.

So I now own a restaurant! I am the general manager, and soon to be proper 25% owner. Or at least, all of this is pending actual finalization but for all intents and purposes I’m already doing the work and have been for no pay for some time. I’d like to think that I’m properly incentivized (huh…Firefox doesn’t think that’s a real word?) and so all my efforts, plus so much more effort in the future, will be worth it.

No matter what though, it is all terribly exciting. Imagining the renovations, because we’re changing the layout and the kitchen, imagining the new menu. Basically, this restaurant was already my father’s, but it’s not been doing too well per se, and my cousin, the previous general manager, wanted to change it to a YuNan Hot Pot franchise.

Hot pot for those of you not in the know is like Japanese shabu-shabu. In its simplest form: there’s a big pot of boiling water that you put vegetables and meats into to cook then eat. It’s really popular in China, among the Chinese, and especially in winter when it’s cold out. I’m not that into it myself though.

The restaurant was also supposed to be a Western restaurant, and the other shareholders didn’t want to move away from that idea. The new shareholders, plus myself, wanted to focus our direction. Right now, it’s like we’re a European restaurant, serving really fancy looking and sounding things like ox tongue salad and cylindrical potato salad with curry powder. All good in and of itself, I think since I’ve never had the desire to actually try it, but nothing out of the ordinary and just not good enough to draw the real fancy European crowd.

So we’re shifting focus. We want the tourists. We want the expats (the poor ones ;) ). We want the foreigners who are missing a good, old fashioned, American breakfast, pancakes and waffles and all, because you can’t get those in China! So all day breakfast, really good burgers and pizza, and apple pie! And beer, lots of beer, in bottles and on tap, and a soda fountain, and liquor…All the things that make diners in the States so good.

We’re working on the new layout right now, because we’re getting booths and opening up the new dining room in the back.

We’re working on the kitchen because they need more griddle space for the burgers and breakfast foods.

We’re finalizing the new menu (mostly me…) so we’re coming up with food we want to serve and how to cook it. Lucky me gets to cook all these things for the first time next week to a panel of tasters as well. This also means we’re setting up new suppliers.

We’re also getting new waitstaff and new cooks. It’s like starting complete anew, a clean slate. We’re writing hygiene regulations, I’m writing up employee operational procedures, I’ll need to write up the new recipes, I’m writing up employee incentives and review policies, we’re coming up with a whole new marketing strategy. It’s a big project, but I have high hopes.

My hopes and estimates, assuming we’re a raving success, which of course we will be, will have us making 3 million RMB a year, minus 50% to costs, split 4 ways.

I’m excited, scared, stressed, pressured. I’m anticipating having to work 100 hour weeks to get this thing off the ground, because we’re starting with a very skeleton crew, only 2 waitstaff and 2 cooks, plus me. But it will be worth it, I keep telling myself. No matter what it’ll be an experience.

Here’s the menu, as finalized as of two days ago :)

Breakfast

Breakfasts include one cup of coffee or choice of one juice
Toast comes with: Butter and a selection of Jam
Cheese varieties include choice of American, Swiss, Cheddar, or Mozzarella
Toppings for Pancakes, Waffles, and French Toast: Syrup, Fresh Fruit of the Day (e.g. Strawberries, Blueberries, Bananas), Chocolate Chips, Whipped Cream

Simple 1 – Two Eggs and Toast
Simple 2 – French Toast or Pancakes or Waffle
Chef’s Choice – Two Eggs, Two Pancakes, Two Strips of Bacon and a Sausage Patty
French Toast Combo – French Toast with Two Eggs and Your Choice of Ham, Bacon or Sausage
Three Egg Omelet – Choose any three of Cheese, Bacon, Ham, Mushroom, Spinach, Broccoli, Chile or Bell Peppers, Olives
Juices, Tea (refillable), Milk and Coffee (refillable) – Apple, Orange, Grapefruit, Pineapple, Tomato
Cereal and Milk

Create Your Own
Mix and Match Any Three – Bacon, Ham, Link Sausage, Sausage Patty, Eggs, Cereal, Grits, Fruit, Home Fries, toast, hash browns

Beverages

Beer On Top: Heineken, Yanjing, Tsingtao, Guiness
Juices, Tea and Coffee:
Apple, Orange, Grapefruit, Pineapple, Tomato
American Style Coffee; Espresso
Lipton, Oolong, Lapsang Suchong, Earl Grey
Full Bar

Burgers

All burgers come with French Fries
Double the patty for 10 RMB
Veggie or Mutton patty available for free

Chiliburger: Cheddar Cheese, Beef Or Vegetarian Chili
Classic Cheeseburger: American Cheese, Pickles, Onions, Lettuce, Tomato, Ketchup, Mustard, Mayonnaise
Hawaiian Burger: Mozzarella Cheese, Pineapple, Lettuce, Teriyaki Sauce
Italian Burger: Mozzarella Cheese, Marinara Sauce, Basil, served on Garlic Toast
Mexican Burger: Cheddar Cheese, House Special Hot Sauce, Lettuce, Cilantro, Sour Cream, Pico De Gallo, Chili Peppers

Create Your Own
Bun: Sesame seed hamburger bun
Patties: All-beef, veggie, mutton
Cheese: American, cheddar, Mozzarella
Sauces: Ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, 1000 Island, ranch, House Special hot sauce, salsa, marinara sauce, beef/vegetarian chili, sour cream, Pico de Gallo, teriyaki
Toppings: Lettuce, tomato, onions, cilantro, pickles, sweet relish, grilled onions, grilled bell peppers, sautéed mushrooms, chili peppers, pineapple, bacon, fried egg

Pizza

All pizzas come with tomato sauce base and mozzarella cheese, unless otherwise noted or created by yourself

Supreme – Onions, Bell Peppers, Black Olives, Sliced Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Pepperoni, Sausage
All Meat – Pepperoni, Sausage, Bacon, Ham
Vegetarian – Onions, Bell Peppers, Black Olives, Sliced Tomatoes, Mushrooms
Hawaiian – Teriyaki Sauce, Ham, Pineapple
Mexican: Cheddar Cheese, Chicken, House Special Hot Sauce and Salsa, Pico de Gallo, Cilantro, Chili Peppers
Margherita: Olive Oil, Fresh Basil, Sliced Tomatoes

Create Your Own:
Cheese: Mozzarella, Cheddar, Parmesan, Swiss, Stilton
Sauce: Tomato, Teriyaki, House Special Hot sauce, Alfredo, Olive Oil
Vegetables: Onions, Bell Peppers, Black Olives, Sliced Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Pineapple, Spinach, Chili Peppers, House Special Salsa, Pico de Gallo, Italian Seasoning
Meat: Pepperoni, Sausage, Bacon, Ham

Sides
Mozzarella Sticks: Marinara sauce dip
French Fries
Side Salad
Cup of Chili: Beef or Vegetarian
Chips and Salsa: House Special and Pico de Gallo
Spaghetti: Bolognese or Vegetarian Marinara Sauce
Soup of the Day, served with French bread

Breakfast Sides
2 eggs, any style
2 strips of bacon
2 sausage links or patties
2 pancakes
1 waffle
1 order of French toast
Hash browns
Home Fries
Toast
Yogurt

Sweet Things
Apple Pie
Date Squares / Apple Bars
Ice Cream
Fruit Platter

And for the sake of creating the necessary tags, the other businesses we’re involved in are:

FTC Art/Gen-Next
PDL
FTC

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Posted by sean x. l. on October 29th, 2009 - 1:20 pm
Filed Under :: china
Tags :: business, Connections Bar & Grill, food, FTC, FTC Art/Gen-Next, PDL

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