Taking street food to the next stage of entrepreneurship

Hi friends,

Living in Asia gives us a great a opportunity to enjoy and savour a diverse range of food, from the more high end restaurant dining to the rich street food variety. We are indeed privilege to be able to enjoy it. Recently there was an article regarding the need to preserve this street food heritage, less we loose its authenticity as time goes by. The call was that this culinary skill should be taught in catering schools to promote the interest of developing a career or business opportunity for it.

I find the article most interesting and can definitely associate with its thoughts very well. I wanted to share that indeed there is a great opportunity in this area of street food especially from an entrepreneurial perspective. I came from a background where my mother is a street hawker. Along the many years that she has been in it (she retires a few years ago) I have also been involved in the various aspect of the business. That kind of exposure gave me good experiences and skill sets in the street food business and its opportunities. In this business indeed there is a lot of hard work and long hours but the entrepreneurial skills that one can learn from it is invaluable. Some thought that such business is a very simple one. That is not really the case. If you have been into it, you will find that there are many aspects of the business planning that one need to carry out, among others from the need to plan for fresh ingredients, timely supply, understanding customer's flow and preferences, developing good customer's relationship, financial and cash flow planning, risk management, branding your stall etc. In fact the greatest of them is the intellectual property (e.g. your sauces and ingredients) that you have developed. How do you preserve your IP and pass it on? It is no different from any other business except perhaps for its scope and scale. There is great entrepreneurial opportunity in this food business. It also does not always have to be of a lower class. There are quite a number of street food today which due to the entrepreneur's creativity and innovation has allow them to price it at a much higher price. And if the food and services is done properly I believe the customers do not mind paying for the premium to enjoy their favourite food. Though such business may involve much work and longer working hours but the margins is also good. I spent approximately 10 years (in and out) in my mother's hawker business. I know every aspect of it and I am proud that I had this opportunity to learn and experience it. By the way, where do I come from? I come from Ipoh, Malaysia, a place famous for many of it street food. What kind of hawker food that my mother was involved in? Wanton mien (noodles). As I used to tell others, give me a day notice and I can set up a stall and ready to roar!!

I visited Penang recently and was fascinated with its vibrant street food. I took a picture of it. See picture above.


Looking out:

1. Signal engineer who can assist in a new technology venture initiative.

Catch-up the next time.
KH

Start-ups is exciting but remember to think long term

Hi friends,

According to the CNNMoney.com, Singapore was ranked (among top 20) the best country for start-ups in 2009 (and 2008). For all that the country is doing to spark and assist start-ups, it is surely a great acknowledgement that it comes up at the top of the rung. As for aspiring entrepreneurs this is also a good news to start their dream enterprise. Most aspiring entrepreneurs will spend much time to plan for their businesses. But not that many spend enough time to associate their new established enterprise with their personal well being and how they should optimise these two aspects.

From a business perspective, many know that there is the Business Life Cycle but not many are aware that as an individual entrepreneur, there is also this aspect called Personal Life Cycle. These two aspects are not independent but in fact very much related and corresponding to each other. Generally in both life cycles, there are the four phases of Start-up, Growth, Expansion and Decline. In each of these stages, the characteristics of the owner flow with the characteristic of his business. For example at the Start-up stage where from a business perspective, among others it requires lots of stamina and financial resources, correspondingly at that time at the personal stage, the entrepreneur also requires high energy, personal motivation, financial support. Similarly at the Expansion/Decline stage, the business has probably reached its peak and hence ready for further expansion or sale, the entrepreneur at that time would probably be thinking of retirement or choose to enjoy the fruit of his success.

What all this mean is that the entrepreneur should plan from Day One, what is required for each stage of his business and what does that mean to him from a Personal Life Cycle perspective. Each stage is different and requires different planning to achieve and sustain it. For example how should he plan so that as he grows and enjoys his fruit of labor, he also plan for his next step of the cycle? Should he consider for Business Continuity Planning, offshore planning for his wealth accumulation, succession planning, business growth strategy etc?

Failure to plan and consider each stage of the progression can cause one to be caught off guard against the unexpected. However having continuous planning creates flexibility that will be beneficial to each and every stage of the business and personal life cycle.


Looking out:

1.A franchise manager who has proven track record in F&B business.

2.A Search Engine Optimization expertise for a growing online business.


Happy planning,

KH