Salsa!

Now why didn’t I think of this?

Congratulations to Lin Zhiwei for his suggestion - Salsa!

He gets a free box of 30 cup Kueh Pie Tee!

afterthought:  Gosh, I really need to get a camera ready.

Keep them suggestions coming!  And remind me to take a picture of you.

Pacific Clams with Thai Sauce

Congratulations to Sandy Quak aka “Feminine Mystique” for her suggestion - Pacific Clams with Thai Sauce!

She wins herself a free 30 cup box of Kueh Pie Tee!

afterthought:  Should have taken a picture of her.  Shucks.

We are at Singapore Expo!

Alrighty!

Arguably, Singapore’s largest consumer food fair is back! And as usual, we’re part of it.

Location: Singapore Expo Hall 5
Time: 11.00am to 10.00pm
Stall: SB38A (at the far end of the Hall)

Together with the Big Boys once again. The Who’s Who of the food industry will be there. Your Do-Dos, your SuperCoffee Mixes, and your Bee Cheng Hiangs. And we are rubbin’ shoulders with them. Bwahahaha…

Special Promotion!

And just for these 5 days, we’ll be having a special promotion.

You could get 30 Kueh Pie Tee cups (UP $7.00) and a 550g pack of frozen popiah vegetable (UP $5.00) for only $10.00!

OR

50 mini Kueh Pie Tee cups (UP $8.50) and a 550g pack of frozen popiah vegetable (UP $5.00) for only $11.00.

Enjoy savings of up to $2.50 or 20% off the usual price! Wow! Wow! Wow!

While stocks lasts.

To be or not to be - Part Deux

Sadly, we’ve decided to pass up the option for retail - for now.

We had two options actually. One in a heartland suburb, and another in a central downtown location. Plenty of excuses with both. Perhaps it’s not His time for me - yet.

LLS floated the idea of sharing L1 with me way back in March 08. Based on our excellent working relationship during our food fairs, C foresaw an opportunity where we could work out a rental sharing arrangement for the stalls she intends to take up. LLS had been really aggressive lately, with retail outlets springing up everywhere. But rental prices in choice locations command a premium (Thats why I’ve been buying REITs for the past few years), and she is not fully utilizing all the space she has. Hence, her desire to increase revenue per square foot. Totally understandable. But a from purely financial perspective.

Privately I shared with S, her main man on the project, that deep down, it cannot be just financial. There will be issues with branding, with marketing, advertising, legal representation, accounting, HR - just to mention a few. And with the range of products that LLS intends to put up at L1, they - to me, clearly have the product depth to justify taking the entire stall.

Branding is a serious issue. The stall will had to have a brand-neutral brand name, look and feel. So neither RLF nor LLS will appear at the stall. Having paid so much to build up a brand, neither party could really accept this. Not for one outlet in L1. (Unless of course, the rental and returns are totally obscene)

After much discussion with L1 and with LLS, LLS decided to pull out of a joint venture and go for it themselves.

We were disappointed. But we had no right no insist that we stick to our agreed arrangement. Firstly, we never signed anything. Secondly, S had been working day and night, meeting up with L1, negotiating rental, finalizing the merchandising mix. Besides, it was only through LLS’s contact that they managed to secure that location - right smack in front of NTUC. Darn excellent. Potential cash-cow.

Truth be told, we didn’t lift a finger. So honestly, so had no principled right to insist.

It was unfortunate. But in the long run, it would have been a better arrangement for both parties.

With our failed attempt to secure a location in a heartland-ish area, we turned our attentions to the downtown concept. RCM wanted us to take over the stall on the first week of June. That’s less than 3 weeks away. Having the right product mix together with fancy presentation will be key. We had neither and time was running out. They also required us to put 6+1months rental down - as a security deposit, excluding a $3K fitting out fee.

In short, taking up the location would have been financial suicide. Plenty of excuses.

Ideally, one would have a gourmet styled Pop/KPT with a choice of fancy toppings such as XO sausage (halal), garlic king prawns, baby octopus, smoked salmon, chicken floss etc. These will be an incremental progression from an familiar product. Bang Kwang base, the usual chilli, sweet sauces, nuts, bean sprouts, egg, Chinese lettuce, then the gourmet topping.

Then we have the real gourmet filing with Pop/KPT. Like those you can find over at our Recipes page. Thai mango salad with Duck, the KraThong Thong or a Yu Sheng filling. Plenty of things you can do.

But it’s plenty of work and lots of money down for an unknown and untested product.

Which leaves us back to square one. Perhaps it’s not my time yet. Were they smart decisions? Only time will tell.

Roch

We are at AMK Hub!

Did I mention we will be in AMK Hub till the 21st of May?

Here’s a picture of our stall last night. Unfortunately, it was pretty quiet for us on a Saturday night.

