Considering going commercial. Am I nuts?

[wheels]

I'd cook one and see what it's like first.

Phil

[Thewitt]

I'd cook one and see what it's like first.

Phil

I did.I was not pleased with the mouth feel. They were crumbly and dried out in the pan. I restuffed about 20 feet of links after 10 minutes in the mixer and these were much better. All have been mixed and stuffed and are resting now. They will be packaged at 4 and delivered by 6... But not by me!

These were all a bit finer texture than normal, but this was acceptable. I did not think that twce thru the stuffer would result in a finer texture. That was a new one for me.

Bedtime now...

Both employees volunteered to stay and help me fix the problem without pay! I let them stay, bought pizza, and paid them anyway.

Everyone makes mistakes. Lessons learned all the way around.

[wheels]

Glad it work out OK in the end.

Phil

[NCPaul]

It's too late to help this time, but you might start writing detailed instructions to help your assistants; BriCan posted one of his sheets in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8767

[Thewitt]

NCPaul, that is next on my list!

We discussed how this happened yesterday, and the two of them were not 100% sure of all the steps required. Just the recipe definition wasn't good enough for them, so rather than ask me, they did what they thought was right.

Detailed instructions are definitely needed.

I have to keep in mind that I will have different levels of experience in the kitchen all the time. I cannot rely on knowledge - it needs to be fairly fool proof.

It was a good lesson - and not too expensive either.

[BriCan]

It's too late to help this time, but you might start writing detailed instructions to help your assistants; BriCan posted one of his sheets in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8767

Its only the start Paul, ---- I think that their should be a complete HACCP wrote as well --- just my arf a cents worth

[NCPaul]

I don't disagree BriCan. I liked your format for the instructions and thought it would be a good example for Thewitt. I'm not sure what the HACCP requirements are for him.

[JerBear]

I let them stay, bought pizza, and paid them anyway. Everyone makes mistakes. Lessons learned all the way around.

You sound like the kind of boss most people would love to work for...

I think that their should be a complete HACCP wrote as well --- just my arf a cents worth

Correct me if I'm wrong but that looks like HACCP documentation. I'm working on one now so I can vacuum seal, cure and dry (three different plans).

[Thewitt]

I did some research this morning - was not familiar with HACCP - and Malaysia does have guidelines which I will be looking into even more. Food services here are a great mix that runs from family hawker stalls and open coffee shops to Michelin Star restaurants. It's a great food culture.

JerBer, I've managed people for nearly 25 years and though I'm not tolerant of incompetence, when people are honestly doing what they think is the right thing, and they make mistakes or we get undesirable results, I consider it a management problem and not an employee problem.

Just to wrap up the issue from yesterday, at 4 this morning one of my staff who was involved in yesterday's issue showed up with the guy who does packaging and delivery in the pre-dawn hours. He spent 3 hours on his own time before his normal day began helping out, just to make sure everything was going well and the customers would not know we had a screw up yesterday.

He has no aspirations of becoming a supervisor, however I see good things in his future if I expand the business. This first month has been very interesting, and though I'm still encountering supply issues here, things are starting to fall in place that lead me to believe this can be very successful.

I am at the limit of the time available to me in this shared facility, so I will be adding one more employee to optimize capacity for the short term, with the decision to go to my own facility still planned for 6 months into the experiment.

[JerBear]

best of luck... keep us posted!