(MH sacrificing her weekend to help out. Eternally grateful, always)

M was a little disappointed with the day’s receipts, but then again her expectations have always been high. Hopefully with the promotion, things will get better.

L will be there as well. This will make our stall one of the most well staffed. Huge support from the family.

And yes, they spelt our name wrongly. It’s Red Lips Kueh Pie Tee - with an ’s’.

Roch

We are AMK Hub! 8th May - 21st May 2008

Good news for those staying in the north & central parts of Singapore!

We will be at AMK Hub for two weeks from the 8th of May till the 21st of May 2008. Basement 1, in front of OCBC bank. Opening hours: 10.30am - 9.30pm. Come on down with your family and enjoy some freshly made Kueh Pie Tee and Popiah.

Special Promotion!

And just for these two weeks, we’ll be having a special promotion.

You could get 30 Kueh Pie Tee cups (UP $7.00) and a 550g pack of frozen popiah vegetable (UP $5.00) for only $10.00! OR

50 mini Kueh Pie Tee cups (UP $8.50) and a 550g pack of frozen popiah vegetable (UP $5.00) also for only $10.00.

Enjoy savings of up to $3.50 or 25% off the usual price! Wow! Wow! Wow!

While stocks lasts.

Traditional Peranakan Kueh Pie Tee Filling Recipe

And because You asked for it!

Peranakan Pie Tee Filling:

(Serves 50 cups of Red Lips Pie Tee)

1 kg (Bang Kuang) Chinese Sweet Turnip, shredded
200 g Cooked Bamboo Shoots, shredded
50 g Carrot, shredded
300 g Small Prawns, shelled
1 Egg, boiled and diced
2 small cakes (Tau Kua) Bean Curd, cut into small strips & fried till golden brown
4 tablespoons Oil
2 tablespoons Salted Soybean Paste (Tau Cheo)
1 tablespoon Minced Garlic
1 tablespoon Salt
1 teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
0.5 tablespoon Pepper
0.5 cup Water

Cooking Instructions:

1. Fry 1 tablespoon Minced Garlic and Tau Cheo in Oil till fragrant.
2. Add Bang Kuang, Bamboo Shoots, Carrots and Water.
3. Stir-fry.
4. Add Fried Bean Curd, Prawns and Dark Soy Sauce.
5. Simmer till Bang Kuang is soft and cooked.
6. Add Salt, Sugar, Pepper to taste.
7. Top filling with a pinch of Parsley and diced Egg.

To be or not to be, that is the question.

Most entrepreneurs will face this question one time or another, I’m sure.

Some probably come face to face with it almost everyday. Some take it in their stride, some like me, will do a study (read: research), ponder (read: analyze) over it for some time, ask opinions then make a decision. Some others eventually don’t make a decision - these are the worst kinds. Some are afraid to make mistakes. And some take it in their stride - riding the wave, rising above challenges and the occasion. Fearless.

I’m not that fearless. And I don’t know why. Perhaps it’s fear of losing what I have already built up all these years. Perhaps I lack faith. Perhaps (perhaps, perhaps) I (still) think too much. My heart says it’ll work. My gut can’t find a reason why it shouldn’t.

And although putting this up on a ‘corporate’ website might seem too personal, it is personal. You’ve helped me out by appreciating what I offer all these years. You’ve stood by me through our off-peak periods and supported me through our reluctant price increase (the first in 6 years). You, our customer, have the right to know how we think and feel.

The question at hand is the development and implementation of a retail strategy (i.e. entry into the tough retail sector). We have an offer that will expire on Monday, 12th. It’s a decent location with a decent rent. Our product will have to change quite dramatically to suit the buying demographic. It has to be very westernized (or pan-Asian) with a strong branding. Only then will it be attractive. And there lies the problem. The constant fear of the unknown. The resistance to change from the status quo.

Plenty of work to be done.

Concerns:

• Lack of retail experience (apart from our food fairs)
• Long-term commitment with long-hours
• M’s worried about the location - especially for our existing range of products
• MH’s worried about the high turnover of the place - most outlets don’t stay long
• L’s worried about the lack of a strong brand and identity
• I’m worried that my 3 trusted confidants are worried.

To these I say: There are successful operators in the vicinity of that location. What is attractive about them is the range of products they offer and the ability to differentiate themselves from the competition with a strong brand.

We gotta start from somewhere.

It just doesn’t make sense to wait for all conditions to be right before diving into it. There is no real impetus to engage a retail consultant and develop a retail brand just to wait and see. Just Do It. We will just have be flexible and evolve. We can do a soft launch for a few weeks after opening to get customer feedback and to work out those niggly issues. PS has experience with developing a retail concept, and they are willing to design new recipes and to train. TPM did NYNY and PL. We know the right people who can help.

A lot of work needs to be done. Time is ticking away as we ponder and debate over this. Enough talk already. Decide and move on.

Roch